INNOCRACY: “Citizens’ assemblies - democracy that works” by Marcin Gerwin

More information: www.progressives-zentrum.org/innocracy

About the session: A citizens’ assembly is a form of democratic decision-making that involves a group of randomly selected citizens. A composition of a citizens’ assembly should match a demographic profile of the population of the community in terms of gender, age, location, education level or other criteria, depending on the country. The aim of the citizens’ assembly is to provide solutions that will best serve the common good of the whole community. Citizens’ assemblies were introduced last year in Poland in the city of Gdańsk, and the city has just finished organising its third citizens’ assembly. Its recommendations are binding for the mayor, if they have the support of at least 80 percent of the members of the citizens’ assembly. Inspired by the citizens’ assemblies in Australia, the model from Gdańsk has many features designed locally, such as the method of random selection or the way of developing final recommendations. Marcin Gerwin is presenting the concept from Gdańsk as a best practice, as the process is ready to be implemented in other cities around Europe.

About the speaker: Marcin Gerwin is a specialist in participation and sustainability. He initiated the first citizens’ assembly in the city of Gdańsk in Poland and was involved in designing and coordinating three of them. Initiative for Citizens’ Assemblies is an informal group from Poland established to promote deliberative democracy. Citizens’ assemblies provide high-quality decisions developed by an independent group of citizens, thanks to the process of random selection.