I came across this document from the National Democratic Institute (NDI):
Civic Participation Terminology: A Guide to Frequently Used Terms and Phrases
This Glossary is part of NDI’s growing library of publications that form the basis for the Institute’s efforts to create a new and precise lexicon to convey the concepts central to democracy and governance. Putting some of these principles into practice, the Glossary was developed through a consultative process with NDI’s staff in Lebanon, other field offices throughout the Middle East as well as the Institute’s Citizen Participation team. Special thanks also to NDI’s civic partners in the Citizen Lebanon program, who served as the inspiration for this project and also offered valuable feedback throughout the process of development.
The document is written in both English and Arabic and is available for download (PDF, 4MB).
Here are a few definitions that are relevant to our work (some of which you may recognize from previous entries)
- Citizen Jury – A form of deliberative democracy in which small groups of people are brought together to hear evidence about a policy or legislative issue, debate and determine a judgement based on the evidence received. They are used to inform issue-based advocacy campaigns or public official’s decision making on complex policy matters. Also see Deliberative Democracy and Advocacy.
- Civic Engagement — Involvement in or commitment of citizens and citizen’s organizations into the political or community process as they fulfill their rights and responsibilities.
- Community — State of being shared or held in common. With regard to participation, community can apply to spatial communities (a body of people living and/or working in the same area), which can come together at any spatial scale for the local to the global.
- Community Mapping — A social network assessment tool used to determine stakeholders and power brokers in a particular community. This technique for collecting information is often used by civic organizations in order to determine community needs, identify community assets or resources, identify stakeholders, and design appropriate responses, including advocacy campaigns.
- Consensus — General agreement that involves seeking and taking into account the view of all parties concerned, and reconciling any conflicting arguments. Consensus does not imply unanimity. Consensus is a way of making decisions which aims to include everyone in the process and resolve any objections.
- Deliberative Democracy — Based on the principle that legitimate democracy arises from the public deliberation of citizens. Activities associated with this process include citizen juries, town hall meetings, public debates, and citizen forums.
- Participation — The act of sharing in the actvities of a civil society organization, political party, or political process; the condition of sharing in common with others. Participation is a right and responsibility of citizens in a democracy, through issue-oriented civil society organizations and/or political parties.
- Participatory Budgeting — Process through which a portion of the budget is set aside for citizens to determine how to use it. This process works to increase citizen’s participation in decision-making while improving accountability, community cohesion, and furthering the delivery of cost-effective services.
- Stakeholder — A person or group with a direct interest, involvement, or investment in a particular issue. For example, employees, stockholders, and customers of a business concern.
- Stakeholder Analysis — Research of the problems and interests of members of a certain community which politicians or civic groups may wish to influence or engage. Such an analysis is a common first step in the development of party platforms or advocacy campaigns.
- Town Hall Meeting — Gathering citizens linked by geography or a common interest to meet with public officials to discuss pre-determined issues and express their views.
Solid definitions. Plus, now we know مشاركة (pr. musharaka) means participation in Arabic.

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