Wednesday September 8th 2010
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Citizens Hearing
The Danish Board of Technology’s citizens hearings links debate and information activities with advising politicians in an effort to build bridges between citizens and politicians. This is done by informing and creating discussion among citizens with the aim of improving their ability to contribute to the political decision-making processes. As a method that employs such elements as brainstorming, dialogue, prioritisation, reasoning and voting, the citizen group can be said to lie somewhere between a future panel and an opinion poll. Purpose of the methodThe overall purpose of a citizens hearing is to build a bridge between citizens and politicians. A more concrete goal is for citizens, through dialogue with one another and without the interference of either experts or politicians, to formulate their own suggestions as to how a political (technological) problem can be dealt with and present this to politicians. Who participates in the various roles Project management The project management team consists of 1-2 project managers and a project assistant from the Danish Board of Technology. It is the task of the project management team to organise the programme for the citizen hearing, take care of all the practicalities in connection with the hearing so that it runs smoothly and, subsequently, to publish the citizen catalogue of ideas. Planning group A planning group comprising experts who work within the field of debate helps the Danish Board of Technology to select a programme and topics for the hearing. The planning group also helps to formulate a discussion paper, which is sent to participants prior to the hearing. Participants Naturally, the participants at a citizens hearing are the citizens themselves. Participants cannot be said to be an actual representative cross-section of society but can more accurately be described as being “interested citizens” or members of “the active democracy”. To ensure a broad range of participants, the Danish Board of Technology sends out personal invitations to a random cross-section of citizens aged between 20 and 65 (about 1,000 citizens) as well as placing newspaper advertisements. Procedure description The procedure ensures that everyone is afforded the opportunity of being heard and that it is the citizens’ ideas and suggestions that are the central output. Citizens are not asked to consider specific challenges or remedies – they formulate these themselves. A citizen hearing lasts a whole day. The hearing begins with one or more relevant presentations on the topic of discussion to warm up participants and give them a common starting point for the work that lies ahead. Following the introductory presentation(s), participants are divided into four workshops. In the morning, participants hold a brainstorming session that focuses on the challenges perceived by each of them, which is followed by a discussion about which of the challenges is the most important – and why. This takes place in four smaller groups of 4-6 people each. After this, the groups determine which 6-8 challenges they will prioritise. Each group appoints a chairman and the chairmen from the four groups meet to decide which of the 24-32 challenges will be carried further. They may choose a maximum of 12 challenges or roughly half. Once the challenges have been selected, everyone gathers in plenum where all the challenges are presented and assigned points. Once again, only a few challenges (e.g. four) are carried further. In the afternoon, participants continue working in the same groups with their own separate challenge. It is the task of the groups to recommend possible solutions and proposed courses of action for their challenge. During this phase there is no prioritisation. Finally, all participants reconvene in plenum to once again present the challenges which are now accompanied by the suggested solutions and courses of action. Following this presentation, participants once again assign points to challenges and courses of action. Direct results The process resembles a funnel – what flows out the other end is what citizens feel are the most important aspects of the topic together with their suggestions as to how these challenges should be met. In the course of the hearing, the citizens’ recommendations and assessments are gathered together so that by the end of the hearing there is a catalogue of ideas which includes the day’s overall results. These results are displayed at the hearing so that they can be viewed by participants, politicians, the press and other interested parties. Both the results and the catalogue of ideas are an indication of what citizens think, mean, and find most important. It represents an expression of ideas and citizens’ recommendations for political action. Indirect results A citizens hearing can help to bring citizens and politicians closer together, promoting a feeling of democracy in citizens and providing politicians with a better understanding of what is important to people. The role of the Danish Board of Technology In addition to acting as facilitator and organiser, the Danish Board of Technology has a particular role to play in connection with the citizens hearing. The Board acts as a neutral third party with no “vested interest” in relation to the topic of the hearing. It is extremely important to have this neutral third party to ensure citizens a credible and balanced hearing. Presentation of results The citizens’ catalogue of ideas is collated during the course of the hearing and made available immediately afterwards in its raw form to participants, politicians and the press. Following this, the Board publishes the catalogue in a form whereby citizens’ unedited answers are divided into topics but are otherwise uninterpreted. The catalogue of ideas is then sent to relevant politicians in municipal government as well as the Danish Parliament and the press. Suitability The special strength of the Danish Board of Technology’s newly developed citizens hearing model is that it gathers many people together who are assured of being heard. There is time for dialogue and debate in the smaller groups and, along the way, all the citizens can play their part in assigning priority to the most important ideas and suggestions. In this way, everybody has an active role. The participants’ curiosity and interest in seeking new knowledge is aroused, both when reading the discussion paper and when participating in the hearing. Another strong point is that an action-oriented ‘product’ emerges from the hearings, ready for assessment by politicians and officials. A citizens hearing is particularly well suited for starting a process that is to continue after the hearing and where it is important for citizens and politicians to feel a strong sense of involvement in the ongoing process. The method is particularly suitable in cases where politicians want to assess public opinion regarding a given topic, for example in connection with the implementation of major political initiatives in the particular area. The method can be used to advantage at local government level or in connection with regional issues. Brief facts The Danish Board of Technology offers to help counties and municipalities conduct citizens hearings on sustainability. This will take the form of a commercial service to ensure that the number of activities is not limited by the Board’s available financial resources. Price DKK 100,000 excl. the salaries of the Danish Board of Technology project management team. Examples of the method within the framework of the Danish Board of Technology The Danish Board of Technology has carried out three citizens hearings in Odense, Herning and Glostrup, respectively. These hearings focused on the challenges viewed in connection with Denmark’s ability to secure sustainable growth and the available courses of action for tackling these challenges. Sustainable growth – but how? (2001) Last update: 09-01-2006
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