We help decision makers take hard decisions and build public trust.
The Challenge
With outdated tools, eroding public trust and pressure for quick fixes, it’s hard for governments to make wise long-term decisions.
Our Approach
We empower diverse groups of citizens to reach informed judgements and share decisions with governments.
We achieve this with deep democratic practices such as random selection (sortition) and deliberation.
Anyone facing election cannot ignore public opinion. Our models offer something better: public judgment.
Our Impact
Our members have helped governments from the local to the global generate trust, understanding, and solutions to some of the most challenging problems.
We’re bringing everyday people back into public decision making.
Contact Us
Project Spotlight:
Citizens‘ Assembly on Democratic Reform
During two weekends in September 2019, a diverse group of 160 randomly-selected Germans discussed how Germany can overcome declining voter turnout and dissatisfaction with politics – especially among low-income, and educationally disadvantaged citizens. Their 22 recommendations included complementing parliamentary systems with elements of citizens’ participation and direct democracy.
Our Reach

Democracy R&D Network

Australia
A first point of contact for elected representatives facing difficult policy challenges who want to do democracy better by sharing hard decisions with everyday people. nDF offers advice worldwide.
newdemocracy.com.au

Switzerland
Promotes a democracy where legislative bodies empower randomly selected everyday-citizen through smart deliberation, hence revitalizing the swiss democracy with more diversity and neutrality.
genomi.ch

Toronto, Canada
MASS has led some of Canada’s most ambitious efforts to engage citizens in tackling tough policy choices while pioneering Civic Lotteries and Citizens’ Reference Panels.
masslbp.com

Saint Paul, USA
Partners with citizens, communities, and institutions to design and implement informed, innovative, and democratic solutions to today’s toughest challenges.
jefferson-center.org

Netherlands
A citizen-driven direct democracy-model based on dialogue, equality and autonomy. 200-1000 people in the room, starting with their own agenda and (3 month's later) ending with a Citizens Decision.
g1000.nu

Gütersloh, Germany
Fosters citizens’ participation through analysing existing forms of participation, developing new ones and directly applying participatory innovations.
bertelsmann-stiftung.de

São Paulo, Brazil
Works to strengthen and deepen Brazilian democracy with good deliberation, enabling citizen participation and more informed and consequential decisions for the common good.
deliberabrasil.org

London, UK
The mission of the RSA is to enrich society through ideas and action. They believe that all human beings have creative capacities that can be mobilised to deliver a 21st century enlightenment.
thersa.org

Belgium
Designs, develops and coordinates new and innovative processes of citizens’ participation and deliberation within political institutions.
particitiz.org

United States
The Policy Jury Group is a non-profit organization that explores and promotes the use of “Citizen Juries” to aid policy decision-makers in an impactful and non-partisan way.
policyjurygroup.org

Cambridge, UK
Campaigns for a world free from partisan politicking, where representative random samples of everyday people make decisions in an informed, deliberative and fair environment.
sortitionfoundation.org

Perth, Australia
Works collaboratively with governments and other decision-makers to improve their decision-making through representative, deliberative and influential public participation initiatives
empoweringparticipation.com

Tokyo, Japan
A gathering of citizens, practitioners, and scholars that work collaboratively with those involved to disseminate knowledge, expertise, and research on deliberative mini-publics throughout Japanese society.
jrfminipublics.wixsite.com

Manchester, England
Designs and runs citizens' juries on public policy questions in partnership with the Jefferson Center.
citizensjuries.org

Portugal
Strengthens democracy in Portugal by making the informed and reflected voice of ordinary citizens heard in important public debates.
forumdoscidadaos.pt

Denmark
Works to ensure that society’s development is shaped by informed and forward-looking cooperation between citizens, experts, stakeholders, and decision-makers.
tekno.dk

United Kingdom
The UK's leading public participation charity, on a mission to put people at the heart of decision-making. Demonstrating how citizens can help solve our biggest challenges.
involve.org.uk

Washington, DC, USA
Creates knowledge and methods, cultivates public discourse, and fosters policies to help decision makers and institutions grapple with the immense power of emerging science and technology.
cspo.org

Portland, USA
Works to elevate the voice of citizens in their democracy and improve public discourse for the benefit of all voters.
healthydemocracy.org

Cochabamba, Bolivia
Helps schools replace conventional student elections with lotteries, so that every student has an equal opportunity to develop leadership and civic skills.
democracyinpractice.org

Berlin, Germany
Uses innovative and longstanding participatory methods to make the voice of citizens heard in local, national, and international policymaking processes.
nexusinstitut.de

Belgium
Works with citizens, experts and policy makers to develop, support and promote new forms of deliberation that reinforce democracy from local to international level.
g1000.org

Paris, France & Berlin, Germany
A mission driven consultancy aiming at improving the decision making process by designing and implementing new forms of dialogues between citizens, governments and experts.
missionspubliques.org

Ireland
A central respository of information and resources on Ireland's citizens' assemblies.
citizenassembly.ie

Austria
Büro für Freiwilliges Engagement und Beteiligung (Office for Citizen Engagement and Participation) is a staff unit within the state government of Vorarlberg that aims to support a cultural transformation process towards more cooperation within society.
vorarlberg.at

Germany
Mehr Demokratie is the largest non-partisan organization promoting democracy in the EU and the biggest NGO for direct democracy worldwide. It is a founding member of Democracy International.
mehr-demokratie.de

Europe
The Democratic Society (Demsoc) works for more and better democracy, where people and institutions have the desire, opportunity and confidence to participate together.
demsoc.org

The ECI Campaign
Europe
Works for the successful implementation of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) – the world’s first tool of participatory, transnational democracy.
citizens-initiative.eu

United Kingdom
Shared Future are committed to community empowerment, social enterprise and democratic participation.
sharedfuturecic.org.uk

Korea
An organization of citizens, scholars and conflict management practitioners who pursue Deliberative Democracy and seek to convert social conflicts into creative energy for social progress.
kadr.or.kr

Korea
A society of scholars, researchers, activists, practitioners and government officials who study and work to find solutions to social conflict and to deepen Deliberative Democracy.
conflictstudies.or.kr

Denmark
Works to strengthen, redesign and revitalize participation formats and processes in order to increase citizens’ participation, the quality and relevance of policy-making, and democratic leadership.
wedodemocracy.dk

United States
Working to get past parties and politicians and put everyday people front and center.
joinofbyfor.us

United Kingdom
Designing and building support for a deliberative process, involving randomly selected citizens, who will examine and make recommendations on reform of the UK democratic system.
ccukdemocracy.org

Stanford, USA
Devoted to research and practice about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling®.
cdd.stanford.edu

Australia
The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance is the world-leading academic research centre for the study of the theory, practice, and methodology of deliberative democracy.
governanceinstitute.edu.au

Bilbao and Madrid, Spain
Deliberativa advocates for participation processes that include sortition and deliberation, and advises governments and institutions in Spain and worldwide that want to put it in practice.
deliberativa.org

Florence, Italy
ODERAL is the only Italian organization studying and promoting sortition in democracy, committed in the realization of Citizens' Assemblies all around the country.
oderal.org

Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Victoria, Australia
MosaicLab brings democratic processes alive for organisations who work with communities to solve complex problems.
mosaiclab.com.au

Britain
Engage Britain puts people at the heart of finding answers to the country's biggest challenges, bringing people with different views, knowledge and experiences together to talk and listen.
engagebritain.org

Berlin, Germany
es geht LOS is an non-governmental organization, that initiates and carries out lot-based citizen participation on both local and federal level.
esgehtlos.org

Colombia
iDeemos is a Colombian research and consulting organization that provides its services, in the implementation of public and democratic innovation, to the public sector, businesses and NGOs.
ideemos.org

Rwanda, Ghana, and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Rwanda, Ghana, and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Tokyo, Japan
Japan Initiative's goal is to enrich people‘s lives through a healthy democracy through policy advocacy and political and administrative reform through citizen participation.
kosonippon.org

Nigeria
Yiaga Africa envisons a democratic and developed Africa where citizens are engaged. The organization works with citizens and local council officials to improve local governance through public deliberation.
yiaga.org

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College is a home for bold and risky thinking about our political world.
hac.bard.edu

Lima, Perú
Transparency is a civil association that works for the quality of democracy and plural political representation in Peru. Founded on July 18, 1994, it has no party affiliation and is non-profit
transparencia.org.pe

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Democracia en Red (democraciaenred.org) designs and implements innovations and digital tools to transparent, facilitate and strengthen democratic participation and to enhance cooperation between different social groups.
democraciaenred.org

Vancouver, Canada
The Centre facilitates transformative conversations to advance solutions for society’s most pressing challenges and promotes democratic innovation by sharing new tools and methods.
sfu.ca/dialogue

Brussels, Belgium
FIDE is a network of leading democratic innovators in Europe. The organisation advises governments and policy-makers on how to involve everyday people in the decision-making process.
fide.eu

Paris, International
Works to shift political and legislative power to everyday people through empowered Citizens’ Assemblies, by building new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.
demnext.org

Los Angeles, United States
Advocates for direct citizen engagement through lottery selected deliberative panels with decision making power.
publicaccessdemocracy.org

International
More than 35 professional organisations to research and implement participatory democracy and 50 civil society organisations with EPF preparing political support or design of participatory processes.
europespeoplesforum.eu

Hungary
Raises awareness and knowledge of participatory democracy methodologies, especially citizens' assemblies in Hungary, and facilitates organizing CAs.
kozossegigyules.hu

Kenya
A pan-African youth empowerment organization working with young people in Africa and around the world to foster community resilience, propose innovative solutions, and inspire political change.
theyouthcafe.com

Burlington, Vermont, United States
Works to shift political and legislative power to everyday people through empowered Citizens’ Assemblies, by building new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.
democracycreative.com

United States
Unify America is on a mission to replace political fighting with collaborative problem-solving. This nonpartisan nonprofit helps communities bridge divides and solve problems through deliberation.
unifyamerica.org

Italy
Association dealing with the promotion of deliberative democracy and random selection of citizens, and realization of Citizens' Assembly in Italy at any level.
prossimademocrazia.it/

Netherlands
Is a Dutch field catalyst stimulating deliberative democracy (citizens' assemblies in particular) through advocacy, knowledge development, training, advise and quality monitoring.
bureauburgerberaad.nl/

International
Helps communities develop creative solutions through innovative stakeholder management processes. Core skills and expertise lie in public affairs, creativity and collective intelligence.
dreamocracy.eu/

Estonia
Strengthening democratic institutions by empowering science, facilitating discussion and developing institutions.
democracy.ee

Australia
A first point of contact for elected representatives facing difficult policy challenges who want to do democracy better by sharing hard decisions with everyday people. nDF offers advice worldwide.
newdemocracy.com.au

Switzerland
Promotes a democracy where legislative bodies empower randomly selected everyday-citizen through smart deliberation, hence revitalizing the swiss democracy with more diversity and neutrality.
genomi.ch

Toronto, Canada
MASS has led some of Canada’s most ambitious efforts to engage citizens in tackling tough policy choices while pioneering Civic Lotteries and Citizens’ Reference Panels.
masslbp.com

Saint Paul, USA
Partners with citizens, communities, and institutions to design and implement informed, innovative, and democratic solutions to today’s toughest challenges.
jefferson-center.org

Netherlands
A citizen-driven direct democracy-model based on dialogue, equality and autonomy. 200-1000 people in the room, starting with their own agenda and (3 month's later) ending with a Citizens Decision.
g1000.nu

Gütersloh, Germany
Fosters citizens’ participation through analysing existing forms of participation, developing new ones and directly applying participatory innovations.
bertelsmann-stiftung.de

São Paulo, Brazil
Works to strengthen and deepen Brazilian democracy with good deliberation, enabling citizen participation and more informed and consequential decisions for the common good.
deliberabrasil.org

London, UK
The mission of the RSA is to enrich society through ideas and action. They believe that all human beings have creative capacities that can be mobilised to deliver a 21st century enlightenment.
thersa.org

Belgium
Designs, develops and coordinates new and innovative processes of citizens’ participation and deliberation within political institutions.
particitiz.org

United States
The Policy Jury Group is a non-profit organization that explores and promotes the use of “Citizen Juries” to aid policy decision-makers in an impactful and non-partisan way.
policyjurygroup.org

Cambridge, UK
Campaigns for a world free from partisan politicking, where representative random samples of everyday people make decisions in an informed, deliberative and fair environment.
sortitionfoundation.org

Perth, Australia
Works collaboratively with governments and other decision-makers to improve their decision-making through representative, deliberative and influential public participation initiatives
empoweringparticipation.com

Tokyo, Japan
A gathering of citizens, practitioners, and scholars that work collaboratively with those involved to disseminate knowledge, expertise, and research on deliberative mini-publics throughout Japanese society.
jrfminipublics.wixsite.com

Manchester, England
Designs and runs citizens' juries on public policy questions in partnership with the Jefferson Center.
citizensjuries.org

Portugal
Strengthens democracy in Portugal by making the informed and reflected voice of ordinary citizens heard in important public debates.
forumdoscidadaos.pt

Denmark
Works to ensure that society’s development is shaped by informed and forward-looking cooperation between citizens, experts, stakeholders, and decision-makers.
tekno.dk

United Kingdom
The UK's leading public participation charity, on a mission to put people at the heart of decision-making. Demonstrating how citizens can help solve our biggest challenges.
involve.org.uk

Washington, DC, USA
Creates knowledge and methods, cultivates public discourse, and fosters policies to help decision makers and institutions grapple with the immense power of emerging science and technology.
cspo.org

Portland, USA
Works to elevate the voice of citizens in their democracy and improve public discourse for the benefit of all voters.
healthydemocracy.org

Cochabamba, Bolivia
Helps schools replace conventional student elections with lotteries, so that every student has an equal opportunity to develop leadership and civic skills.
democracyinpractice.org

Berlin, Germany
Uses innovative and longstanding participatory methods to make the voice of citizens heard in local, national, and international policymaking processes.
nexusinstitut.de

Belgium
Works with citizens, experts and policy makers to develop, support and promote new forms of deliberation that reinforce democracy from local to international level.
g1000.org

Paris, France & Berlin, Germany
A mission driven consultancy aiming at improving the decision making process by designing and implementing new forms of dialogues between citizens, governments and experts.
missionspubliques.org

Ireland
A central respository of information and resources on Ireland's citizens' assemblies.
citizenassembly.ie

Austria
Büro für Freiwilliges Engagement und Beteiligung (Office for Citizen Engagement and Participation) is a staff unit within the state government of Vorarlberg that aims to support a cultural transformation process towards more cooperation within society.
vorarlberg.at

Germany
Mehr Demokratie is the largest non-partisan organization promoting democracy in the EU and the biggest NGO for direct democracy worldwide. It is a founding member of Democracy International.
mehr-demokratie.de

Europe
The Democratic Society (Demsoc) works for more and better democracy, where people and institutions have the desire, opportunity and confidence to participate together.
demsoc.org

The ECI Campaign
Europe
Works for the successful implementation of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) – the world’s first tool of participatory, transnational democracy.
citizens-initiative.eu

United Kingdom
Shared Future are committed to community empowerment, social enterprise and democratic participation.
sharedfuturecic.org.uk

Korea
An organization of citizens, scholars and conflict management practitioners who pursue Deliberative Democracy and seek to convert social conflicts into creative energy for social progress.
kadr.or.kr

Korea
A society of scholars, researchers, activists, practitioners and government officials who study and work to find solutions to social conflict and to deepen Deliberative Democracy.
conflictstudies.or.kr

Denmark
Works to strengthen, redesign and revitalize participation formats and processes in order to increase citizens’ participation, the quality and relevance of policy-making, and democratic leadership.
wedodemocracy.dk

United States
Working to get past parties and politicians and put everyday people front and center.
joinofbyfor.us

United Kingdom
Designing and building support for a deliberative process, involving randomly selected citizens, who will examine and make recommendations on reform of the UK democratic system.
ccukdemocracy.org

Stanford, USA
Devoted to research and practice about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling®.
cdd.stanford.edu

Australia
The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance is the world-leading academic research centre for the study of the theory, practice, and methodology of deliberative democracy.
governanceinstitute.edu.au

Bilbao and Madrid, Spain
Deliberativa advocates for participation processes that include sortition and deliberation, and advises governments and institutions in Spain and worldwide that want to put it in practice.
deliberativa.org

Florence, Italy
ODERAL is the only Italian organization studying and promoting sortition in democracy, committed in the realization of Citizens' Assemblies all around the country.
oderal.org

Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Victoria, Australia
MosaicLab brings democratic processes alive for organisations who work with communities to solve complex problems.
mosaiclab.com.au

Britain
Engage Britain puts people at the heart of finding answers to the country's biggest challenges, bringing people with different views, knowledge and experiences together to talk and listen.
engagebritain.org

Berlin, Germany
es geht LOS is an non-governmental organization, that initiates and carries out lot-based citizen participation on both local and federal level.
esgehtlos.org

Colombia
iDeemos is a Colombian research and consulting organization that provides its services, in the implementation of public and democratic innovation, to the public sector, businesses and NGOs.
ideemos.org

Rwanda, Ghana, and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Rwanda, Ghana, and Senegal
i4Policy is building the communities, tools and evidence base to power collaborative and inclusive policy reforms processes. "The future is co-created"
i4policy.org

Tokyo, Japan
Japan Initiative's goal is to enrich people‘s lives through a healthy democracy through policy advocacy and political and administrative reform through citizen participation.
kosonippon.org

Nigeria
Yiaga Africa envisons a democratic and developed Africa where citizens are engaged. The organization works with citizens and local council officials to improve local governance through public deliberation.
yiaga.org

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College is a home for bold and risky thinking about our political world.
hac.bard.edu

Lima, Perú
Transparency is a civil association that works for the quality of democracy and plural political representation in Peru. Founded on July 18, 1994, it has no party affiliation and is non-profit
transparencia.org.pe

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Democracia en Red (democraciaenred.org) designs and implements innovations and digital tools to transparent, facilitate and strengthen democratic participation and to enhance cooperation between different social groups.
democraciaenred.org

Vancouver, Canada
The Centre facilitates transformative conversations to advance solutions for society’s most pressing challenges and promotes democratic innovation by sharing new tools and methods.
sfu.ca/dialogue

Brussels, Belgium
FIDE is a network of leading democratic innovators in Europe. The organisation advises governments and policy-makers on how to involve everyday people in the decision-making process.
fide.eu

Paris, International
Works to shift political and legislative power to everyday people through empowered Citizens’ Assemblies, by building new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.
demnext.org

Los Angeles, United States
Advocates for direct citizen engagement through lottery selected deliberative panels with decision making power.
publicaccessdemocracy.org

International
More than 35 professional organisations to research and implement participatory democracy and 50 civil society organisations with EPF preparing political support or design of participatory processes.
europespeoplesforum.eu

Hungary
Raises awareness and knowledge of participatory democracy methodologies, especially citizens' assemblies in Hungary, and facilitates organizing CAs.
kozossegigyules.hu

Kenya
A pan-African youth empowerment organization working with young people in Africa and around the world to foster community resilience, propose innovative solutions, and inspire political change.
theyouthcafe.com

Burlington, Vermont, United States
Works to shift political and legislative power to everyday people through empowered Citizens’ Assemblies, by building new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.
democracycreative.com

United States
Unify America is on a mission to replace political fighting with collaborative problem-solving. This nonpartisan nonprofit helps communities bridge divides and solve problems through deliberation.
unifyamerica.org

Italy
Association dealing with the promotion of deliberative democracy and random selection of citizens, and realization of Citizens' Assembly in Italy at any level.
prossimademocrazia.it/

Netherlands
Is a Dutch field catalyst stimulating deliberative democracy (citizens' assemblies in particular) through advocacy, knowledge development, training, advise and quality monitoring.
bureauburgerberaad.nl/

International
Helps communities develop creative solutions through innovative stakeholder management processes. Core skills and expertise lie in public affairs, creativity and collective intelligence.
dreamocracy.eu/

Estonia
Strengthening democratic institutions by empowering science, facilitating discussion and developing institutions.
democracy.ee
A group of representative people of any community can be entrusted to make sound decisions and sound judgments when properly informed.
Graeme Emonson
Executive Director
Local Government Victoria

We are an international network of organizations, associations, and individuals that develop, implement, and promote ways to improve democracy, from the local to the global level.