Sometimes even the best-intentioned policy makers overlook the power of people. And even the best-intentioned discussions on social impact and leveraging big data for the social sector can obscure the power of everyday people in their communities.

But time and time again, I’ve seen the transformative power of civic engagement when initiatives are structured well. For example, the other year I witnessed a high school student walk into a school auditorium one evening during Boston's first youth-driven participatory budgeting project. Participatory budgeting gives residents a structured opportunity to work together to identify neighborhood priorities, work in tandem with government officials to draft viable projects, and prioritize a list of projects to fund. Elected officials in turn pledge to implement these projects and are held accountable to their constituents. Initially intrigued by an experiment in democracy (and maybe the free pizza), this student remained engaged over several months, meeting new members of her community, interacting with elected officials, and feeling like she was working on a concrete objective that could have a tangible, positive impact on her neighborhood.

For many of the young participants between the ages of 12 and 25, being part of a participatory budgeting initiative was their first exposure to civic life. Many were excited that the City of Boston, in collaboration with the nonprofit Participatory Budgeting Project, gave young people the opportunity to allocate $1 million in public funds. And by participating, young people developed invaluable civic skills and, in some cases, a passion that will fuel further engagement in civic and communal life. 

This is just one example of a broader civic and social innovation trend. Across the globe, people are working together with their communities to solve seemingly intractable problems. But as diverse as these efforts are, there are also commonalities. Well-structured civic engagement creates the space and provides the tools for people to exert agency over public policy. When citizens have concrete objectives, access to necessary technology (whether it's postcards, trucks, or open data portals), and an eye toward outcomes, social change happens. 

Using Technology to Distribute Expertise 

Technology is allowing citizens around the world to participate in solving local, national, and global problems. When it comes to large public bureaucracies, expertise is largely top-down and concentrated. Leveraging technology creates opportunities for people to work together in new ways to solve public problems. One way is through civic crowdfunding platforms like Citizinvestor.com, which cities can use to develop citizen support for public-sector projects; several cities in Rhode Island, Oregon, and Philadelphia have successfully pooled citizen resources to fund new public works. Another way is through citizen science. Old Weather, a crowdsourcing project from the National Archives and Zooniverse, enrolls people to transcribe old British ship logs with the goal of identifying long-term changes in the climate. Platforms like these allow anyone to devote a small amount of time or resources toward the broader public good. And because they include a degree of transparency, people can see the progress and impact created by their efforts. 

Empowering Citizens as Decision-Makers

Citizens want to participate in making decisions for their communities and welcome opportunities and processes that enable them to do so. Participatory budgeting, for example, began in Porte Alegre, Brazil, in 1989 after twenty-one years of military dictatorship. Over the past few decades, the process has improved the quality of democracy in the country, and it has contributed to increased municipal spending on sanitation and health, increased numbers of community-based organizations, and lower rates of infant mortality. Indeed, more than twenty-five hundred localities across the globe — including a growing number of cities in the United States — have begun to implement participatory budgeting projects, and the number is growing.

Harnessing Civic Data to Improve Policy     

The combination of government and civic data also allows government to more rapidly meet constituents' needs. Grade.DC.Gov, for example, uses social media sentiment analysis to "grade" city services. People can submit comments about certain Washington, D.C., agencies and also see how other residents rate them. The mobile app Commonwealth Connect enables people inside Boston and neighboring communities to report local problems, even if they don't know which agency to report the problem to; the app forwards requests and provides an infrastructure complaint with Open 311 for resolving issues. 

Next Steps Toward Inclusive Governance 

Civic engagement should be hyper-local and context-specific by design to give communities and ordinary people an ability to connect and engage. At the same time, there is an emerging movement toward more inclusive decision-making that fosters the sharing of best practices that generate results. 

For example, the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a commitment (16.7) to "responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels." The goal is an excellent opportunity for practitioners and researchers focused on advancing the cause of civic engagement to work together and understand what works and why. (This video reflects some of the initial conversations involving leading thinkers from civil society, academia, government, and civic startups about opportunities the SDGs provide to generate shared lessons and principles aimed at deepening civic engagement.) 

In fact, we have several opportunities to build on the SDGs and align those commitments with the work practitioners already are doing in communities across the globe. First, current governmental processes provide multiple entry points for deepening inclusive governance by linking to existing institutions such as complaint boards and urban planning processes. But we need better documentation, more resources targeting traditionally marginalized communities, and shared repositories to engage citizens with existing opportunities. Second, we must share innovations and best practices across practitioner silos to allow for learning. For example, Participedia.net enables researchers to document successes and challenges in the field of democracy building, and provides a resource for practitioners interested in implementing new practices. Third, connecting technology and data to offline, community-driven, bottom-up endeavors can drive exponential impact. For instance, San Francisco's Neighborhood Postcard Project fosters community connection and exchange and enables previously marginalized residents to share their stories with residents from all walks of life. 

True civic engagement is important not only for building more inclusive and resilient communities, but also for building the civic muscles of each and every one of us. Ultimately, achieving it will require civil society, government, and industry to work together to create spaces where people feel empowered to create change. It will also require experimentation and, above all, a commitment to the value of genuine engagement. But by participating, people will leave with new friends, better knowledge of their communities, and a stronger relationship with their government.