1. When can a Citizen Council be convened in Vorarlberg?
Since 2013, participatory democracy has been enshrined in Article 1, paragraph 4 of the Vorarlberg State Constitution. Not only the Vorarlberg state parliament or the Vorarlberg state government, but also any municipality or region can convene a Citizen Council. In addition, there is a directive that offers a bottom-up option: a Citizen Council has to be convened by the state government at the request of any individual or group who has gathered 1000 or more signatures from eligible citizens accompanied by names and addresses.
2. How are participants selected?
In Vorarlberg. participants are randomly selected by the Office for Civic Engagement and Participation from the central register of residents, in compliance with data protection regulations. To ensure that the make-up of the larger population is reflected accurately in each Citizen Council, gender and three different age brackets are taken into account in the random selection process. Depending on the topic, other selection criteria may also be taken into account. Participation in a Citizen Council is voluntary.
3. How exactly does a Citizen Council work?
A Citizen Council process usually lasts one and a half days. Often it begins early Friday afternoon and ends late Saturday afternoon. If the topic of the Council has been pre-determined, participants will receive a short briefing on Friday. Then the process is explained, and off they go, supported by Dynamic Facilitation (see FAQ 4.) On Saturday there is another Dynamic Facilitation session. In the afternoon, they summarize results and draft a joint statement. Finally, participants prepare a presentation for the upcoming Citizen Café (see FAQ 5.).
4. What is Dynamic Facilitation?
Dynamic Facilitation is a process for facilitating emergent conversation – ideally for a group between 8-20 people. Participants sit in a semi-circle facing four flipcharts. The facilitator’s role is to listen carefully to the essence of each participant’s contribution, reflect back their understanding to the speaker’s satisfaction, and record their ideas on one or more of the four charts: questions/challenges, solutions/ideas, concerns/objections and information/perceptions. There is no predetermined structure to the conversation, and emotions have their space. Everyone is encouraged to speak, and the facilitator ensures that each person can complete their thought process and be well heard. Any requests, concerns and ideas are brought up directly and promptly, and any disagreements are reframed as important concerns that also need to be heard. In this way, diverse views can be fruitfully shared. At its best, the group achieves a creative breakthrough which dissolves group tension and produces unexpected, creative solutions that are supported by all participants.
5. What is the Citizen Café?
The Citizen Café is a public event where any interested person can participate. Relevant representatives including elected officials, administrators, interest groups members, and experts are also encouraged to take part. In the Bürgercafé, the outcomes of the Citizen Council are presented by the Council participants themselves. Afterward, the larger public engages in two rounds of small-group conversation, to review and expand upon the Council results.
6. What happens in the Responder Group?
Within the Responder Group, the outcomes of the Council are again presented by a few Council participants. Then relevant representatives including elected officials, administrators, interest groups members and experts review the results with regard to their feasibility. After a careful review, they decide on the measures that will be implemented.
7. What happens after a Citizen Council process?
The results of the three process steps (Citizen Council, Citizen Café, Responder Group) are summarized in a report which is sent to all participants in the overall process. The participants of the Citizen Council also receive specific feedback with regard to their recommendations, and ideally are informed about any further steps and measures that result from these recommendations.
8. How many Citizen Councils have taken place in Vorarlberg so far?
In the state of Vorarlberg so far, over 40 Citizen Councils have taken place.
9. What factors are important for the successful implementation of a Citizen Council process?
- The make-up of a Citizen Council should reflect the affected population as well as possible.
- The topic of a Citizen Council should be highly relevant and timely, and not be trivial. In other words, a good topic is one that significantly affects and/or concerns a particular population.
- Citizen Councils only make sense if and when they take place early enough in a decision-making process for their recommendations to be taken seriously.
- Whenever a Citizen Council is being organized in response to a particular issue, it is helpful to have a skilled harvesting team in place, who will be taking note of the specific policy and strategy recommendations that arise.
- To avoid raising false expectations, the range in which recommendations can be made by any particular Citizen Council process needs to be clearly communicated.
- It is crucial that a Citizen Council’s moderators be well-trained in Dynamic Facilitation.
- Transparent media reporting before, during and after the entire Citizen Council process has a profound influence on the Citizen Council’s ultimate impact and perceived legitimacy.
10. Where else are Citizen Councils held?
So far, Citizen Councils have been held in Germany, Italy (South Tyrol), Austria, Switzerland – and in the USA in the original US version called a Wisdom Council. (See FAQ 11.)
11. What are the origins of the Citizen Council?
A model that features a randomly-selected small group working with Dynamic Facilitation was originally prototyped by Jim Rough (USA) in the mid-1990s and called the “Wisdom Council”. Manfred Hellrigl and the Office for Civic Engagement and Participation have been adapting this format for use within Vorarlberg since 2006. Efforts are being continually made to upgrade the Citizen Council process on an ongoing basis, based on the learning we gain from our experiences with it.
12. Who can moderate a Citizen Council?
The heart of the Citizen Council is Dynamic Facilitation. It is therefore important that moderators trained in Dynamic Facilitation lead the process.
13. Who can provide support for the implementation of a Citizen Council in Vorarlberg?
The contact party for holding a Citizen Council in Vorarlberg is the Office for Civic Engagement and Participation.
Office for Civic Engagement and Participation
Jahnstrasse 13-15
6900 Bregenz
T +43 5574 511 20605
beteiligung@vorarlberg.at
14. When is a Citizen Council not suitable?
• For making final decisions. (The Council arrives together at a collective statement that offers cohesive input and guidance to the decision-makers; yet they themselves are not the deciders.)
• When there is a need to involve as many people as possible (unless it is complemented with other public engagement processes specifically designed for this purpose.)
• When the only need is to inform citizens about projects and policies that are already established.
• When there is no need for creative input, as the results have been already been decided upon in advance.
When there is no agreement on the part of political decision-makers (local council, state government, etc.) as to whether a Citizen Council should take place, or if there is a lack of political will to take the outcomes seriously. The prerequisite for a successful Council is a unified decision among the sponsors, to host a Council and to respect its input.
15. How much does it cost to hold a Citizen Council?
Support for organizing Councils within Vorarlberg is provided by the Office for Civic Engagement and Participation. Council sponsors are responsible for the following costs: Research, sending out the invitations; moderation fees; venue costs; catering; any necessary participant reimbursements. For a Citizen Council at the community level, these costs amount to approximately Euro 6,500 (U.S. $7,000.)