New America, FIDE - North America and Columbia World Projects convened government officials, civic practitioners and international experts on April 18 to explore means of integrating citizens' assemblies into the fabric of American governance. Citizens’ assemblies bring together randomly selected and demographically diverse groups of individuals to learn about and collectively issue recommendations concerning issues facing their community. Titled "Lessons Learned: Exploring Citizens' Assemblies for Federal Engagement," the meeting examined how this process of public deliberation might aid U.S. federal agencies in developing policies grounded in public participation and community preferences.

Held at New America’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the discussion underscored citizens' assemblies as instrumental processes for enhancing political decision making, while also spotlighting the wealth of opportunities and technical expertise from across the globe available to government entities in the United States for implementing such assemblies. 

New America’s Mark Schmitt and Hollie Russon Gilman (Political Reform Program), Columbia World Projects’ Thomas Asher, and FIDE - North America’s Marjan Ehsassi opened the meeting by touching on the growing momentum behind citizens' assemblies as a catalyst for democratic renewal. Their introductions were followed by presentations from four leading international experts on citizens' assemblies:

• Art O'Leary, secretary general of The Electoral Commission in Ireland
• Kenza Occansey, vice president of Citizen Participation for The Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) in France
• Felix Arndt, head of the Citizens' Assembly Unit of the Bundestag in Germany
• Zakia Elvang, managing partner for We Do Democracy in Denmark

Each contributor shared insights drawn from their experience leading citizens' assemblies and mini-publics across Europe, delving into the design and mechanics of deliberative structures, representational composition, issue selection, expert presentation and effective implementation. 

"We are pleased to bring such expertise to Washington as we have much to learn from the innovations of other countries," Ehsassi said. "As interest in the US continues to grow," she added "FIDE - North America and our partners are well positioned to provide technical guidance and oversight, build capacity and lead a rigorous learning agenda for our collective work in this space."

The meeting ended with an interactive session where representatives from federal agencies, including the General Services Administration, Department of Agriculture, Office of Management and Budget, USAID and the White House Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, asked questions of the international experts on avenues for financing assemblies, leveraging digital technologies for effective participant engagement, ensuring the benefits of assemblies’ extend beyond their participants and topic selection.

“As avenues for inclusive dialogue, these assemblies are at the heart of rethinking the relationship between citizens and their governments,” said Schmitt. “Moving forward, New America, FIDE - North America, and Columbia World Projects are committed to championing and refining models for this within the United States.” 

Asher added, “we are at a decisive moment of opportunity with our federal government grappling with how to extend democracy and meaningfully engage the public in key decisions and it is the obligation of civil society – including universities – to support this effort.”  

The event was held during a busy week in D.C. for those focused on meaningfully improving civic engagement through the use of citizens’ assemblies and other innovations, which opened with the Global Innovations in Democracy summit and wrapped up with FIDE - North America’s first Citizens’ Assembly Capacity Building School for practitioners and public managers. 

Over the coming months, New America, FIDE - North America, and Columbia World Projects will launch a public webinar series to explore the distinguishing characteristics of citizens’ assemblies and relevant thematic focus areas.

Media contact: 
Anna Marchese