2027 Training Programme by CC-DEMOS on Citizen Participation

The European Commission’s Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (CC‑DEMOS) has announced a new in‑person Train‑the‑Trainers Winter School, taking place from 23–25 February 2027 in Ispra, Italy. The free three‑day programme is designed to strengthen citizen participation skills across local, regional, and national public administrations.

The Winter School will equip officials with practical tools to design, deliver, and support participatory processes, helping public institutions embed citizen engagement more effectively into policymaking. By training trainers, CC‑DEMOS aims to expand the reach of participatory methods across Europe and build long‑term capacity within administrations.

The initiative reflects the Commission’s broader commitment to improving democratic practice and ensuring that public authorities have the skills and confidence to involve citizens meaningfully in decisions that affect them.

EU Democracy Festival Explores the Future of Citizen Involvement

The 6th Festival of European Democracy returns this year in Brussels with a focus on citizen engagement, inspired by the European Democracy Shield unveiled by the Commission in November 2025. Building on EU initiatives to strengthen democratic resilience, the Festival will showcase new approaches to participatory and deliberative democracy through panels, workshops, and project exhibitions.

Across the programme, three headline talks will guide the conversation: How is the Commission walking the talk of democratic resilience?, What’s new in citizen participation?, and What infrastructures for participation do we need? Together, they set the tone for a Festival dedicated to innovation, reflection, and the future of democratic involvement in Europe.

newDemocracy Sets Out How to Run Effective Citizens’ Assemblies

newDemocracy have created a handbook which is a practical guide for commissioning, designing, and running citizens’ assemblies. The handbook builds on earlier UNDEF-supported work and includes case studies from Brazil, Malawi, and North Macedonia to show how assemblies can be adapted to different social and institutional contexts. Overall, it offers principles, step‑by‑step guidance, and global examples to help organisations use deliberation as a trusted democratic decision‑making tool. Find the handbook here.

Council of Europe Workshop on Deliberative Democracy and Youth Engagement

The Council of Europe Youth is inviting young people to engage in a range of activities surrounding deliberative democracy. It will include an international roundtable, an online webinar, a public panel, and a 2-day workshop at the European Youth Centre Budapest. The aim is to strengthen and support youth participation. The “Strengthening Democratic Resilience through Youth Engagement and Deliberative Democracy” programme will instil the importance of deliberative democracy into youth, providing them with the necessary skills to continue its legacy into the future.

New Demos Research Highlights Path to Stronger MP–Constituent Relationships

Demos has released a new study evaluating an innovative model of MP–constituent engagement, launched in response to declining public trust in politics. With only 4% of the public believing politicians act in the country’s best interests, the organisation argues that strengthening the relationship between MPs and the people they represent is essential to revitalising democratic participation.

The pilot, run in South Derbyshire and Weston‑super‑Mare, brought together over 30 constituents who had never previously interacted with their MP. Over three structured sessions, participants collaborated directly with their MP to identify a local issue and co‑create an Action Plan. The model was designed around five principles: reaching beyond the usual suspects, participatory working, reciprocity, accountability, and practicality for MPs’ offices.

The pilot successfully engaged a politically disengaged group, achieving an 81% attendance rate across all sessions. It also generated a wider ripple effect, with the process reaching an estimated 180 people through friends, family, and digital engagement — a sixfold increase in local reach.

The paper comes well equipped, including recommendations for improving the model design as well as policy recommendations.

Demos says the findings demonstrate the potential of structured, relationship‑based engagement to rebuild trust and strengthen democratic resilience.

Public Consultation Opens on Finland’s Defence Cooperation Bill

Finland’s Ministry of Defence has launched a public consultation on a draft bill that would create a new Act governing the international cooperation of the Finnish Defence Forces. The consultation invites public input on proposed changes to personnel arrangements, conscription rules and reservist training, all aimed at modernising Finland’s defence legislation in line with its current security environment and NATO commitments.

Channel 4 Showcases How Citizens’ Assemblies Are Reframing the Immigration Conversation

MPs from the Home Affairs Select Committee held Citizens’ Assemblies in three locations with a focus on work-based immigration in the UK.

Randomly selected members of public across the political spectrum engaged in the deliberative exercise on citizen’s democracy and Channel 4 was given access to a discussion held in Leicester where constructive conversations were had which dispelled myths and created a safe space for fact finding.

Those involved came to a solution of putting the needs of British workers first while ensuring that migrants are treated with dignity and respect. Watch the full clip here.

Comments on assemblies held in North Tyneside and Renfrewshire can be found below.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/migration-citizen-assemblies-home-affairs-37634366

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/tyneside-panel-held-work-based-34577657

Three‑Year Oxford Study to Explore Public Confidence in Democratic Institutions

The Centre for Democratic Resilience at the University of Oxford has launched a three-year study into examining how deliberation and participation affect long term political trust. In this context, long-term political trust refers to a sustained confidence in political institutions, representatives, and democratic processes, as opposed to short-term approval of individual decisions.

This investigation will create opportunity for a well-rounded understanding of the depth of public perception regarding politics and can inform future discussions surrounding Citizens’ Assemblies. The research will run from 1 September 2026 to 1 September 2029.

Debate Reopens on a Written British Constitution as Barnett Highlights Allen’s Earlier Work

Anthony Barnett’s article regarding the possibility of a British Constitution under Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s authority, and refers to work done by Graham Allen.

The article discusses the possibility of creating a written British constitution and having government undergo a decentralisation of power. It also recognises the potential issues that could arise in the presence of a constitution.

Graham Allen was the chair for the Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform where he oversaw the publication of a previous draft of a constitution by the House of Commons in 2014.

You can find the article by searching ‘Is Andy Burnham About to Create a British Constitution?” on Byline Times, or by clicking here.

Pioneering local deliberative democracy: Citizens’ assembly simulation held in Kosovo

In Kosovo, a three-day simulation of a citizens’ assembly was organised by the Congress in July. Participants came from local municipalities, the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, and the Ministry of Local Government Administration. They navigated an informational learning phase, a deliberation phase to draft recommendations, and a final voting phase where a response plan was instituted. Most participants who took part are committed to adopting deliberative practices in their municipality.

Citizens’ Assemblies: an Opportunity to Restore Trust in Politics

Research has taken place in partnership with Humboldt University Berlin and other institutions investigating the effectiveness of citizen participation using constituency days. Citizens would spend a day discussing political topics alongside their constituency MPs. They were able to prove that constituency days increase trust levels in politics and that participation reduces susceptibility to conspiracy theories. Overall, the research proved that dialogue-based citizens participation is an efficient tool to strengthen democratic engagement.

Letter to the Financial Times: Citizens’ assemblies are an underused political gift

Your editorial (“Biden’s domestic agenda is beginning to stall”, June 18) suggests the gridlock of representative democracy in the US needs to be overcome by appealing to what the polls repeatedly show is an electorate which is far less polarised than its representatives.

Democracies across the planet are now proving the new tools to make this happen.

A microcosm of a nation’s citizens — impartially selected and independently deliberating — could easily offer to the presidency and legislature a legitimate and public consensus on a key range of issues starting with police powers, voting rights and infrastructure spending.

These gifts of citizens’ assemblies would carry immense weight, meriting serious consideration from all elected representatives.

They could be used regularly by the US and other democracies including our own. Since winning the concept of one person one vote, it has been effective citizens’ engagement between elections which has been the missing piece in the evolution of our democracies.

The 1770s were an epoch-making decade for democracy. The 2020s can be a time for a quieter, but no less significant, step to help us win the battle between democracy and autocracy.

Graham Allen, Convenor of the Citizens’ Convention for UK Democracy; Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform

CCUKD appears on Conservative Home and the Social Liberal Forum.

The Citizens’ Convention on UK Democracy has featured on both Conservative Home and the Social Liberal Forum. Convenor of the CCUKDemocracy, Graham Allen, explains why now is the time to renew our democratic system through a thorough and inclusive deliberative process with all-party support, and how the CCUKDemcracy aims to do just that.

You can read the Conservative article here, and the piece on the Social Liberal Forum here.

“Democracy is under threat, not least because it has failed to evolve. But the next era of democracy is taking shape - and a Citizens’ Convention on UK Democracy is the way to bring that new mode of democracy to these proud islands.”

Climate Assembly UK Final Report: the path to net zero

Climate Assembly UK, the first UK-wide citizens’ assembly on climate change, has published its final report. The report contains over 50 coherent, achievable recommendations for how the UK should go about reaching its legally binding net zero emissions by 2050 target. Produced by a representative cross-section of society, the report gives a unique insight into the public’s preferences, priorities and values when it comes to tackling climate change.

The Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary, Alok Sharma, spoke at the launch of the report. He acknowledged the value of working with a dedicated group of citizens on the issue and said its recommendations would be carefully examined and inform the government’s approach.

In leading to such a comprehensive and practical series of proposals, the experience of Climate Assembly UK adds to the evidence for the efficacy and value of public deliberation and citizens’ assemblies.

The inspiring report launch, which featured participants, the Chairs of the commissioning select committees and the BEIS Secretary, is worth catching up on in full online. There is also a shorter, executive summary of the report that can be found here.

Methods for involving citizens in decision-making

Involve have published a collection of 54 participatory methods and tools on their website. There is detailed info on each approach, including its costs, level of participation, what they should be used for and their respective strengths and weaknesses.

A really useful resource for any organisation looking to engage meaningfully with the public.

Bringing together a divided nation

We wrote to the Guardian in 2020 calling on the government to involve citizens and use deliberative democracy in their proposed Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission.

Guardian letters

The commitments in all the main UK parties' manifestos to set up an assembly, convention or commission to review our democracy was a rare and welcome piece of political unity. The government has now pledged to bring forward its commission on the constitution, democracy and rights (Report, 14 February).

There will be some whose default position will be to blindly oppose the commission as partisan and elitist. Others will say the government should use its new majority to impose whatever it likes. Both ends of this bell curve are wrong. Most of us know that our democracy desperately needs a review, and it needs to be a review where citizens themselves can engage, deliberate and be heard.

This balance can be simply achieved by government beginning its review process by using the globally tried-and-tested tools of deliberative democracy. These are online and offline, including scientifically-selected microcosms of the UK to populate citizens' assemblies and a well-resourced and independently refereed national conversation. These techniques would carefully discover and distil people's practical proposals to be then sent to the commission. The government would then use its electoral legitimacy to take forward recommendations through the normal parliamentary procedures of acceptance, rejection or amendment.

Having a citizens’ contribution using the sensible and thoughtful deliberative processes that are now on offer, there would be a real chance that the outcome would not only be reforming, respected and sustainable, but also widely discussed, understood and accepted across our many false divides.

We and the government should not waste this unique opportunity.

Graham Allen, Convener of the CCUKD

Could you help shape the future of UK democracy?

The BBC reported on the Convention. The article covers the plan for the process, what will be discussed and who can get involved. It also gives some examples of deliberative democracy in action from around the world.

We are trying to renew British politics and strike a blow for democracy — now we need your help

Innovation in Democracy Programme Resources

The Innovation in Democracy Programme (IiDP) have published an exciting new set of resources from the project, which completed its activities last year.

IiDP was commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to trial deliberative democratic methods as a way of involving citizens in local government decision-making. It supported three local authorities (Cambridge, Test Valley and Dudley) to involve residents in tackling a local issue through a citizens’ assembly. The programme was run in partnership with Involve, DemSoc, the RSA and MySociety and led by CCUKD Advisory Board member Miriam Levin at DCMS.

They have produced a handbook for running local citizens’ assemblies based on insights from the programme alongside a case studies document with responses from the council staff that led each assembly. There is also an independent evaluation document and a brilliant short film documenting the experience of participants in the assemblies. All in all, an important suite of new resources that will be extremely helpful for practitioners and will hopefully encourage more local authorities to run deliberative processes in the future.