Training democratic innovators
Tap into the real potential of deliberation with in-person trainings and online resources.
We leverage an international network of experts and practitioners to close the gap between learning and implementation.
A range of programs to upscale your deliberative skills.
Citizens’ Assembly Schools
A two-day crash course on all things Citizens’ Assemblies.
Spring School 2023 in Milan
We combine the leading experts in the field with facilitation methods to create a collective learning experience. We bring politicians, civil servants, and practitioners up to speed with a grounded overview of cases and practices.
A foundational course for many, and a great way to expand your deliberative network.
The Curriculum
The essentials of Citizens’ Assemblies, tailored to every context. Each school provides a strong foundation—covering the core principles, methods, and challenges of deliberation—while adapting its programme to the needs of the hosting city and country. Here are the fundamentals you can expect.
Previous editions
More than
200
professionals trained
Across
6
countries
“It was one of the best workshops that I have attended. Because there was space to share experiences, to participate and to learn new things.”
“Excellent program, good work from the organisers. All the arrangements, program, and atmosphere that supported dialogue - remarkable job!”
“The event was really great - with a good balance between the formats proposed and content provided, well planned logistics and last but not least people-oriented and community building. The whole set up enabled us to share experiences and ideas in different groups, topics and occasions. I came back from the event motivated and inspired!”
“FIDE has been crucial to give me the foundation to work with Skellefteå’s Citizens Assembly.”
“While citizens’ assemblies are new to the US, they present one of the most promising opportunities for pro-democracy advocates. FIDE’s capacity-building school is a crash course for anyone interested in exploring this emerging democratic innovation. I can’t recommend it enough.”
School sessions on demand
Explore the lessons, cases, and voices shaping deliberative democracy.
Watch them all on our YouTube Channel
Library
Our selection of readings and resources on deliberative democracy and citizens’ assemblies.
GETTING STARTED
Getting Started
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Citizens' Assemblies: An Introduction to Definitions & Guidelines | FIDE – North America |
| Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections | New Democracy Foundation & UNDEF |
| Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions | OECD |
| Deliberative mini-publics: the core design features | Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance |
| Where to begin: Organizing a Climate Assembly | KNOCA |
| Assembling an Assembly Guide | DemNext |
| How to organize a deliberative process at a local level? A guide for local authorities | Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe |
SET-UP
Design
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| How to commission a Citizens’ Assembly or Reference Panel | MassLBP |
| How to run a citizens’ assembly? | Innovation in Democracy Programme |
RECRUITMENT & SORTITION
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Organising a Democratic Lottery | FIDE |
| How to run a Civic Lottery: Designing fair selection mechanisms for deliberative public processes | MassLBP |
| Citizens’ Participation Using Sortition. A practical guide to using random selection to guarantee diverse democratic participation | Bertelsmann Stiftung & Allianz Vielfältige Demokratie |
| A More Perfect Algorithm | Ariel Procaccia |
FACILITATION & DELIBERATION
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Deliberation: Research and Development Note | Lyn Carson, NewDemocracy |
| Facilitating Meetings | Seeds for Change |
| Facilitating Deliberation: A Practical Guide | MosaicLab |
| Consensus Decision Making | Seeds for Change |
FOLLOW—UP & EVALUATION
INSTITUTIONALISATION
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Towards Permanent Climate Citizens’ Assemblies: Learning from the Early Adopters (KNOCA Briefing No.10) | Nabila Abbas & Graham Smith |
| Eight ways to institutionalise Deliberative Democracy | OECD |
| Next-level citizen participation in the EU: Institutionalising European Citizens’ Assemblies | Bertelsmann Stiftung |
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Legal Documents
CLIMATE
Topics
INCLUSION & EQUITY
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Including the Underrepresented | FIDE |
| ‘Hard to reach’ or ‘easy to ignore’? Promoting equality in community engagement | Scottish Government |
| Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement | SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue |
BOOKS
Books
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Activated Citizenship | Marjan H. Ehsassi, 2024 |
| The Government of Chance | Yves Sintomer, 2023 |
| Open Democracy | Hélène Landemore, 2020 |
| Legislature by Lot | John Gastil & Erik Olin Wright, 2019 |
| Against Elections | David Van Reybrouck, 2018 |
JOURNALS
Academic Resources
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Journal of Deliberative Democracy | Various |
| Participations | Various |
ARTICLES
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| The crisis of democracy and the science of deliberation | Dryzek et al. |
| Scaling Up Deliberation: Testing the Potential of Mini-Publics to Enhance the Deliberative Capacity of Citizens | Jane Suiter, Lala Muradova, John Gastil, and David Farrell |
| Sortition, its advocates and its critics: An empirical analysis of citizens’ and MPs’ support for random selection as a democratic reform proposal | Vincent Jacquet, Christoph Niessen, and Min Reuchamps |
RESEARCH PROJECTS
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| The Deliberative Integrity Project | Various |
DOCUMENTARIES
Multimedia
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Teaching Power | Patrick Chalmers |
| By The People: What's Next California? | The PBS NewsHour |
| Deliberation Nation. Australia's First Citizens Parliament | newDemocracy Foundation |
| Tackling Hatred in Society - European Citizens’ Panel | EU Justice and Consumers |
| Goodbye elections. Hello democracy. | OF BY FOR |
EXPLAINERS
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| What is a Citizens' Assembly? Making the case for a democratic innovation | FIDE – North America & Bertelsmann Foundation |
| What did democracy really mean in Athens? | Melissa Schwartzberg, TED-ed |
| Climate Assemblies Explained | KNOCA |
| What is a Citizens' Assembly? | Democracy Creative |
| Sortition - doing democracy differently | Brett Hennig, TEDx |
| What are Democratic Lotteries? | Healthy Democracy |
| What is a Citizens’ Assembly | CADE |
| How to restore trust in politics | The Economist |
| Critical Thinking | newDemocracy |
| Unconscious Biases | newDemocracy |
| The French Citizen's Climate Convention: is it legitimate? | Philoxime |
| The Deliberative Wave | Peter MacLeod, MASS LBP |
PODCASTS
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| A Radical Proposal for True Democracy | Hélène Landemore |
| Facilitating Public Deliberations | newDemocracy |
| Lifeboats | Claudia Chwalisz |
| The Other Guy and Me | Bastian Berbner |
| Democratic Innovations | INCITE-DEM |
| From school assembly to climate assembly: the children changing democracy | Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd |
| Just Participation | Various, Students |
TOOLS
Tools
| Name | Use |
|---|---|
| Panoramic (AI Tool for Assembly) | Facilitation & Deliberation |
| Panelot (Online Selection Tool) | Recruitment & Sortition |
| Systemic (Systems Thinking Facilitation Tool) | Design |
SPANISH
Other Languages
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Guías prácticas | La Red, Delib |
| Cómo activar iniciativas nacionales para llevar a la democracia más allá de las elecciones | newDemocracy |
FRENCH
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| DicoPart | CNRS |
| Participation citoyenne innovante et nouvelles institutions démocratiques: LA VAGUE DÉLIBÉRATIVE | OECD |
| Le tirage au sort à la rescousse de la démocratie? | France Culture |
| DemoPratiques : le podcast des pratiques démocratiques | RSS |
| Le tirage au sort : démocratique? | France Culture |
| Dernières nouvelles de la démocratie participative | France Culture |
| Les 150 : des citoyens s’engagent après la Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat | Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire |
ITALIAN
GERMAN
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Kommunale Bürgerräte organisieren : Handbuch für den Weg von der ersten Idee bis zur Verwendung der Empfehlungen | Mehr Demokratie |