🗨️Communicating Deliberation: Strategies for Different Information Landscapes

The impact and legitimacy of deliberative assemblies depend partly on whether the public knows about them at all. Communicating these processes requires a clear strategy and dedicated staff.

🔍In this webinar, communication professionals share their experiences.

Speakers:
▪️Lucile Duclaux, Project Lead in Communications, CESE, France

▪️Rosalind Grisnigt Communications Lead, Netherlands' Citizens' Assembly on Climate

👉Register: https://shorturl.at/26DTS
📅March 27th, Friday 2pm (CET)

Introduction and Moderation:

Dr. Angela Jain, Senior Project Manager, Bertelsmann Stiftung
@Yves Dejaeghere, Executive Director, FIDE - Europe

The event is organised in the framework of the Network on Citizen Participation and Deliberation with Democracy and Social Cohesion.

#DeliberativeDemocracy #CitizenParticipation #CitizensAssemblies #DemocraticInnovation #PublicEngagement #StrategicCommunication

#politics
#democracy
#civilization
#civilsociety

"The premise of #citizensassemblies is simple but radical. Instead of leaving polarizing questions to professional politicians locked in partisan combat, you select a large, demographically representative group of citizens by lot. Over several weekends or months, they hear from experts, deliberate in small groups and plenaries, and work toward collective recommendations."

https://globe2go.pressreader.com/article/282256671963826

#CitizensAssemblies: strengthening democracy and participation

" #Earth4All advocates for citizens’ assemblies as a way of restoring public trust and participation in politics and creating safe spaces for dialogue around polarising issues.

We are calling for citizens’ assemblies on economic systems change so that we, the people, get a say in the kind of economic system we want.

What is a citizens’ assembly?

Citizens’ assemblies are designed to allow for a public debate outside of political parties. A randomly-selected group of citizens representing the full diversity of society are invited to participate in a process to explore an issue and formulate recommendations to government or parliaments. Often, independent experts are brought in to discuss problems and potential solutions.

We are living in a time of social and political polarisation. Social tensions are on the rise, bolstered by skyrocketing #inequality, and #democracy is increasingly at risk. Just 39% percent of people trust their governments to make good decisions. We urgently need to rebuild trust in our political systems.

On the other hand, we know that around the world, people want economic systems change. Holding citizens’ assemblies on this topic would open up space for exploring the kind of change we want, building trust and understanding between different groups, and co-creating a common agenda for the greater good.

In the 2024 Earth for All survey, 62% of people surveyed supported the use of citizens' assemblies to increase citizens’ influence in political decision-making.

What are some examples of citizens’ assemblies?

Citizens’ assemblies have already been used successfully to navigate politically contentious issues in highly polarised democracies. Prominent examples include:

- The Irish citizens’ assembly on abortion. The assembly is credited with helping Irish society navigate a deeply polarising issue. It led to a referendum and eventually a change in law.
- The Canadian Citizens’ Assembly on Democratic Expression, a three-year initiative to look at impact of digital technologies on society.
- France’s Convention Citoyenne Pour le Climat, the climate citizens’ assembly and a similar UK Climate Assembly.
- The Global Citizens’ Assembly for People and Planet was launched at New York Climate Week in 2024 and aims to bring citizen participation to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil."

Source:
https://earth4all.life/resources/citizens-assemblies/

#SolarPunkSunday #BuildingCommunity
#BuildingResilience #NoKings
#NoRulers #AddressingInequality #PowerCorrupts #PowerToThePeople

"... my hypothesis is that as Citizens’ Assemblies become more widely known, as we have more examples where people know that, OK, this is worth my time because I know the government is going to do something, that will also have an impact on response rates. We're still really early in the wider historical sense of this democratic innovation."

#ClaudiaChwalisz, CEO, Democracy Next, 2025

https://www.ppfideas.com/episodes/fixing-democracy%3A-citizens%E2%80%99-assemblies

#podcasts #PastPresentFuture #FixingDemocracy #CitizensAssemblies

NZ has Citizens Initiated Referenda, but they hardly ever get used and even when they are, the results just get ignored by governments. Maybe Citizens Initiated Assemblies would be more functional?

If enough citizens signed a petition on a question, the government would be obliged to commission a citizens' assemblies on it. Unlike a CIR, the legislation could require carefully specifying the question, and make the outcome binding on the government.

#PolicyNZ #CIR #CitizensAssemblies

'Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Citizens’ Assemblies: Benefits, Concerns and Future Pathways' - a University of Westminster Press article on #ScienceOpen:

🔗 https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=9e0c7e9d-9c94-4b4c-8ab7-df518d20b9ff

🖇️ #ArtificialIntelligence #CitizensAssemblies #DeliberativeDemocracy #DemocraticInnovation

🚨LAST CHANCE!

This is the final day to register for the Spring School on Climate Citizens’ Assemblies. A learning journey awaits you in Warsaw.

📸 Get inspired with the energy from previous editions.

📌Registration: fide.eu/spring-school-2025

#DeliberativeSchools #DemocraticInnovation #CitizensAssemblies #DeliberativeDemocracy

3️⃣days left to register!

🌹Last days of spring, last chances to apply for the Spring School on Climate Citizens’ Assemblies.

Applications are open for the full event, and the additional day of Deep Dive on Involving Children and Youth in deliberation.

Register 👉 fide.eu/spring-school-2025

Hosted by Shipyard Foundation, Fundacja Pole Dialogu and Urząd m.st. Warszawy. In partnership with KNOCA - Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies, Child Rights International Network - CRIN and European Climate Foundation.

#DeliberativeSchools #DemocraticInnovation #CitizensAssemblies #DeliberativeDemocracy