Citizen Conversation, Dialogue, Deliberation and Reflection (CCDDR) ProgramPURPOSE: To catalyze a movement which recognizes and establishes citizen conversation, dialogue, deliberation and reflection (CCDDR) as a central factor in the life, well-being, peace, governance, intelligence and survival of communities, regions, states, nations and the world. Our initial geographic focus will be communities, counties and states in the U.S. in order to build a popular base of support for CCDR in the U.S. However, we will network, research and advocate at national and international levels when the occasion warrants, and share our writings and research openly on the Web and through publications. We believe both of the following: a) The problems that will most seriously impact communities can only be effectively addressed by well designed high quality citizen dialogue and deliberation at national, international and global levels. b) Adequate CCDDR at national and international levels will develop best out of experience with and widespread support for CCDDR at local and state levels. __________ DEFINITIONSCitizen: A resident in a community, state or country
who takes on -- or is expected to take on -- shared responsibility
for its collective welfare. Conversation: People talking together about whatever
interests them. Dialogue: Exploratory conversation concerning topics
of interest, in which diverse perspectives are aired and heard. Deliberation: Dialogue that considers diverse points
of view on a specific topic (issue, situation, proposal, candidate,
etc.). Reflection: People thinking deeply and broadly together
about how they're doing, the state of their world, what they care
about, how they feel about it, where they are going together,
etc. CCDDR: Any and all activities promoting the conversations
of citizens and the empowerment of such conversations, especially
dialogic, deliberative and reflective conversations designed to
significantly impact the communities (and larger areas) from which
their participants are drawn. This is not the same as dialogue
and deliberation among stakeholders (as in Consensus Councils)
or public officials (as in Legislatures) -- which are embraced
by the broader category of deliberative democracy. CCDDRs tend
to have citizens as the central players, with other players in
supportive or peer roles. CCDDR overlaps with stakeholder dialogues
in cases where citizens are well included among the other stakeholders. ___________ AUDIENCEPeople who are passionate (or could be passionate) about having more CCDDR in their communties. This includes at least state, county and local government officials and public servants, as well as relevant community based organizations, public interest groups, religious congregations, educational institutions, youth groups, etc., who seek more CCDDR -- or might. This could also include former community change agents, including former public officials and candidates for public office, disillusioned community activists, formerly conscientious citizens, etc., who may have dropped out of active participation because of the adversarial or bureaucratic nature of politics and governance. Their civic motivations may be rekindled when offered a more positive, inclusive approach to civic work. We can also reach out to prospective public officials such as graduate students in public planning and aspiring candidates for public office. ________________ STRATEGIC PROGRAMS:1. Support efforts to bring together dialogue and deliberation practitioners, scholars and researchers in inclusive networks such as the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, Deliberative Democracy Consortium, etc. 2. Research, promote, and support efforts to compile and synergize diverse approaches to CCDDR, such as those being undertaken by John Gastil, AmericaSpeaks and the Mary Parker Follett Foundation. Promote the idea of synergized multi-process public participation programs among those doing this work and those organizing CCDDR in their communities. 3. Generally promote CCDDR's key role in community health and intelligence in public affairs media and conferences, and to any change agents who seem receptive. 4. Support efforts to institutionalize CCDDR -- or to create any official CCDDR activities -- at the national level, such as those of Deliberative Democracy Consortium. 5. Catalyze state and local CCDDR by organizing local conversations and coalitions to get CCDDR rolling, such as those created by Study Circles Resource Center (except ours would be generic and multi-process, rather than promoting only one approach to CCDDR). 6. Activate former CCDDR participants (who tend to be enthusiastic after their participation) to demand and organize CCDDR in their communities and elsewhere. This would include jury members and citizens who participate in the activities organized by NCDD professionals. 7. Research, promote and support self-replicating CCDDR efforts like the Rogue Valley Wisdom Council and Beyond War, where participants in early waves of activity organize subsequent waves. 8. Create promotional, organizing and training materials for the activities in 5, 6 and 7 above, or catalyze their creation by others. Since many groups currently have such materials either for specific methodologies or for some particular approach to community organizing, compile annotated guides to those materials (and/or other guides to those materials!) on the Web. 9. Create a print newsletter for our identified audiences -- especially public officials -- describing successful efforts at basic or multi-process public participation programs, and giving useful theory and process descriptions. Include a shop-talk or Q&A section for subscribers to work through issues and share successes. 10. Convene strategic conversations where the selection of participants, processes, topics and timing are intended to facilitate breakthroughs in specific areas of strategic need. 11. Catalyze (or, if funding is available, sponsor) research around interesting local efforts at CCDDR -- process effectiveness research, multi-process efficacy research, research on successful organizing activities and research on impact. Ideally, we would be leading consultants in formulating and designing research for multi-process programs that generate measurable community intelligence. Sample Research Questions:* What are the cultural and institutional obstacles to citizen dialogue and deliberation, its success and its empowerment? * To what extent do randomly selected citizen deliberative councils produce outcomes recognized as desirable and/or common sense -- or just better than traditional official political/governmental outcomes -- by the public from which they were drawn? * What approaches help people of diverse values subcultures to work together creatively on public issues? * What characteristics or dynamics underlie successful dialogues and deliberations? ____________ SPECIFIC ACTIONS THAT COULD BE DONEMake a list of organizations, conferences, leaders, publications we should be attending to in order to reach out to the audiences we have identified Write articles for professional journals Give workshops at professional conferences Create a database of participants in CCDDR and engage them in further organizing in their communities through a website devoted to that purpose Similarly engage people on the Co-Intelligence Institute mailing list. Create guidelines for DIY local organizing using simple conversational events (like world cafe or study circles), Wisdom Council organizing, leetters to the editor, strategic conversations, etc. Create a Wiki of scores of processes and public participation methods. Bring together the parties creating multi-process reviews of methodologies -- John Gastil, AmericaSpeaks and the Mary Parker Follett Foundation. ______________ WEBSITEThe website for this program would include at least the following: FAQ Here is some notes on what might be on this site, for starters... FAQWhat do you mean by deliberation (and conversation, and dialogue,
and reflection -- and citizen)? METHODS (perhaps categorized as follows)Citizens as policymakers (participatory budget, Canada's current
electoral reform) STORIESMaclean's "The Peoples Verdict" (Canada, 1991) ARTICLES**General theory: **Multi-process theory and reviews: RESOURCES (see "methods" for specific method-related resources)Books:Multi-Process Citizen Deliberation General Multi-Process New Democracy Organizations and Websites:Co-Intelligence Institute Foundations that support public deliberation:THE LEARNING EDGEShop talk: If you have comments about this site, email cii@igc.org. |