Between October 16th and 18th, Berlin will host “Entering Brave Space(s) – Facilitating beyond beaten tracks”, the 2023 Conference of the International Association of Facilitators – Europe and Middle East, which will cover the topics of inclusiveness and awareness of inequalities, privileges and asymmetries of power in the context of facilitated processes that aim at innovation and societal transformation.
Giuliana Gemini and Alessandro Cattini, who coordinate Poliedra’s projects and activities on public participation, participatory planning and facilitation, will take part in the event by facilitating the laboratory “The brave space of sorted democracy – Facilitating inclusiveness in Citizens’ Assemblies”.
Citizens’ assemblies are tools of deliberative democracy that aim at gathering the recommendations of the wider public on important topics (such as climate change, bioethics, civil rights, …) by reducing the explosive effects of polarized opinions and creating safe spaces where the people that are impacted by public decisions on delicate issues can share their needs, desires and proposals. Participants of citizens’ assemblies are randomly selected with a sortition methodology that guarantees a balanced representativeness of different points of view. Furthermore, citizens are formed by impartial experts so as to become capable of high quality democratic discussion and deliberation on the issues at stake.
After one year spent accompanying Milan’s Permanent Citizens’ Assembly on Climate, Giuliana and Alessandro will share their experience, questions and insights at IAF’s Conference, exchanging views with fellow facilitators and practitioners from around the world, in order to explore new and “brave” ways of fostering more inclusive process design and facilitation in citizens’ assemblies.