Welcome to ‘Engaging Citizens: A Game Changer For Development?’ We, Jeff Thindwa, Bjorn-Soren Gigler, Tiago Peixoto, Benji Holzman, Kate Henvey, Sheila Jagannathan and the rest of the World Bank Group course team are delighted you have enrolled in this course and are eager to learn more about this important and timely subject. Why is gaining a comprehensive understanding of citizen engagement so important for development? While citizen engagement is not a magic bullet that automatically leads to better development results, it certainly has the potential to make a tremendous impact when implemented correctly and in the right conditions. By putting citizens at the center of governance, citizen engagement can be a key driver of change and fundamentally alter the relationship between the government and the governed. Ultimately, citizen engagement is essential for governance that works for everyone. This course explores what citizen engagement is and why it matters, the role that citizens can play in actively shaping public policy, how engaging citizens can improve public service delivery, and the impact of recent innovations in information and communications technology. Throughout the course you will learn about cutting edge research and theories related to citizen engagement, and examples of ways citizens and governments are working together in new ways to improve their societies. We begin by exploring the definitions and history of citizen engagement, as well as related concepts such as transparency, accountability, responsiveness and inclusiveness. We then look at the concept of the feedback loop, and the differences between intrinsic and instrumental approaches. Next we examine the crucial role of sociopolitical context and the enabling environment, and finally introduce the concept of strategic and tactical approaches to citizen engagement. We start by examining how citizens participate, analyzing the differences between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ forms of engagement and asking strategic questions such as who should participate, how should participants interact with decision makers, what information do participants need, and how will participation impact policy decisions. Next, we survey examples of crowdsourcing and open innovation that are helping governments and citizens better interact. Finally, we unpack why citizens participate, moving beyond the mere calculation of costs and benefits described in the rational choice model to an analysis of broader factors that influence. We can unpack different conceptions of the government-citizen relationship and then explore the ways citizens can serve as active agents of, rather than passive recipients in, the delivery of public services. We then provide an in-depth look at a range of citizen engagement projects in this area by exploring the methods, tools, barriers to inclusion, and factors for success of these case studies, particularly in developing country contexts. we explore the reasons why some of these innovative approaches succeed while others fail, and look at how hybrid approaches—those that combine ICT tools with traditional methodologies—are being used in an attempt to maximize development results. Finally, we look at recent ICT-enabled citizen engagement case studies to assess their real-world impact. We conclude the course with two review videos – a course summary and key takeaways – as well as ‘call to action’ videos from high-profile leaders in government, civil society and academia to provide you with tangible next steps to put your knowledge into practice.