The deliberative process 

The Young Citizens Assembly on Pollinators is a transnational pilot exploring how young people can engage meaningfully in EU policymaking on biodiversity. You can read more about the process on the Assembly landing page on the Citizens’ Engagement Platform. 

The first Assembly session

The first session in September focused mainly on learning about the topic and exploring the main challenges to work on throughout the rest of the Assembly. On the first day, Assembly participants started their journey by practicing key deliberative skills, such as active listening and constructive disagreement, and by independently exploring the current state of biodiversity to contextualize pollinators decline. Rather than using traditional learning methods, such as lectures or handouts, they did it with the help of the Biodiversity Collage – a game that allows players to discover the importance of biodiversity as well as the causes and consequences of its decline. Following this, participants engaged in expert-led discussions, sharing the questions that arose while working on their collages. To complement the scientific knowledge with views from interest groups, participants also discussed the different perspectives and ongoing actions with stakeholders. On the second day, the morning opening plenary included explanation of the mandate of the Assembly, exploration of what the EU is already doing to address the decline, and information about the global context of the issue. During the afternoon high-level event, the discussion focused on the role of the Assembly in relation to youth engagement and democratic innovations as well as wider efforts of EU institutions. On the last day, Assembly participants reflected on all they have heard and based on that identified the main challenges to work on throughout the rest of the Assembly. 

Activities between sessions  

In-between the sessions, the Assembly process continues online. The Citizens' Engagement Platform provides a space for the public to connect with the Assembly trough an online debate, where everyone is invited to provide their contributions. Discussions on the platform will feed into the Assembly’s deliberations. 

In parallel, on the private space of the Citizens’ Engagement Platform, Assembly participants can exchange ideas about the Assembly topic as well as participate in exchanges of ‘task forces’. These co-creation groups give Assembly participants agency to shape several aspects of the Assembly, including methodology, knowledge presentation, political outreach and public communication. You can follow the work of the Assembly through the Instagram account created by the communication task force: https://www.instagram.com/ycap_eu/.  

The second Assembly session  

The second session in December shifted focus from learning to deliberation. It started with a recap on what has happened so far and the validation of the outcomes from the first session. Working in small groups, participants then prepared questions for a discussion with stakeholders to understand their perspectives on the different challenges identified by the Assembly. During this consultation, stakeholders representing different interest groups provided first-hand insight and deepened the participants’ knowledge base. Building on these discussions, participants prioritized challenges and developed first ideas for actions. On the second day, Assembly participants presented the deliberation results of their groups in a plenary setting and engaged in discussions with independent experts and European Commission officials to test initial ideas for priority actions. The afternoon focused on collective decision making and updates from the task forces. The rest of the weekend was dedicated to two inter-linked tasks. First, participants focused on the second remit question of the Assembly, identifying elements of new governance for biodiversity and the role of youth in it. This included reflections on the possible future permanent youth assembly on biodiversity. These discussions, in turn, were supported by the work of participants in task forces. 

Looking Ahead 

In March next year, the third session of the Assembly will take place in Brussels. This time, participants will work on the initial action ideas developed in the second session, elaborating them into full recommendations addressed to different governance levels and societal actors. While this will be the final session of the Assembly on Pollinators, this will not be the end of the story. We are planning the follow-up and outreach activities, among which those linked to the evaluation of the process. Watch this space to follow the updates throughout 2026.