Page 108 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

106 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) Embedded in the question should be any constraints or trade-offs that have been encountered. Parameters are also carefully and fully described. Confusion and ambiguity must be avoided, and language kept simple – so test yourself how this could be answered ‘off- topic’. Here’s an example of a remit for a water utility that worked extremely well and included the trade-off, expressed as a need to find balance between service and price: We need to find a balance between price & service which is fair for everyone. How should we do this? A good remit passes the “barista test”—anyone sharing a coffee can hear it and understand why it’s hard, what is required and what the focus is. Remits should be open; this gives citizens freedom to have their say rather than be boxed in. Processes are more valuable to everyone the more information a government or government agency can get from an informed and deliberative group of citizens. This means that open questions that allow participants to consider creative or aspirational answers tend to be more useful than narrow questions. For example, two different remits on the same topic: Should we build a second airport? or How should we meet our air travel needs? The first remit narrows the decision to a yes or no decision on a second airport. The second remit includes any considerations of a second airport within other recommendations on air travel more generally. With the second remit, it is likely that the participants will make recommendations on the need for a second airport, but they are also given the room to recommend other solutions – whether this focuses on having a number of smaller airports to improve accessibility and sharing noise, or alternatively, increasing taxes to reduce demand. Open questions generate the most insightful recommendations.