The administration of the city of Calgary acknowledges that decisions can improve by engaging stakeholder groups and citizens of the city. The engage policy implants and develops the engagement process for all external and internal parties involved with an aim to achieve alignment of priorities, consistent practices, support for decisions, and enhancement of reputation. The engage policy outlines how the city will commit and account for engagement process. The city of Calgary’s administration must adhere and commit to the engage framework.

At the city of Calgary, engagement is a purposeful dialogue between stakeholders and residents of the city, aimed at gathering information that will influence decision-making in the city. Stakeholder’s definition is groups of people or a person who can be impacted or can impact the outcomes of the city’s decisions; stakeholders may include the public, customers, community organizations, citizens, governmental agencies, and any other group that interacts with the city.

Application of the Engage Policy

Within the city, the engage policy applies to opportunities for engagement in the specific policy, project initiatives, and plans that affect stakeholders and citizens either directly or indirectly and the city’s legislated process that involves public participation.

The responsibility for the Customer Service & Communications is to develop and update the Engage Administration Framework, build familiarity to the engage policy by internal training on the engage policy and administrative framework, and also provide advice the citizens and stakeholders in the design of the engage process. The engage policy adopted the following principles to guide the engagement initiatives.

Accountability

Engage process outcomes must be consistent with the engagement initiatives approved by the citizens and stakeholders. The council is responsible for stewardship, the city managers are responsible for the adherence to the engage policy, the project managers are responsible for completion, while customer service and communication is responsible for maintenance and development of the framework.

The city must endeavor to involve and include whoever it impacts, either directly or indirectly, by the engage policy. Citizens and stakeholders get involvement opportunities throughout the project since the decisions will change their lives. Accommodation of diverse needs is also critical.

Transparency

The city ensures that decision-making procedures are understandable, and constraints are adhered to by all impacted parties, by providing clear and complete information in good time, which involves the city’s clear communication of roles, responsibilities, purposes, and limitations. Stakeholders and citizens receive background content about the project and all necessary information that facilitates participation by all parties on the project.

Depending on the availability of time and resources, the city allocates sufficient funds to promote the program from start to finish. The stakeholders and citizens can save time and get more value from the initiative. The Customer Service program highlights the pertinent issues while teaching the citizens and stakeholders how to support the engagement policy. Businesses find out the appropriate resources for the engagement process.

The City of Calgary must make strides towards the understanding of the stakeholders and citizens. The city provides information about opportunities for all stakeholders and citizens, and feedback collected by the town then shared for input on the engagement process and the outcomes to be a joint endeavor.