Citizens Assemblies

Citizens Assemblies and Juries bring together a randomly selected group of everyday people who reflect the diversity of the wider population. We support the participants as they share experiences and opinions, listen to expert evidence and make recommendations around often highly contested issues of public policy.

Putting Deliberative Democracy into Action

We have designed and delivered these types of deliberative engagement processes on a huge variety of topics. Though we specialise in climate change themed processes, our work ranges from alcohol use, policing, and health and wellbeing to fracking, sea level rise, and home energy interventions. We have pioneered the use of mixed method approaches, which combine online and face to face participation, as well as running and connecting adult and youth juries to gain even wider perspectives.

Ensuring those who are marginalised or not normally involved in policy-making is central to our practice. Alongside using random selection we ensure everyone receives incentives or rewards to reflect the time they give, and we actively support those who might be new or initially unconfident in participating in public deliberation.

As a leader in this form of deliberative democracy in the UK, we have contributed towards defining the best practice standards for Citizens Assemblies, within the network of practitioners across the UK. We have produced best practice guidelines on Climate Assemblies and Juries and run over 30 different processes for a wide range of public sector bodies.

Cumbria Climate Assembly members are advocating for a standing citizens assembly.
Read more about the impact they are having

How we can help

We can design, organise and facilitate citizens assemblies and juries on just about any topic of public concern. We have facilitated over 30 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.

We undertake research, write blogs and toolkits as well as running projects. We also train and support others to do this type of work.

We have worked with many institutions Interested in transforming policy making and putting citizens at the centre of policy. These include local authorities, public sector service providers like health authorities, social landlords and the police, as well as think-tanks and research institutions.

Our aim is that deliberative processes like citizens’ juries and assemblies become a normal part of a well-functioning democracy. Please talk to us if you share this vision.

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