“I feel connected for the first time in a long while”: what we learnt from the first Citizens’ Assembly in Newham
Citizen Assemblies have become a popular way of tackling sticky issues and enabling more meaningful and inclusive decision-making processes. Yet, they tend to be one-off events to deliberate on specific topics and have only rarely been set up as a permanent institution. Ostebelgien and Madrid are examples where this has been tried and Paris recently voted in favour to establish a permanent one. At Demsoc, in partnership with Involve and Sortition Foundation, we helped to design and facilitate the first stage of what will now become a permanent citizens’ assembly in the London Borough of Newham. As the council works to turn this into a local permanent assembly, we share what we learnt from our work with assembly members that can inform the next steps of the process or the set-up of local assemblies elsewhere.
There isn’t yet an agreed standard for what a permanent assembly should look like, although some democracy theorists have made suggestions[1]. Newham’s commitment to a permanent assembly enacts a recommendation of Newham’s Democracy Commission[2], specifically:
The Commission recommends the establishment of a standing or permanent citizens’ or deliberative assembly for Newham, to meet a minimum of twice a year. The citizens’ assembly would respond to, and act on important, emerging local issues. Its membership should be selected by sortition and a proportion should rotate each year. This assembly would select issues to deliberate upon and initiate policy agendas for the Council. It would dock directly into the council’s formal decision-making systems, both through the scrutiny function (in terms of alignment of work programmes and support) and directly with the Mayor (by feeding into cabinet decision-making through changes to the council’s constitution)
Following the initial political leadership and commitment, Newham Council sought political agreement on topics for public agenda-setting and proceeded to design an initial assembly as a set piece. The learnings resulting from this initial assembly would inform the next steps to build the infrastructure for a permanent process partly co-designed with the members of the first assembly.
The first assembly was held over summer 2021 and focused on deliberating about ‘greening the borough’ following a borough-wide vote between five options put forward by the council. A total of 50 participants were randomly selected with the help of Sortition Foundation to reflect the demographic profile of the community. The citizens met online over three weekends to receive expert information and deliberate on the topic.
They also came together in smaller groups during the week to help them get to know each other and reflect together as part of this online-only process. The creation of these “micro-groups” is a novel approach that Demsoc designed to facilitate stronger connections as assemblies transitioned online. During the last weekend, the assembly members shared their final recommendations with members of the council.
What have we learnt from the first sitting of Newham’s permanent Citizens’ Assembly?
After the assembly’s sessions, and in addition to answering a short questionnaire, participants took part in facilitated reflection discussions within their smaller groups. The facilitators took notes of these discussions to enable Demsoc to gather the learning following a thematic analysis approach. The following are key themes that were recurrent in the discussions: empowerment (through learning and voice), social connection, the importance of inclusiveness, connection to the council, the assembly as a space for a different type of engagement, and the importance of impact (seeing tangible change).
Learning, voice, and empowerment
Participants said they learnt about the topic, about the council and about what others in the community think. They valued the opportunity to voice their opinions and be heard (“joy of being able to express my opinions and ideas for the betterment of community is the best thing.”) and expressed a sense of empowerment. Some mentioned having grown in confidence and described how the process helped them feel valued and respected.
Social connection
Assembly members talked about the value of connecting with the rest of the community, gaining a sense of belonging, listening to each other, and growing the community collectively for the residents’ wellbeing. Participants felt inspired about “the work a community can do together” and “felt a ‘communityhoodness’ and belonging or ownership of my borough”.
“I feel connected for the first time in a long while. Newham has always been my home and to know and learn of the passion, creative ideas and suggestions of others was refreshing. I learnt a lot of what Newham has been doing that I had no idea of, and look forward to get involved in community events.”
Inclusiveness
Assembly members also valued getting to know people they wouldn’t normally meet and working constructively as a group (“inclusive, involved people from different backgrounds and age groups opinions came from us as residents of Newham”). Participants asked for more assemblies as well as ensuring that more residents can be part of them, including those with different languages or residents living with disabilities.
Connection to council
Participants valued being able to connect and familiarise themselves with the members of the council, to hear direct feedback from them on the recommendations made and learn about actions and plans already in place.
‘We have made a connection with people who work within the borough, we know people’s names now. If we have an idea, we now have more of an idea about how to get there.’
However, this theme was also prominent in answers related to expectations on the future of citizen assemblies in Newham. Participants valued having a say but also emphasised the need for the recommendations made (or similar feasible actions) to be implemented. There was hope for the future resulting from feeling connected to the council, but some also expressed mistrust on the extent to which actions would be taken and wanted more clarity on how their input would inform the council’s decision-making.
A space for a different type of engagement
The assembly members valued having a space for engaging in a different way with others and with the council where opinions could be shared and discussed, and solutions be found collectively, with time to consider them adequately. Some valued the “slow thinking” and the ability to hear or share different opinions in a respectful way: “That people are entitled to their own opinions but what matters is how they are expressed.”
“Feeling good that it’s not just about complaining about what’s not happening, but the group is sharing ideas and making a plan for what needs to happen.”
Participants were positive about the warmth and comfort of the space and appreciated the approach of the facilitators.
Having an impact
Being able to contribute to improving people’s lives in the borough was important to participants. Some talked about “the power of a small group of people” or “making a difference” as the most important thing they gained for taking part in the assembly. Some referred to the “sense of democracy in action”. This theme was prominent when discussing what participants expected from the process. It was clear that assembly members placed the success of the assembly on its ability to result into change that is visible (“First-hand ideas, if they’re not visible in 24 months’ time that would not be a good thing to see”) and communicated by the council: “look, this is only happening now because of your recommendations”.
What does this mean for the way forward?
There was a sense of immediate impact among Newham’s assembly members in relation to learning, the possibility to play a role in improving the borough, being valued and respected, feeling connected to the wider community and being closer to the council. These are outcomes seen in similar deliberative processes[3] [4].
In addition to these immediate outcomes though, participants were clear that the success of the process would depend on whether the recommendations would be taken on board and tangible change would be seen and communicated. We know that in deliberative democracy, the commitment of authorities and the follow up on recommendations are important to sustain credibility, trust and ongoing engagement (OECD, 2020) and these insights from Newham’s assembly members are illustrative of this.
What is happening next?
Demsoc has been commissioned to support the second coming together of Newham’s permanent Citizens’ Assembly. Newham Council are working on how to follow-up effectively on the first assembly and are intending to involve its members in helping shape the Council’s future engagement more widely. Volunteers from the assembly recently presented their recommendations during a meeting of the full council. We ran a practical session with them beforehand to help support the process.
Participants are largely very keen for assemblies to continue. They have suggested new topics “chosen by the community” so that “they focus on the issues people are most concerned about” and, ultimately, they have asked for tangible change. The lessons captured in this article suggest that ongoing close communication between the council and the citizens’ assembly will be key so that there is clarity on the roles and expectations and to sustain the motivation of participants to have a tangible impact on the wellbeing of the wider community.
Mat Basford, Anna Colom, Paola Pierri, Mel Stevens
[1] Patriquin, Larry. 2020. Permanent Citizens’ Assemblies: A New Model for Public Deliberation. London: Rowman & Littlefield International.
[2] We were involved in supporting public engagement for the Democracy Commission and are excited to see one of its recommendations come to life. You can find out more about our support for the Democracy Commission here.
[3] Grönlund, Kimmo, Bächtiger, André, and Setälä, Maija. 2014. Deliberative Mini-Publics. Invovling Citizens in the Democratic Process. Colchester: ECPR Press.
[4] Jacquet, Vincent. 2019. ‘The Role and the Future of Deliberative Mini-Publics: A Citizen Perspective’. Political Studies 67(3): 639–57.
