Event Summary 

On June 11, the European Policy Centre (EPC) organised an online Policy Lab on the link between participatory and deliberative approaches and wellbeing. Run in the context of the MERGE Horizon Europe Project, the event brought together a fantastic line-up of speakers - including the Competence Centre’s very own Ângela Guimarães Pereira, leading scientist on the futures of democracies, Professor Robert Costanza (UCL, UK), and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, former Club of Rome President and current Commissioner at the World Health Organisation – with practitioners, researchers and policymakers in the field of citizen engagement and wellbeing. The Policy Lab explored how integration of citizen engagement can support a governance model that prioritises wellbeing. 

Introduction to the MERGE project and wellbeing

The Policy Lab ‘Wellbeing governance. Participatory and deliberative approaches’ was the fifth in a series of policy labs organised within the context of the MERGE Measuring what matters project, which is a Coordination and Support Action funded by Horizon Europe. The project aims to investigate pathways to inclusive and sustainable wellbeing, understood as wellbeing of present and future generations, within planetary boundaries.

The project recognises participatory and deliberative democracy as an essential component of governance models suitable to promote sustainable and inclusive wellbeing. It highlights the impact of participatory processes on overall wellbeing through policy decisions that reflect the needs, wishes and lived experiences of citizens. This link has long been established: institutionalised forms of political participation increase institutional trust, as well as levels of agency and societal understanding, eventually leading to increased levels of wellbeing. 

MERGE survey findings show strong public support for wellbeing-oriented governance:  81% of Europeans support using indicators beyond GDP; 85% consider the wellbeing of future generations as equally or more important than that of current generations.

Key highlights from the Policy Lab discussions

The Policy Lab discussed different forms of participation, best practice examples on the local, national and EU-level, as well as barriers and enablers that affect the actual impact of participatory initiatives. Robert Costanza argued that current democratic systems often fail to reflect citizens’ preferences due to the disproportionate influence of economic and political elites. Citizen assemblies should evolve beyond purely advisory roles and alternative decision-making approaches such as sociocracy, based on consent rather than simple majority rule, may help create more inclusive and constructive deliberation. Ângela Guimarães Pereira highlighted that citizen participation is a necessary response to increasing societal complexity, uncertainty, and declining trust in institutions. However, effective participation requires inclusiveness and representativeness, as well as follow-up and accountability.

In two discussion sessions, speakers and participants worked out in a vivid exchange that meaningful participatory processes must reflect the diversity and needs of the society, overcoming inequality as a barrier to participation. This also includes intergenerational dialogue and the involvement of youth and children in participatory politics. A key conclusion was that young citizens are often not taken seriously politically, while they can offer valuable and valid perspectives, hopes and wishes for the future. If this can be done successfully and safely, it strengthens young people’s sense of agency, political trust and optimism for their futures. 
One of the main barriers identified which hinders the effectiveness of citizen engagement was its tokenistic use. To actually strengthen citizens’ trust and increase wellbeing, participatory processes must be seriously integrated into formal policy processes, with a clear and transparent follow-up in place. However, people experience higher levels of institutional trust even when policy change is limited, since impact does not always have to mean political change. Positive impacts also include changes in public discourse, increased democratic literacy, greater mutual understanding and stronger civic engagement.

A follow-up of this Policy Lab will be in the form of a Policy Brief, which will be available after the summer at https://mergeproject.eu/category/publications/.