International Programs
Tools for Consensus Building and Agreement Seeking
Engaging the public in direct dialogue and providing them with the information and tools needed to consider complex problems can result in detailed and thoughtful recommendations and uncover areas of common ground.
Tools for consensus building include techniques that you can use to bring diverse groups of stakeholders together to engage in shared learning and decision making. These tools are only applicable to the collaborate and empower levels of public participation.
Consensus building is a process and cannot be done quickly. In general, any consensus-building effort requires a consistent set of participants who work together over the duration of the process. It is important for the participants to work and learn together, developing the relationships essential to reaching agreement. This is not possible if participation is not stable. Consensus-building in low-trust situations will take even longer as participants must first develop the trust needed to work together constructively, which is a precursor to reaching agreement.
Consensus building requires that people meet face-to-face. While some activities can occur remotely at points during the process (especially through internet-based video, voice, and document sharing), initial relationship-building and key agreement seeking will require in-person meetings.
Many of the tools to inform and for generating and obtaining input can be used as components of a consensus building process to educate participants, generate dialogue, and identify common ground.
| Tool | # of Participants | Best Suited for |
| Consensus workshops | Up to hundreds | Smaller, less controversial decisions or identifying shared values |
| Advisory boards and similar groups | Small groups (25 or fewer) | Long-term and compex processes |
| Computer-assisted processes | Large | Decisions that can be well defined into small segments and do not require stakeholders to get to know each other |
| Citizen juries | Limited, generally around 12 | Decisions that can be organized into clear options |
When designing a consensus process, consider the following questions:
This table exercise helped participants determine appropriate densities and heights in the redevelopment of a major suburban city.
- Who needs to be included for the final consensus to be legitimate?
- Are all key interests willing and able to participate?
- Are there trust or other issues that must be addressed before the process can begin?
- What are the key decisions that must be made to achieve overall consensus?
- What information is necessary for all parties to understand in order to build a viable consensus?
- If the consensus process is not binding, to what degree are decision-makers willing and committed to considering the outcome of the consensus process?
(For more resources on tools for consensus building and agreement seeking, click here)
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Contacts
For additional information on EPA's Public Participation Guide, contact:
Shereen Kandil
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of International and Tribal Affairs (2650R)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
E-mail: kandil.shereen@epa.gov