Facilitation: Learn how to successfully lead citizens’ assembly

Citizens’ assemblies and deliberative processes basically have two legs: The organizational one, which is about anchoring the process, organizing around it and the official construction of a democratic process. The other major leg is process design and facilitation. The task is to guide 25-100 people through:

• On-boarding – understanding the task, roles and context.
• Exploration – increase democratic skills, explore the topic and build visions.
• Dive deeper – gather knowledge and consult.
• Qualify – find consensus and align with stakeholders.
• Decide – make decisions on the final recommendations.
• Outcome – present recommendations and the process to the outside world.

At the same time, the process lives up to the OECD Good Practice Principles for deliberative processes, including transparency, representation and time.

That’s why it’s crucial that deliberative processes are designed and facilitated by skilled facilitators.

In the fall and spring of 2024/2025, the international organization DemocracyNext held masterclasses for three cities on citizens’ assembly in urban contexts. We Do Democracy was invited to contribute with a workshop on facilitation and process design. Zakia Elvang and Klara Sørensen held a 2.5-day workshop in March 2025 for practitioners from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland and Denmark. Zakia Elvang has many years of experience in training facilitators and is one of the practitioners in Denmark who has designed and facilitated the most citizens’ assemblies.

The workshop was conducted as a mix of teaching, question-based presentations, small exercises and work with own deliberative cases. The workshop was the first of its kind We Do Democracy has conducted and will be the starting point for future workshops on facilitating deliberation and participation in both Denmark and Europe. Right now, we need even more and better democracy.

The main topics in the workshop were:

• The five phases of citizens’ assemblies
• Process design – context, framework and core questions
• Macro design and flow
• Whole Brain – work and facilitation preferences
• Micro design and programming
• The good facilitator and process team
• Facilitator’s toolbox
• Facilitating group decision making

If you want to be notified when we hold facilitation courses in the future, contact klara@wedodemocracy.dk

After the workshop, 26 participants emerged stronger as facilitators and process designers. They were trained to manage complex democratic processes, create safe and productive conversations, and ensure that citizens assemblies led to concrete and actionable recommendations. They walked away with a solid toolbox, a network of peers and a clear understanding of how to run effective deliberative processes.

It was therefore crucial that, with the help of the Nordic Council of Ministers, it was still possible to bring together actors from the deliberative democracy scene from six different countries after the US National Endowment for Democracy withdrew its funding for the project!

Vilnius will host its first citizens’ assembly this fall. Together with DemNext, Zakia Elvang and Klara Sørensen spent three days training them and practitioners from Estonia, Latvia and Iceland on how to facilitate citizens’ assemblies according to the OECD principles for good deliberative processes.