Contributor(s): Professor Jon Paul Faguet, Dr Shirin Madon, Dr Duncan Green, Owen Barder, Yesil Deniz, Dr Bjorn-Soren Gigler, Abha Joshi-Ghani, Leni Wild, Vanessa Herringshaw, Fredrik Galtung, Duncan Edwards | Engaging citizens has a vital role to play in the process of development. It helps to improve transparency and accountability of public policies, to build trust with citizens, to forge consensus around important reforms, and to build the political and public support necessary to sustain them. A number of institutions, including the London School of Economics, have demonstrated their commitment to this important agenda by developing a MOOC - a free, four-week online course on citizen engagement. The Department of International Development hosted a launch event on Thursday 19 March, in which a number of themes related to the MOOC was discussed with a panel of experts.