Public Engagement Projects (PEP) is a consultancy based in Wellington, New Zealand, that works with the public and private sectors to improve organisational performance by building “architectures of listening”.

A 1-page flyer about PEP is available here. A 1-page flyer about PEP’s approach to online public engagement is available here.

PEP’s partners, John Pennington and Simon Wright, have a track record of innovative and internationally recognised projects, including:

• The NZ government’s first nationwide public dialogue processes, which included the first online policy forums
• The NZ government’s first public deliberation process, which included the first online deliberation process. This work was recognised by the OECD and IAP2 International.
• Early use of Polis, an advanced online platform designed to safely and coherently collect open-ended feedback from very large numbers of people, including 2 projects with Scoop Independent News on sugar policy and affordable housing. This work has been recognised by Polis as an example of best practice and is also the subject of an interview by Radio New Zealand.

PEP uses a number of approaches and tools from the social sciences, decision making, collaboration, public engagement, youth development and online participation to help your organisation build ‘architectures of listening’.

Qualitative research and analysis	Interviews, focus groups, case studies and participatory action research Thematic analysis & reporting
Social appraisal	Qualitative participatory deliberation Multi-criteria mapping
Participatory policy development	Small and large scale public engagement approaches Recruitment strategies Naming and framing Dialogue and deliberation processes
Evaluation and audit	Listening audits Most significant change Engagement evaluation
Youth participation	Based on the principles of positive youth development Leadership groups
Online participation	Small group, online deliberation using Loomio Mass participation using Polis
Skills development	Better interpersonal and team listening Better planning, implementation and evaluation