Guides on Citizen Engagement for Parliaments
This series offers practical insights and real-world examples from diverse parliamentary contexts.
At a time of declining trust in politics, meaningful citizen engagement is more important than ever. Yet, resources that outline effective ways for parliaments to engage with the public remain limited.
This series of eight interactive Guides is designed to support parliaments develop effective practice.
It draws on extensive research on a wide range of citizen engagement activities from across the world, including interviews with parliamentary officials and academics working at the cutting edge of public engagement.
Each Guide focuses on a key area of public engagement
Acknowledgements
The Guides were developed by Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Juliet Ollard at the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) in collaboration with Inter Pares I Parliaments in Partnership – the EU’s Global Project to Strengthen the Capacity of Parliaments. The guides were edited and designed in collaboration with Research Retold.
The Guides draw from extensive research carried out in 2024 and 2025, including: a review of relevant academic research; interviews with academics and parliamentary officials from across the world; analysis of relevant practitioner reports and parliamentary documentation; testimonies from members of IPEN; and relevant seminars and workshops organised by Inter Pares and/or IPEN.
The authors are very grateful to all those who shared their knowledge and expertise as part of this project.
Staff members from the following parliaments were interviewed as part of this project:
- Federal Senate, Brazil
- Parliament of Canada
- Senedd Cymru
- Folketing, Denmark
- Riigikogu, Estonia
- Bundestag, Germany
- Parliament of Ghana
- House of Representatives, Indonesia
- Houses of the Oireachtas, Ireland
- Chamber of Deputies, Italian Parliament
- Seimas, Lithuania
- New Zealand Parliament
- Sejm, Poland
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Scottish Parliament
- National Council of the Slovak Republic
- National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia
- National Parliament of the Solomon Islands
- Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine
The following parliaments have kindly shared photographs for the Guide on Parliament as a Space and Place:
- Parliament of Austria
- Riigikogu, Estonia
- Bundestag, Germany
- Seimas, Lithuania
- Assembly of the Republic, Portugal
- Scottish Parliament
- Parliament of South Africa
- Parliament of South Australia
- Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago
- National Assembly of Zambia
The following academic experts were interviewed as part of this project:
- Professor Stephen Elstub, University of Newcastle
- Lauren Martin, University of Sheffield
- Dr Sarah Moulds, University of South Australia
- Dr Temitayo Odeyemi, University of Leeds
- Dr Alex Prior, London South Bank University
- Professor Diana Stirbu, London Metropolitan University
The Guides also incorporate feedback from an international Advisory Group established to develop this suite of Guides on Citizen Engagement for Parliaments (see full list of members below), as well as from the IPEN Executive Team.
The members of the international Advisory Group are:
- Natalie Badcock, Community Education & Engagement Manager, Parliament of South Australia
- Barbara Bleumel, Head of the Department Services for Citizens, Parliament of Austria
- Alisson Bruno Dias de Queiroz, Programme Coordinator, e-Citizenship Program, Brazilian Federal Senate
- Ruth Donnelly, Head of Corporate and Engagement Services, Office of the Clerk of Tynwald, Isle of Man
- Oke Epia, Executive Director, OrderPaper, Nigeria
- Kit Frost, Senior Director of Public Education Programs, Library of Parliament, Canada
- Lotte Geunis, Parliamentary Adviser, International IDEA
- Lumina Mentari, Open Parliament expert, Indonesia
- Kagiso Molatlhwa, Programme Specialist (Youth and Gender), United Nations Populations Fund. Former Executive Director of Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations
- Jonathan Moskovic, Democratic Innovation and Citizen Participation Expert
- Brenda Ogembo, Principal Clerk Assistant and the Deputy Head of the Senate Liaison Office, Parliament of Kenya
- Sophia Psarra, Professor of Architecture and Spatial Design, University College London
- Alex Seama, Chief Parliamentary Civic Education Officer, National Parliament of the Solomon Islands
- Diana Stirbu, Professor of Public Policy and Governance, London Metropolitan University
- Alistair Stoddart, Senior Participation Specialist, Participation and Communities Team, Scottish Parliament
- Felicitas Torrecilla, Consultant and researcher specialising in legislative analysis, parliamentary transparency and democratic governance in Latin America
- Caroline Wallis, Research Lead, Research Services Team, New Zealand Parliament
- Andy Williamson, Centre for Innovation in Parliament, Inter-Parliamentary Union