This lecture by Executive Director Marjan Ehsassi will provide an overview of the citizen assembly model of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (“FIDE”), illustrations of FIDE’s deployment of their citizen assembly model across North America and the world, and findings associated with the impacts of this model.
About
This lecture by Executive Director Marjan Ehsassi will provide an overview of the citizen assembly model of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (“FIDE”), illustrations of FIDE’s deployment of their citizen assembly model across North America and the world, and findings associated with the impacts of this model. This talk will ultimately engage audience members in contemplation of how the processes and benefits of citizen assemblies might augment civic health for Wisconsin’s civic health. Citizen assembly processes – which create opportunities for direct deliberation, advising, and accountability by everyday citizens on issues facing governmental bodies – are on the rise with over 400 deliberative processes occurring around the world in the last decade. Director Ehsassi and FIDE are specifically working toward sharing sortition-based and government-championed Citizens’ Assemblies (CAs) models among North American communities and continuing to develop methods to measure and communicate the success of CAs, and to exchange and share with communities to gather their insights about public challenges they face, the way that CAs might be a tool in finding collective solutions, and on specific implementation details and impacts that may vary from community to community. This lecture and discussion opportunity on UW-Madison’s campus with outreach across Wisconsin will be a meaningful first opportunity for the FIDE model and findings to be shared in Wisconsin, and for FIDE to learn from Wisconsinites about their experiences with civic engagement.
Organizer
Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies