Training for local, regional and national public administrations and future trainers
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 Democracy X and ifok to develop a training package for public administrations at local, regional and national level across Europe as well as future trainers.
This training offer aims to sustain the first Commission’s priority on a Free and Democratic Europe and the focus on developing a European Democracy Shield to protect European democracies and beyond. Late 2023, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation to Member States on Civic engagement in policymaking under the Defence of Democracy Package. This Recommendation is the EU legal basis that sustains the construction of a deliberative democracy infrastructure across EU Member States.
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.
Registration is open!
The first edition of the training will be hosted in the EU Academy platform and will be offered in English. The training is free and open to public officials, civil servants and other government professionals working in local, regional and national public administrations, and to future trainers. Participants will be able to choose among three levels of competence: a basic one, for public administration professionals who seek a quick start guide onto citizen participation processes; an advanced one, for public administration professionals who want to deep-dive into specific dimensions of citizen participation and master them; a train-the-trainer one, for public administration professionals as well as experts and practitioners of citizen participation who seek a comprehensive set of knowledge, competences and skills on citizen engagement processes to train public administration professionals.
A training tailored to three levels of competence
The training was developed between December 2022 to June 2024 in order to address three levels of competence and skills in citizen participation: basic, advanced and train-the-trainers.
Across the three 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. The training features interactive learning based on case studies and practical exercises.
The basic training is made for public administration officials, civil servants and other government professionals 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, civil servants and other government professionals 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 public administration professionals as well as experts and practitioners of citizen participation who seek a comprehensive set of knowledge, competences and skills on citizen engagement processes and train public administration officials and civil servants on their design, implementation and follow-up.
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.
First edition of the training
The first edition of the training will cover the three levels of competence and will run from March until July on the EU Academy platform. It will be offered in English.
The training consists of self-paced learning material and activities (both synchronous and asynchronous) moderated by citizen engagement experts and practitioners from Democracy X, Missions Publiques and Fundacja Pole Dialogu.
Participants will have access to a digital course-book, knowledge inputs and self-assessment exercises. To foster a community of learners, Interactive sessions are offered via asynchronous activities (forum of discussions and group activities) and synchronous activities (live sessions). For the training of trainers, participants will also receive a set of training material for organising and delivering future trainings.
Participants will receive a certificate of completion of their courses and modules upon completing a minimum number of modules, selected asynchronous activities and upon submitting an evaluation form.
The three training courses involve an average number of training hours and will follow a specific time frame, as illustrated below:
| Structure | Asynchronous activities | Live sessions | Duration | |
| Basic: quick start for public administrations | Single course | 4-6 hours | 4-6 hours | 26 March - 30 April 2025 |
| Advanced: in-depth dive for public administrators | 10 Modules (2 compulsory + optional) | 2-3 hours per module | 8-12 hours | 16 April - 4 June 2025 |
| Training of Trainers: a mastery programme for public administrators and future trainers | 10 Modules (7 compulsory + optional) training skills | 3-4 hours per module | 10-20 hours | 13 May - 8 July 2025 |
Applicants to the basic and advanced training courses must be public officials, civil servants and other government professionals working in local, regional and national public administrations based in EU member states, EU candidate countries and EFTA states. Applicants to the training of trainers can be public officials, civil servants and other government professionals working in local, regional and national public administrations or experts and practitioners of citizen participation in Europe.
Applicants are required to have a good written and oral level of English.
Registration for all three training courses will open on 26 February 2025.
Registrations will close at different times:
- Registration for the basic course will close on Monday 17 March 2025.
- Registration for the advanced course will close on Monday 7 April 2025.
- Registration for the training of trainers will close Monday 28 April 2025.
Future participants who wish to register to more than one training course should indicate in the registration form their preference for one of them.
Applications for each course will be reviewed by the CC-DEMOS Team to accommodate as many applicants as possible pending conformity of the applicant’s professional field and available places.
Register here
More information
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.
