Citizens’ assemblies as a tool for social cohesion and decision-making

On 4–5 March, the second online meeting of the Deliberative Democracy Lab took place as part of the BRIDGE project. The two-day session focused on citizens’ assemblies and the citizens’ panel — sortition-based public participation tools that enable residents to engage in decision-making through joint informed discussions of issues, exchange of arguments, and the search for solutions that take into account different interests within a community. The session combined case presentations, Q&A with speakers, and small-group discussions focused on key organisational aspects.

During the meeting, participants explored  Ukrainian cases of deliberative democracy: the citizens’ panel in Konotop and citizens’ assemblies in Zviahel, Slavutych, and Zhytomyr. Based on these examples, participants discussed the challenges that arise at different stages of implementation.

During the group discussions, Lab participants focused on the first three key aspects of organising citizens’ assemblies: representativeness in sortition-based participant selection, the choice of discussion topics, and measures to ensure trust and legitimacy in the process. Adherence to these principles and the openness of the process help strengthen social cohesion.

The outcomes of the Lab will help adapt the principles of deliberative democracy to the Ukrainian context and develop practical recommendations for communities and public authorities.

The next meeting will take place on 16–17 April in Kyiv and will be the first offline session of the Lab. Participants will explore deliberative democracy tools in the context of the Law of Ukraine “On People’s Power”. During the meeting, they will continue their work on the key principles of deliberative processes and discuss how these tools can be integrated into the new legislative framework for public participation.