End of Commitment Report – Development of a method box for outreach citizen participation
- Action Plan: Action plan – Detmold, Germany, 2022 – 2025
Overview
Name of Evaluator
Sabine Gabriel-Stahl
Member Name
Detmold, Germany
Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title
Action plan – Detmold, Germany, 2022 – 2025
CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...
Development of a method box for outreach citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More
Title
Development of a method box for outreach citizen participation
Action
The method box for outreach participation is intended to provide administrative staff with tools for implementing citizen participation with the help of outreach formats. Outreach formats are characterized by the fact that offers come where people are in their everyday lives and leisure time. In this way, participation can take place in familiar and trusting surroundings and encourage people to get involved who do not dare to make an active contribution or articulate themselves in other settings.
Problem
Online and offline formats for citizen participation enable the targeted involvement of citizens. Nevertheless, many of the formats do not yet reach all people. Participation formats invite citizens to get involved proactively, but are often not yet where the people are.
Section 1.
Commitment completion
1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?
substantial
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
At the beginning of the term of the commitment, the opportunity arose to involve the OWL University of Applied Sciences in the development of the method box as part of a research project. The involvement took place through a grant forwarding from the Smart City funding. The research project was launched in January 2024 in collaboration with the Institute for Design Strategies with a focus on human-centered design. The duration was initially set until the end of 2024, but was recently extended by a further year until the end of 2025. The project was renamed Smart City PUT (Development of a Participation and Usability Toolbox).
The project aims to actively involve citizens in decision-making processes on mobility, sustainable urban design and climate protection, whereby different forms of communication and participation are necessary depending on the population and interest group. So far, the concept has been developed and refined and user testing has been carried out.
Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:
1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).
One challenge was that the city of Detmold already had participation formats in place, which were received differently by citizens depending on the subject area. The city of Detmold uses the participation platform Consul, which can be used to conduct online citizen surveys on specific topics, such as the development of the city centre. In addition, there were other participation formats, such as outreach citizen participation, which were carried out in a very low-threshold manner (for example, distributing sticky dots to evaluate the new city app). The “Stadtkontakt.mobil” trailer was used to visit citizens in their districts, some of which are very decentralized, and ask their opinions on certain topics.
All of these procedures follow a practice-oriented approach, but have not yet been systematically and methodically related to each other. For this reason, the scientific approach was chosen in collaboration with the OWL University of Applied Sciences. The first step was to create a mutual understanding of the approach and working methods in the city administration. In order to achieve a practicable result in a scientific context, innovative formats of cooperation were tested, for example, a design thinking workshop for joint goal setting. The workshop was attended by various people from different areas of the administration, such as strategic HR management, the digitalization and sustainability teams, urban development, and equal opportunities. The diversity of the participants enabled the development of new ideas on a co-creative basis, which will be incorporated into the development of the digital participationMany governments are creating online mechanisms for citizens to petition, call for action, and participate in making decisions on issues they care about. Technical specifications: Refers to public p... More platform.
1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?
few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The start of the commitment was delayed, and the implementation in a co-creative process as part of a research project deviated from the original plan. However, the milestones themselves remain in place. The commitment is currently in milestone 2: “Method set development”.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Section 2.
Did it open government?
2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?
Yes
Degree of result:
Major
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
The participation formats developed aim to activate citizens who have not been reached by previous participation formats. The Institute for Design Strategies at the OWL University of Applied Sciences is pursuing a human-centered approach and, as part of the research project, is devoting itself to low-threshold, haptic, and outreach participation formats (e.g. voting columns with balls) as well as the design of a digital participation platform.
These approaches, in conjunction with the administration’s information sources, are intended to strengthen the communication channels between the administration and urban society. Low-threshold participation formats in the districts have already shown that the fewer access barriers there are, the more frequent and direct citizen participation becomes.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?
Yes
Degree of result:
Major
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
(see above)
The participation formats developed aim to activate citizens who have not been reached by previous participation formats. The Institute for Design Strategies at the OWL University of Applied Sciences is pursuing a human-centered approach and, as part of the research project, is devoting itself to low-threshold, haptic, and outreach participation formats (e.g. voting columns with balls) as well as the design of a digital participation platform.
These approaches, in conjunction with the administration’s information sources, are intended to strengthen the communication channels between the administration and urban society. Low-threshold participation formats in the districts have already shown that the fewer access barriers there are, the more frequent and direct citizen participation becomes.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?
Yes
Degree of result:
Major
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
The low-threshold and more accessible citizen participation formats developed are highly suitable for establishing direct contact between those responsible and urban society. As there is otherwise often anonymity and little contact between administrative staff and citizens, these formats encourage the expression of opinions on the one hand, but also invite discussions and the bringing together of ideas on the other. This can even encourage co-creative initiatives and promote the democratic process. However, it can also be made clear where there are limits to administrative action and where political decisions have to be made by the city council.
2.1.4 Other Results
Yes
Degree of result:
Major
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
The cooperation with the OWL has proven to be very effective and profitable, as the topic of citizen participation is very different from a research perspective than from the perspective of the city administration. As a result, completely new ideas and approaches have been developed in the course of the project to date. In addition, an innovative and co-creative format was tested with the Design Thinking Workshop in May 2025, which was moderated by the TH OWL research team. Interesting synergies between the city administration and the university are also conceivable in the future.
Provide evidence for your answer:
AUSWERTUNG_Design-Thinking-Workshop-19052025.pdf
2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
With the Stadtkontakt Mobil trailer, which was completed in fall 2023 as part of the Smart Cities funding, a whole new level of local citizen participation was established. With around 77,000 inhabitants and 27 districts, Detmold is very decentralized, and the activities of the city administration and opportunities for participation are less visible in the more rural districts. At the same time, the Stadtkontakt office was opened in the pedestrian zone of the city center, enabling direct contact with citizens.
These developments, together with the results of the research project with the OWL University of Applied Sciences, create the basis for increasing citizen participation in Detmold and reaching previously less active population groups.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Section 3.
Lessons from
implementation
3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.
A key finding of the commitment is that citizen participation is as diverse as the subject areas in which it takes place. And that’s not all: it is also as diverse as the different population groups that are to be heard through citizen participation.
To make this possible, infrastructure is required, which the city of Detmold has already largely created: an easily accessible physical location for direct exchange, both in the city center and regularly in the more rural districts through a mobile offer. In addition, low-threshold digital offerings are needed that highlight the opportunities for participation and guide people transparently through the processes. The Consul platform used to date only partially fulfills this purpose, as it requires relatively extensive registration and authentication and therefore poses a barrier to access. This is to be improved in the future as part of the continuation of the commitment.
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