Why this Toolkit?

The success of COs relies on the active participation and commitment of all related stakeholders. COs can be seen as relational spaces for participation in knowledge production [and application] that are defined by their context and reference system, their resources, the timing of activities, the expectations of the participants, their worldview and values, and mutual trust (Fritz and Binder, 2018). Each CO stakeholder interprets the concepts of participation and governance through their own role and ideological lens and in connection with their own values.

There can sometimes be a lack of trust between the key actors in a CO (Hager et al., 2021) and clashes of expectations or motivations, such as regarding the timing, the types of results that a CO can deliver, the uptake of CO data in decision making, and subsequent changes in policy (Wehn and Almomani, 2019). The CitiObs ‘CO Participation Toolkit’ provides the means to avoid or navigate such clashes (or even controversies, such as whether air quality policies result at any governance level) with tools and methods to strengthen the triangle of trust, which is the key to COs achieving their full potential.

Overview of the CO participation toolkit:

• What are participation dynamics in a Citizen Observatory?

• How can we examine/understand the participation dynamics in our Citizen Observatory?

• How can we improve participation dynamics in our Citizen Observatory?

  • How can we build trust and cooperation among the CO members/stakeholders?

  • How can we ensure that the views and interests of all stakeholders are taken into account?

  • How can we manage decision making within our CO under a high degree of uncertainty, dynamism and complexity?

  • How can we manage and resolve conflicts between stakeholders in our CO?

  • How can we identify the root causes of problems with stakeholder interactions in our CO and develop more effective and sustainable solutions?

  • How can we ensure uptake of Citizen Observatory generated data?