Citizens' assembly
Citizens' assemblies are a method for involving citizens in the design of solutions to complex issues.
The process relies on the sessions, where a representative sample of citizens meet to analyse the challenge together. The methodology requires that participants have the chance to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the issue and listen to experts in the specific field. Through specially designed workshops, participants discuss with people from different educational backgrounds, economic status, geographical areas, ages, genders and ethnic backgrounds, explore possible actions and solutions, and together develop recommendations on how your organisation can address the societal challenge at hand.
The method has been successfully used in France in 2019-2020, for example, where a national citizens’ assembly developed recommendations on how to reduce the country’s emissions by at least 40% by 2030. It is now being used in several municipalities and regions across the country. Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and the UK have also successfully used citizens’ assmeblies on complex social issues.
Already in 2017, Digidem Lab contributed to the design of the Madrid city’s Observatorio de la Ciudad, a municipal citizens’ assembly consisting of 50 randomly selected participants.
In 2020, Digidem Lab was hired to contribute to the design of the Conference on the Future of Europe for the EU Commission, a pan-European process involving citizens from the 27 countries of the EU in 24 languages.
In 2022, Digidem Lab was commissioned by Livsmedelsverket to design and implement Sweden’s first national citizens’ assembly, a process that ended in autumn 2023 with very positive results. Digidem Lab is also hired for a citizens’ assembly with 30 participants during an ongoing project with the City of Gothenburg within the framework of the municipality’s initiative to become climate neutral by 2030.
In the spring of 2024, Digidem Lab will organise the national Citizens’ Assembly on Climate for Stockholm University.
Together with We Do Democracy (DK), SITRA (FI) and SoCentral (NO), Digidem Lab is currently in a phase of building a Nordic network for the exchange of methodological knowledge and experiences from the implementation of citizens’ assiemblies.
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