Citizen Involvement in Public Policy Input and Formulation

Citizen involvement has long been a key component of the democratic process
because it gives citizens a direct voice in the decisions that are made on their behalf and for
their benefits. It includes participation in activities that relate to both the making and
implementation of various public policies, such as determining budget priorities, and levels of
services provided by public agencies so that they effectively meet the needs of the
community. There are many benefits that are associated with citizen involvement in
formulation and implementation of public policies. The benefits include generation of
goodwill for the policies, increasing public support for the decisions that have been made,
avoiding protracted court battles and conflicts which may delay implementation of public
policy decisions, and generation of new ideas during policy formulation (Molokwane, 2018).
Despite these benefits and the encouragement of citizens to get involved in public policy
decisions, many citizens rarely get involved in public policy input and formulation.
There are various reasons why many citizens do not get involved in public policy
decisions. One of them is a feeling that their involvement will not make any difference
(Molokwane, 2018). When citizens believe that their participation in public policy decision
making has no bearing on the final decision that is made, they are likely to start viewing the
process as a waste of time. Additionally, low citizen involvement in public policy decisions
can also be attributed to lack of information about a particular policy or how they should be
involved in making decisions regarding the policy. Lastly, low citizen involvement in public
policy formulation can also be attributed to discouragement from public officials who find
citizen involvement time-consuming and costly.
I believe that increased citizen involvement can be increased through active
encouragement of citizens to participate in the public policy decision-making process. Public

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officials should let citizens know when and where to make their contributions about a given
public policy. The timing and manner of contribution to the policy should be as convenient as
possible to a majority of the citizens. Additionally, citizens should be made to understand that
their participation in the decisions regarding policy formulation and implementation will be
taken seriously and will have an impact on the final decision made.

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References

Molokwane, T. (2018). Citizen involvement in the formulation of public policy. International
Conference on Public Administration and Development Alternatives (IPADA).