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Webinar: What will it take to rebuild trust in government?

Trust is an important enabler for the success of policies that depend on behavioural responses from the public.

Trust is the foundation for the legitimacy of public institutions, and for a functioning democratic system. For public policies that depend on compliance from citizens, trust is a critical enabler.

With the backdrop of the pandemic, impending climate disaster, racial injustice and other key issues – many are losing trust in government. How can we rebuild this trust?

We discussed the need to listen and respond to those experiencing complex challenges, in a way which dismantles inequitable power dynamics, builds trust and lasting relationships, and enables community-driven change.

Speakers:

Facilitated by:

  • Simon Kent (Deputy CEO, Thought Leadership, ANZSOG)

Watch the webinar

materials hub

To take our webinars further, we’ve collated a wide range of material exploring learning to listen again.

the theory

Dive more deeply into this topic by learning more through blogs, articles and reports.

  • The OECD’s Directorate for Public Governance has a hub focusing on Trust in Government – it includes data on OECD countries’ trust across various institutions, the drivers of trust, and a host of further data and research. Their webinar also offers a great overview on what it takes to rebuild trust.

in practice

We’ve collated case studies and material to illustrate what these ideas look like in practice, and offer frameworks and tools to support experimentation with a similar approach in your work.

  • CPI’s Earned Legitimacy Learning Cohort saw four cities and counties take action to address past harms and rebuild legitimacy with marginalised communities. The Impact Report details how over 10-weeks, governments worked to dismantle inequitable power dynamics and enable community-driven change.
  • Partecipedia is a global network and crowdsourcing platform focused on public participation and democratic innovations. Lots of interesting examples of how governments and public servants across the world are rethinking listening, a critical enabler when building trust
  • In the report “Learning to Listen Again”, CPI outlines example questions to spark deeper community engagement, considerations for online engagement, and broader lessons learned from the listening engagement process
  • In “Are You Really Listening”, Adam Bryant and Kevin Sharer share how leaders can actively create a more expansive “listening ecosystem” to build trust, through seven practical steps
  • Today’s Problems, Yesterday’s Toolkit, written by Professors Beth Noveck and Rod Glover, argues that the key to improving trust in government is to change the way people in government work, and pinpoints the skills and training programs required to do so. There’s also a summary of the article by ANZSOG.
  • Building trust in government: Innovations in governance reform in Asia is a 2010 report examining case studies of governments building trust across different Asian countries
  • CPI’s Program Director for Government Legitimacy in North America, Jorge Fanjul, shares the tragic experience that inspired his belief in the need for government to earn trust from residents, in his moving article
  • The OECD’s report, Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions in Finland, uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the key determinants of trust in government, the local government and the public administration in Finland. Overall, it finds that responsiveness of public services and reliability of policies are key determinants of trust in institutions in Finland

join our community of practice

Our Community of Practice is a forum for conversations over the course of the webinar series, as well as a chance to build new relationships with like-minded people passionate about reimagining government. Content in webinars will be brought to life, with interactive sessions, conversations and networking opportunities.

Join us as we reimagine government.

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