BRAZIL, SÃO PAULO AND BUJARUZIL
Citizens’ Assemblies and Mini-Publics for Public Decision-Making
- Hub
- Activity
- Model
- Citizen Assemblies
- Actors
- Citizenship and communities
- Urban communities
- Rural communities
- Marginalized communities
- Public sector
- Purpose
- Strengthening democracy
- Democratic strengthening
- Improving the democratic climate
- Citizen empowerment and capacity building
- Deliberative skills
- Citizen empowerment
#CITIZENSASSEMBLIES
The main goal of this practice, led by Delibera Brasil and presented by Silvia Cervellini, is to create institutionalized spaces where citizens can participate in an informed and strategic way in public decisions. Through citizens’ assemblies and mini-publics organized via civic lotteries, the practice fosters representative, deliberative, and responsible participation—especially in contexts of inequality and exclusion.
Two experiences were presented: one in São Paulo, where a scenario game was used to help participants deliberate on budget priorities, and another in Bujarú, in the Amazon region, where a citizens’ assembly addressed sustainable development issues. In both cases, inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups was central, and a rigorous methodological framework was applied to ensure the implementation of citizens’ recommendations.
The process also explored the possibility of building community-based democratic systems independent of traditional political structures, reinforcing the sense of shared responsibility among randomly selected citizens and their communities. Transparency in selection and diversity as a deliberative principle were key to legitimizing the process.
- Implementation of citizens’ assemblies and mini-publics through civic lotteries
- Use of deliberative tools like scenario games to support informed decisions
- Inclusion of underrepresented groups as a design priority
- Transparency in selection and a focus on shared responsibility
- Experimentation with autonomous community democracy models
- Creation of spaces for informed citizen participation in public policy
- Institutional uptake of citizen recommendations
- Expansion of deliberative methods in both urban and rural contexts
- Advancement of inclusive, democratic innovation in Latin America
Delibera Brasil
KEY CONCEPTS
Contextual: Social inequality, exclusion, sustainable development, public budgets
On Democracy: Sortition, civic responsibility, deliberative assemblies, participatory policymaking
