Co-creation and deliberative processes
Co-creation and deliberative processes
Training for local, regional and national public administrations and future trainers
The European Commission’s Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (CC-DEMOS) has invested in building a new training offer on citizen engagement processes based on co-creation and deliberation. CC-DEMOS has partnered with the Danish Board of Technology and ifok to develop a training package for public administrations at local, regional and national level across Europe as well as future trainers.
The training provides a tailored offer for building capacity in participatory process based on three levels of competence: basic, advanced, and train-the-trainers, with the possibility of a modular training for the advanced and the train-the-trainer levels.
The basic training is made for public administration officials and civil servants who seek to acquire the basic and intermediary knowledge and hands-on skills to understand and organise participatory processes on their own. The training features knowledge inputs about why participatory processes are worth setting up, what forms they can take and what stages of the policy cycle they can best fit, as well as more practical note on how to plan a citizen engagement processes, how to recruit participants, what methods and facilitation techniques can be used.
The advanced training is made for public administration officials and civil servants who want to deepen their knowledge and skills for designing and implementing participatory processes with impact. The training consists of 10 modules which are offered separately or in combination to best guide each learning experience towards the achievement of specific goals and outcomes, from learning to design a participatory process to how to use outcomes in a systematic way.
The Training of Trainers is made for people with experience in citizen participation who want to learn how to train public officials in public administrations, how to implement deliberative and co-creation processes and how to use outcomes in a systematic way.
The current training offer aims to sustain Commission’s priority for a new push for democracy and the European Democracy Action Plan in the construction of a deliberative democracy infrastructure across EU Member States. The past ten years have witnessed incredible experimentation in citizen participation in public life and public matters around the globe and in Europe. New forms of citizen participation based on co-creation and deliberation have especially brought new hopes and new horizons for strengthening democracy and counteracting democratic backsliding.
The training also reflects the ambition and the vision for innovative policymaking as enshrined in the Commission's Competences Framework for Policymaking, which includes the engagement of citizens as one of the seven core clusters of competences that future policymakers should acquire.
Training structure
The training features interactive learning based on case studies and practical exercises.
Across the basic, advanced and train-the-trainer levels, the training package encompasses a number of learning outcomes and topics to support a tailored training offer to public administrations. The basic level is offered as a single course, whereas the advanced and the train-the-trainer levels are organised into ten modules.
From stepping into the field and participating to an informed discussion, to lead a participatory plan and use outcomes systematically, the training will enable a progressive deepening of the methods and tools for designing, implementing and following up on citizen participation. Below is the modular structure of the advanced and train-the-trainer levels, composed of ten modules.
Testing, testing, testing
We used pilots to test their quality and value for public administrations and eventually made modifications. Our pilots were run in-person in Denmark and Poland - in local language - as well as online in English in June and October 2023, for a total of five pilots encompassing the basic and the advanced modules.
Timeline and next steps
In March 2024, we will run our last in-person pilot in Denmark to test our Training of Trainers (ToT).
The training package will be ready by June 2024 in English, Danish and Polish with free digital access to interested parties. By October 2024, the training will be fully available on a dedicated digital platform. The full packages will progressively be translated in all the 24 official languages of the European Union during 2024 and 2025.
Get in touch!
We are developing this training for you and are open to your feedback and ideas!
If you want to stay informed about the training, you can subscribe to our newsletter and register to our Community of Practice.
We welcome proposals for blogpost in any language and from anyone working in a local, regional or national public administration or already experienced with fostering citizen participation. We also welcome ideas for collaborating with us and making the training closer to your experience and needs.