Encouraging learning, methodological development and action regarding deliberative democracy
What are
the frontiers?
In the last decade, deliberative democracy has faced three new frontiers that represent challenges and opportunities to improve its effectiveness around the world (especially in the Global South). Three of these frontiers are the motivation for our project:
The priority of this project is to support countries in the Global South. Therefore, by working on these three frontiers, we want to contribute to improving the quality and sustainability of current and future processes based on the deliberative democracy by Southern organizations.
Virtuous
cycle
With this project, we will create a virtuous cycle in which three permanent committees work cyclically to reflect, design, and implement new ideas, gaining in each cycle more knowledge and experience. The phases of this virtuous circle are:
Learning: The objective of this phase is to reflect on the boundaries, identify the advantages and disadvantages of traditional deliberative mechanisms, and develop new knowledge.
Development of methodologies: The objective of this phase is to develop new methods and tools adapted to the three frontiers.
Action: We are not starting from scratch. Democracy R&D network members have already done (and are doing) good work on the three frontiers, for example, with pioneering public deliberations in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Rwanda, and Nigeria. The aim of this phase is to support these projects through team capacity, sharing of methods and tools, and additional funding.
Main
activities
Planning and organization
We will form a committee to coordinate the activities of each frontier. Workshops will be held to understand the scope of each frontier, summarize and organize lessons learned, select Democracy R&D projects to reinforce them with new methodologies and create support and learning teams.
Implementation
We will create new methodologies based on the three frontiers, develop three living guidebooks and apply the methodologies in Democracy R&D projects. The main product of this activity is the living guidebooks, as we will produce one for each frontier: ●It is a product of collective work. ●It is updated over time, based on new results and learning. ●It is developed in close relation to practice. ●It includes other interactive materials to present the information such as videos, audios, diagrams, and infographics. ●It aims to fulfill the needs of the Democracy R&D Network.
Evaluation and communication
We will evaluate the usefulness of the methodologies and living guidebooks, review and summarize the learnings from the project, improve the living guidebooks through meetings and workshops, and translate the living guidebooks into Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Project objectives
General objective
To promote learning, methodologies and action in the Global South around the three frontiers of deliberative democracy.
Specific Objectives
1. To develop new knowledge for the Global South in relation to the three frontiers of deliberative democracy.
2. To develop new tools and methodologies on the three frontiers of deliberative democracy from the Global South, test them in practice, and document them in the three living guidebooks.
3. Contribute to the success of projects related to the three frontiers of Democracy R&D members from the Global South.
Organization map
