SPS academic contributes to WHO guide on citizen engagement
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School of Social and Political Science (SPS) academic Professor Oliver Escobar has co-written a new World Health Organisation (WHO) guide on how to engage citizens in policy making.
The guide – ‘Citizen engagement in evidence-informed policy-making’ – provides insight into how to ensure citizens’ voices are heard and that they can play a vital role in shaping health policies that affect their lives.
Professor Escobar’s guide is one of two new resources to support citizen engagement in evidence-informed decision making in the health field. The WHO will launch these at a webinar on 29 February.
Between the two resources, the WHO aims to support policy-makers to gain insights into citizens’ perspectives, preferences, and experiences, to lead to more effective, equitable, and acceptable health policies, especially in times of crisis.
Professor Escobar’s guide focuses on mini-publics, forums that include a cross-section of the population selected through civic lottery to participate in evidence-informed deliberation to inform policy and action. It provides an overview of how to organise mini-publics in the health sector.
Professor Escobar, Chair of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation at SPS, is one of the principal authors of the guide, along with fellow University of Edinburgh academic Dr James Henderson. Dr Femke Brandt (Beneficial Technologies, South Africa) and Dr Carina Van Rooyen (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) served as co-editors.
The other WHO document focuses on the concept and principles of citizen engagement.
The webinar launch event is on 29 February, 1pm – 2:30pm UK time. Attendees will learn more about the two resources and how they can help people to design and implement mini-publics in their own context.