A citizens’ assembly is a group of 50 to 250 people who are brought together to discuss an issue or issues and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen. The people who take part are chosen by a process of sortition to broadly represent the wider population in terms of demographics, geography and sometimes relevant attitudes (for example, views towards climate change).
Citizens’ assemblies give members of the public the time and opportunity to learn about and discuss and deliberate on a topic, before reaching conclusions. Assembly participants are asked to explore and assess the trade-offs and arrive at workable recommendations based on access to thorough and unbiased information and time for deliberation. This method is really effective at examining broad policy objectives and horizon scanning to create new ideas and propose solutions. A citizens’ assembly can be high profile and provide a good way of drawing attention to an issue. It can bring out diverse perspectives on complex and contested problems.
They also provide the chance for decision makers to be brought face-to-face with citizens or those with lived experience of an issue, and offer policy makers an insight on public opinion on a contested issue. A recent example of a Citizens’ Assembly is the People’s Assembly for Nature, which brought together a representative group of 103 people from across the UK to create the People’s Plan for Nature. The BBC created a documentary about the UK’s first ever Citizen's Assembly on Climate Change - The People v Climate Change.
So, how much does a citizens' assembly cost?
Citizen assemblies require an investment of £150,000 - £750,000 depending on the size of the group, the amount of deliberation time, the balance of face-to-face and online activities and the level of creativity and support included in the process and level of communication and follow up.