AmericaA citizens’ assembly brings a broadly representative group together to study a public question and develop recommendations. It is not simply an open town hall.
Representation is part of the mechanism
OECD research describes representative deliberative processes that use selected citizens, evidence, and structured discussion. An open invitation can be valuable, but it usually produces a different participant pool from a process designed for representativeness.
Ask how recruitment works, who cannot easily participate, whether compensation or access support is provided, and how replacements are handled. A polished room does not establish that the public is represented.
Make learning and disagreement possible
Participants need time, understandable materials, more than one relevant perspective, and a way to question experts. Facilitation should make space for disagreement rather than pressure people to endorse a predetermined result.
An assembly’s value depends partly on whether its question is genuinely open. “How should we address this problem?” is different from “How can we persuade everyone to accept this chosen solution?”
Define the handoff before the meeting
Who receives the recommendations? Must they respond publicly? What authority remains with elected officials? Publish that agreement before the process begins, then track the response and any implementation.
If adapting the idea to a small community project, be precise about the claim. A participant workshop can produce useful ideas without calling itself a representative national assembly. Evaluate the quality of reasoning, inclusion, and follow-through separately.
Make it useful
Your next steps
- Specify the public question and commissioning authority.
- Publish recruitment, evidence, and facilitation methods.
- Define the response and implementation process in advance.
Take it into practice
A starting template you can adapt—not a form submitted to America.co.
Question: ____. Participant-selection method: ____. Evidence plan: ____. Decision authority: ____. Required response date: ____. How minority views will be recorded: ____.
Common questions
Is an assembly a referendum?
No. Deliberative recommendations and a public vote are different mechanisms.
Does the recommendation automatically become law?
Not unless the applicable legal arrangement gives it that authority.
Follow the source trail
Source pages consulted October 4, 2026. Original worksheets and evaluation questions are America.co guidance; they are not government instructions.
- OECD — Innovative citizen participation ↗Primary comparative research
- OECD — Evaluation guidelines for deliberation ↗Primary evaluation guidance
This guide uses AI-assisted drafting and links the underlying sources. It has not been presented as expert-reviewed advice. Read our editorial approach. Send a correction with the source and passage.