Facts
Citizen assemblies, youth panels, listening campaigns, digital dialogue platforms, and much more are currently being tested by municipalities, government agencies, and civil society organizations throughout the Nordic region. Interest in democratic innovation is growing rapidly. Yet there is still no comprehensive overview of which methods work, for whom, and under what conditions.
The choice of method is therefore often determined by habit and familiarity rather than by knowledge of the democratic effects the method produces. We would like to change that.
Share Your Approach: A Nordic Knowledge Base on What Works
The first step is a practitioner-driven survey of participation models, methods, tools, and frameworks from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Åland. We are paying particular attention to methods that engage young people and to digital participation platforms.
Who can contribute: Practitioners, municipalities and public authorities, researchers, individuals, civil society organizations, and networks that develop or use participatory methods in the Nordic region.
What we’re looking for: Democratic participatory methods, large and small, established and experimental.
How: Submit your method using the form here.
Deadline: 11/06/26
What’s in it for you: Your method will become part of a shared Nordic knowledge base, and you’ll gain access to the project’s findings and recommendations.
How We Will Continue to Work with the Methods
1. Analysis of Democratic Impact
The collected methods are analyzed using the Democratic Impact model, which We Do Democracy developed in collaboration with Analyse & Tal, TrygFonden, and the University of Southern Denmark. The model makes it possible to compare methods across different democratic goals, such as strengthening trust and competencies, increasing influence on policy, or improving the quality of the deliberative process. Selected methods are followed up with in-depth interviews.
2. Nordic Youth Pilot with Democracy Fitness
We are testing Democracy Fitness, a training program for “democracy muscles,” with young people in Denmark, Norway, and Finland. The pilot aims to demonstrate how the method can be adapted to different Nordic contexts. At the same time, it gives young people a voice in deciding how they themselves want to be heard and involved.
3. Recommendations developed in collaboration with practitioners
The findings are compiled into recommendations for decision-makers and practitioners, which we refine in collaboration with stakeholders in the field.
Do you want to know more?
Join us for our next online Nordic Deliberation Learning Call, Where are all the democratic innovations? on November 5, 2026 at 8:30-9:45 AM. Here, practitioners from across the Nordic region will share methods, experiences and perspectives. Read more and register here.
Do you have any questions about the project? Please email Thomas Noppen at thomas@wedodemocracy.dk.
Read more about Nordic Deliberation here.
A Common Nordic Foundation for Democratic Participation
The goal is to move the Nordic region from many valuable individual experiments toward a shared capacity to understand, compare, and scale democratic participation. The project will conclude with a report and a strategic roadmap for how the work can be continued within a joint Nordic platform. The project builds on Nordic Deliberation, which We Do Democracy runs in collaboration with SoCentral, Sitra, and Digidem Lab.
The project is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers.