Enhancing Participatory Governance and Fostering Active Citizenship: An Overview of Local and International Best Practices

Abstract

Active citizenship is a concept which has become increasingly topical as governments seek ways of fostering proactive participation by empowered citizens and communities. An overview of the literature reveals that, despite the breadth of research on active citizenship and substantive participation, well-documented examples of mechanisms that resulted in unmitigated success in specific communities remain rare. Yet this does not mean that there have not been a great many projects and interventions that have sought to address these issues in communities around the globe. It is necessary to collate projects and to compile best practice guidelines from the parts of the projects that functioned successfully while learning from the aspects that failed. In other words, a search for definitive best practices is likely to end in disappointment, but the more difficult task of analysing even partially successful practices is necessary to excavate lessons from the work that has been done.

Notes

This article is based on research that was undertaken as part of a project that was commissioned by the City of Johannesburg (COJ). The aim of this project was the preparation of a White Paper on Citizenship. It is hoped that the White Paper will form the basis of a strategy—a ‘road plan’—which, in conjunction with other initiatives (notably the Community-Based Planning Process), the COJ will be able to use to promote and encourage ‘active citizenship’.

See, for example, Niemi and Junn (1998).

This is the Xhosa word for ‘freedom’ or ‘feeling free’ (Robins, 2007, p. 12).

Newbridge is a fictional name for an actual town in the West Midlands region of the UK where an urban regeneration scheme was implemented.

A ward is an administrative area and each district is composed of a number of wards. There are twenty-six wards in Mbozi district.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natasha Erlank

Centre for Culture and Languages in Africa, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.