Together with DG Environment pollinators team and the contractors, ifok and Missions Publiques, we are currently working out several aspects of the Assembly, including the remit, methodology design, knowledge presentation strategy as well as approaches to facilitation and communication. Meanwhile, the first effects of the last few months' work are becoming visible with the important steps in the organisation of the Assembly achieved.

Citizen Engagement Platform

The landing page of the Assembly on the Citizen Engagement Platform has been launched. This will be the central place where the wider public can find information about the Assembly and the topic. Moreover, in the coming months this will become the space for a public debate, which will feed into the Assembly discussions in particular points of the process. We’re looking forward to opening the debate later this month!

Advisory Committee

Following an open call for experts, we assembled an Advisory Committee for the Assembly. The AC will contribute to the implementation of the Assembly by providing advice and support in three key areas:

• Knowledge curation - supporting the development of the knowledge presentation strategy and acting as knowledge broker, mediating contact with relevant knowledge holders and stakeholders.
• Addressing complaints - serving as a neutral intermediary wherever concerns around the process are raised by anyone participating or following it.
• Monitoring the integrity of the process and helping ensure it is transparent. 

We’re looking forward to working together with 5 excellent experts, bringing a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds:

• Eva Mackeviča, Head of Participation @ Field of Dialogue Foundation (Fundacja Pole Dialogu)
• Glen Millot (Advisory Committee chair), Coordinator @ Sciences Citoyennes
• Dr. James Moran, Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Biology @ Atlantic Technological University
• Dr. Nabila Abbas, Research Manager @ Federation for Innovation in Democracy Europe (FIDE)
• Sofia Guedes Vaz, Researcher @ Nova University of Lisbon and CEO and Founder @ S.714 - Sustentabilidade e Ética

Recruitment

Just a couple of days ago, Sortition Foundation completed the recruitment of Assembly participants. Working together with local partners across the EU, they knocked on the doors and met young citizens on the streets across 100 randomly selected locations in all EU countries. From the initial pool of interested citizens, a final group of Assembly members was randomly selected to represent the diversity of EU youth population, taking into consideration, gender, education, occupation and rural-urban spectrum. We also took into consideration two attitudinal factors: attitude to the EU and to environmental issues.   

Next steps

Through the summer, the onboarding process will support participants through the first steps of getting to know each other, learning about the deliberative process they will be part of and taking the first steps into the world of pollinators.

Beyond finalising the different aspects of the design, we are currently setting up the evaluation process for the Assembly, which will be coordinated by the Competence Centre. As the Assembly is a pilot process, one of the main objectives is to support institutional reflection on the modalities and conditions for involving young people in the governance of biodiversity at the EU level. Beyond this, the evaluation will contribute to the wider institutional learning on citizen – and especially youth – engagement.