The Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) aims to improve the commissioning, design, implementation and impact of climate assemblies, using evidence, knowledge exchange and dialogue. KNOCA – Knowledge Network On Climate Assemblies
Could Citizens’ Assemblies be Democracy’s Missing Link? An article by David Van Reybrouck, who has taken part in designing the Ostbelgien Model in the German-speaking part of Belgium, a blueprint for what has been called “the world’s first permanent citizens’ council.” The model combines a citizens’ council with 24 members who sit for 18 months and oversee several citizens’ assemblies. The assemblies each have 25 to 50 participants and typically gather for three to four months. The council has agenda-setting power for the assemblies and is entrusted with following up on their recommendations. This combination of short-term panels that generate ideas with a long-term body that reminds the government about citizens’ desires and ideas structurally enhances the impact of what citizens decide. https://www.noemamag.com/democracys-missing-link/
An in-depth analysis of the Climate Assembly UK (CAUK), focusing on: a) the design of the process including its structure, scope and framing; b) the deliberations that took place and the underlying values surrounding how to achieve net zero that they revealed; and c) assembly members’ wider perceptions of climate change, derived from follow-up interviews with CAUK participants. The report next examines the similarities and differences between the French Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (CCC) and the UK approach; it also focuses on the CCC’s consideration of ‘consumption’ and question the extent to which this allowed citizens to address the underlying and systemic drivers of unsustainable consumption. Finally, the report explores the diversity of local and regional processes within the UK, emphasising their ability to galvanise action despite limitations surrounding the ability to achieve wider public engagement or specific policy recommendations. CITIZENS-CLIMATE-ASSEMBLIES-CAST-July-2021.pdf
This report’s recommendations focus on practical ways that future citizens’ assemblies can more openly address the underlying issues driving the polycrisis. Deeply ingrained systems – economic, political and social – are at the root of the climate and ecological crisis. Deliberative processes such as citizens’ assemblies have so far struggled to address these systemic aspects in the context of achieving genuine social transformations. The report contrasts the top-down model of deliberation, so far favoured by policymakers, with a bottom-up approach that sets out to reclaim decision-making processes. CAST Guidelines: How can citizens’ assemblies help navigate the systemic transformations required by the polycrisis?
Citizen participation and technology: lessons from the fields of deliberative democracy and science and technology studies Citizen participation and technology: lessons from the fields of deliberative democracy and science and technology studies | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
ISWE Foundation. An independent democracy innovation centre with the mission to make governance systems work for people and the planet https://iswe.org/
The Global Citizens’ Assembly Network (GloCAN) is a research collective that generates actionable insights to inform policymakers, funders, process designers, advocates and the wider community of practice designing, implementing, and evaluating global citizens’ assemblies. https://glocan.org/
A report in Spanish questioning the effectiveness of a global Citizens’ Assembly from an epistemic justice perspective. Essay-1-2024-Riquiac-et-al-ES.pdf Available in The GloCAN website above also in English
Our goal is to help collectively create decision-making processes that are compelling, fair, transparent, morally legitimate, emotionally intelligent, decolonised and culturally diverse. Grassroots To Global
Participedia is a collaborative and crowdsourced effort to document public participation and democratic innovation around the world. Participedia entries include cases, methods, organizations, and teaching and learning resources. The Participedia platform is published under Creative Commons License and is accessible and editable by anyone. 1) Explore: Search, read, download and gain insight from our database of cases, methods and organizations 2) Create: Help improve the quality of this knowledge resource by editing existing content or publishing your own. 3) Teach: Use Participedia in the classroom as a tool to engage students and showcase their research. http://www.participedia.net
The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (CDDGG) is the world-leading centre for theoretical and applied research in deliberative governance and democratic innovations. The centre conducts cutting edge interdisciplinary research in five key areas and translate our research into meaningful practice in Australia and beyond about (1) deepening citizen engagement; (2) building democratic resilience; (3) innovating global governance; (4) democratising environmental governance; and (5) advancing theory and methods. Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance
The Peoples Movement Assemblies offer spaces for us to practice community governance and to coordinate together across multiple strategies and multiple geographies.https://projectsouth.org/global-movement-building/peoples-movement-assemblies/
Information on the use of people’s assemblies as a form of participatory democracy https://extinctionrebellion.uk/act-now/resources/peoples-assemblies/