Supporting Changemakers
We celebrate the ongoing impact of assembly members who stepped up, spoke up, and kept going.
Transforming extraordinary people into active citizens
We celebrate the ongoing impact of citizens’ assembly members who stepped up, spoke up, and kept going. Wherever possible giving them new and creative ways to be more impactful in their community.
Deliberative democracy – which includes ‘citizens’ assemblies’ – imagines everyday citizens as active, creative, and collaborative. Willing to work together with people from all backgrounds and political persuasions. But, once a deliberation has ended, too often those involved are not helped to continue meeting. Passion can dissipate, and their recommendations can be ignored.
For many people, taking part in a citizens’ assembly is their first experience of getting involved in their communities and in local politics. They learn new skills, gain more confidence, and often they don’t just want to stop there.
A positive introduction to deliberative democracy combined with post-assembly support can be a real jumping off point for people to become more active and engaged citizens in other areas of their lives.
That’s why we dedicate time to help our assembly participants think through how to apply their newly found passion and experience of working collectively.
How we support Assembly members to push for change
Supporting self-organising
We support those who want to keep meeting, online and in person. Encouraging them to continue to push for change, and be creative building wider community awareness.
Facilitation training
We bring together willing participants from different processes to develop their own group facilitation skills. This helps grow the diversity of future assembly facilitators.
Speaker training
Working with our expert partners we offer everyday citizens training in public speaking and advocacy. Helping them be more impactful in public meetings.
Lobbying MPs
We’ve supported letter writing campaigns and face to face engagement with political leaders. Bringing democracy closer to the people.
Launch Events
After every citizens’ assembly we ask the organiser to hold a public meeting to launch the citizens recommendations. Then prepare the participants.
CHANGEMAKERS CASE STUDIES
Cumbria Climate Assembly
Working with Zero Carbon Cumbria, the Cumbria Climate Assembly is making a real impact.
Preston Climate Jury
The Preston People’s Climate Jury invited 30 Preston residents to have their say on how to tackle climate change across the city and make their recommendations to local leaders about how the city should act in response.
Bude Area Community Jury
The Bude Area Community Jury, which was commissioned by Bude Climate Partnership, brought together 34 citizens aged 16 to 86 from across the wider Bude area to tackle the challenges of rising sea levels in the region.
Work with us
We can design, organise and facilitate citizens assemblies and juries on just about any topic of public concern. We have facilitated over 40 processes both in the UK and further afield. They happen both face to face and online, and we adopt creative approaches to ensure everyone can contribute as equals.
