Values play an important part in the work I do and in the way I do my work. At my stage in life I have come to know what drives my moment by moment choices and I become more and more comfortable with that knowledge - as you do when you have been around for many decades. The one thing I know without question is how I value fairness. So when I think about participation in decision making, I truly want it to be fair. What might it take to make it fair?

This is only my second blog post, so I am taking small steps, writing a little and referring to articles by people who have much to offer. What I want to refer you to in this blog is the Francois Knuchel essay on "A Deeper Democracy of Scotland". I first read it in a blog posted by Martin Grimshaw on his "There's Better Ways of Working" site http://2bwow.org.uk/a-deeper-democracy-for-scotland/

My interest in the essay is mostly in Dynamic Self Governance and its application not just in government or business but in the wider context of professional networking and community based organisations. Have a read and see what you might get out of it.

With the increasing interest of the South Australian Government with more representative models of engaging with its citizens, the idea of using Citizen Juries (CJ's) is gathering momentum.

Whilst not new, in fact  CJ's were seen as a "radical alternative for social research" in 2002 and even earlier, its principles and processes are worthy of note.

User warning, Citizens Juries require considerable resources (financial, physical and human) and they are not a quick fix to community issues. They are suited to complex situations where their format fits the circumstances. Some of the benefits of Citizens Juries (if run correctly) is that the "jurors" get the time they need to reflect and deliberate on specific information; they get to scrutinise the information and are supported to develop a set of conclusions and recommendations to inform decision makers. These benefits are not always apparent in other forms of community engagement e.g. focus groups.