Participation Recruitment and Recruitment Strategies
Participant recruitment describes the process of finding people with desired characteristics and inviting them to take part in a group discussion. It is essential to select participants carefully to develop and environment that enables productive deliberations ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . The participants are usually chosen non-randomly, and in accordance to particular criteria that matches the objective of a project.
The importance of recruitment is elucidated by the fact that it is one of the most critical tasks of focus group studies. On that note, it is important to select the most suitable recruitment strategy. This strategy has to be based on the setting of the research and characteristics of the study population. The process of participant recruitment will hinge on whether the participants are members of the wider community it represents a certain sub-groups within the population. The research setting is also an important point of consideration ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . For instance, participant recruitment in the setting of developing nations usually entails adhering to the local protocol to get endorsement for the study and looking for help from the native gatekeepers in getting access to members of the community. Moreover, recruitment in developing nation settings makes use of the typically close-knit social structures since they can be effective in highlighting the suitable participants. These suggestions lead to the inference that participant is recruitment is important since it enables meaningful participation by members of a community and collection of the right type of information.
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Successful programs are able to engage participants and persevere their participation over time. To enable this success, programs utilize a mix of strategies to create a targeted approach for implementation. To that end, there are certain strategies that are applied to reach and engage participants in activities.
The first is strategy is proper identification of the target population. The researcher has to consider the geography, demographics, desired attitudes, or current attitudes within the community ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . Segmentation of the population can leader to improved receptiveness and provide benefits for the participants. The benefit of this strategy is that it helps with collection of accurate information to inform interventions or the next step. On the other hand, the most significant drawback is that it is a costly venture that takes a lot of time.
The second strategy is spreading the word. Hereby, the researchers should create recruitment material like flyers, newsletters, phone calls, presentations, and newspaper articles. Typically, using several recruitment materials typically works effectively. The greatest benefit of the strategy is that it gives the program developers the freedom to be creative to appeal to participants ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . On the downside, it may appeal to the wrong type of participants who are not suited to a group discussion.
Another vital strategy is creation of materials that are culturally relevant. Hereby, one has to ensure the messages can be read easily and suit the culture of the target population. Effective messages give a good account of how participations in the program will facilitate a tangible physical and even emotional benefit. The strategy is beneficially since it would enable meaningful participation that will enable collection of valuable data. Its greatest drawback is that the strategy is suited to only one particular group.
The next strategy is encouraging participation. The developers of the program should show enthusiasm in the recruitments materials and strategies. Fundamentally, they should show that the endeavor is worth it and should demonstrate joy talking about the program. The benefit of this method is that it breaks away from the monotony of group discussions hence enable effective participation. Its drawback is that it may deflect the group from the core purpose of the program.
Language of Participation
The claim that if the language of participation is not clear or compelling, it fails to capture both progressive and conservative visions is accurate. The language of participation is vital to enable meaningful participation of community members ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . It captures the ideology of the program and compels people to take part as it will lead to sustainable benefits.
The first strategy for talking about public participation is personalized messaging. The program developers should follow a unique approach of communication through social media platforms. Indeed, social media platforms can play a significant role in promoting a program ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . It means that the researchers should depart from the tradition of professionalization of campaigns that are replicated from mainstream media to the social media context. Rather than professionalize, the researchers can embrace an amateurish, personalized style that infuse communication with authenticity and evoke engagement and reactions, serving to build awareness of a program. In a context in which social networking sites such as Twitter have become central to consuming, enacting, and participating in political performance.
Using a personalized approach, the researchers should strive to use the liberating effect of social media in removing the gatekeeping role of traditional modes of communication on agenda. Unlike under the restrictions of traditional media, using interactive platforms can able researchers to set the message on their own terms. The role of agenda setting and limited gatekeeping in driving public interest can occur due to the forces of a personalized approach and decades of the public’s loss in confidence in mainstream media. Decades of falling public confidence in the press alongside the low regard with which the right holds mainstream media can protect a campaign from scrutiny and create a healthy digital environment for effectiveness mainstream news is key, to enable creative receptivity and political advocacy.
Another key element that the researchers can harness from social media is building a program is the accompanying wide online and offline reach, especially in the context of his personalized media approach. In this context, an off-the-cuff, informal, and personalized can overcome the weaknesses clear campaign advantages in aspects such as field staffing, communications, and data. Besides simply overcoming these weaknesses, the campaigners can use the power of social media to exert offline influence, which combine the effect of the personalized media use and changes in agenda setting in light of social media ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . Such an approach can help the program developers to have a wide reach and influence.
Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process whereby ordinary citizens are part of the deliberations and decision making when making a public budget. PB is important since it enables citizens to serve various purposes that range from financial management to ensuring regulatory compliance ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . Given the two responsibilities, it can be discerned that PB enables financial management for public institutions to be more transparent and simplified. Not only do citizens participate in drafting budgets, they also balance expenditures with revenues. In essence, PB refers to the process of translating fiscal resources into services while at the same time providing accountability for those decisions. Therefore, it brings about a mutual consensus regarding how public funds should be used.
The average citizens should take part in all the steps of budget making to enable greater transparency. After identifying the type of budget to be utilized, the budgetary cycle can begin according to the following phases: planning, submission, review and approval and lastly, management. During the planning stage, a task force is established which assesses the organizations money stream and gains valuable feedback from management ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . Afterwards, a budget is proposed which explains the justification for each section of the recommendations. With that done, the proper authorities can review the budget for arithmetic accuracy and then approve or reject the proposal as they deem necessary. The last step is management which entails monitoring the organization’s revenues and expenses to ensure compliance with the budget. People taking part in PB are compelled to be cognizant of the budgetary process so that they supervise funds and ensure optimal outcome from resources.
For most public programs, the key source of revenue is government taxes obtained from property tax, sales tax and income tax. Therefore, citizens should play a role in the budgeting process since they have significantly contributed to the budget. Further, their input is important so that their vital needs are considered in the budget. It also reduces the pressure on stakeholders when balancing the needs of the people since they will have valuable input from the primary source.
Citizens are necessitated to understand financial management since it will enable them to comprehend when budget alterations affect efficiency of delivering emergency services. For this to occur, the members of the public taking part in PB need to understand the budgetary cycle, capital inflows and outflows, and economic policies. By doing so, the agencies will be proficient in ensuring that expenses do not exceed the income. In correspondence with those facts, it is clear that financial management is a challenging task that can be made more transparent easier through meaningful public participation.
Coalitions and Networks for Public Participation
Coalitions and networks are important since they enable members of the public to form some type of group action in dictating public policy. In most instances or situations, social movements are seen to be large; sometimes they may also be informal, groupings of either a cluster of individuals or organizations. Coalitions and networks are usually focused on specific political or social issues that are seen to be affecting or interfering with society. Simply put, the groups can carry out, resist or even undo a social change ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . Social change, on the other hand, refers to an alteration in the basic social order of a society. The change could involve social institutions (like the family), social behaviors, and social relations and even as far as nature or environment.
The key consideration in creating coalitions and networks is the type of interactions between public members. Coalitions and networks are usually geared towards improving the interactions of the members of society through suggesting better or more peaceful ways to relate with each other. This is usually arrived at after a number of individuals sit and agree on some issues that may be negatively impacting a society and try to come up with solutions. It is very difficult for members of a society to embrace social change especially if it is change of how things have always been done ( Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015) . A good example is in racism. Long ago it was almost taboo for African Americans to mingle with ‘white Americans’. Social movements have risen to the occasion to do away with that line of thought where both parties assume that their interaction is forbidden. As a result, society has seen interracial couples coming up and there is a more harmonious environment where both races can co-exist and even co-habit without squabbles. Granted, it has not yet spread widely, but it just takes one society to influence the rest.
References
Nabatchi, T., & Leighninger, M. (2015). Public participation for 21st century democracy . John Wiley & Sons.
