Citizens’ Democracy is a Swiss association that promotes and implements projects rooted in deliberative democracy, with a special emphasis on Citizen Assemblies. Together we are creating a new understanding of politics and democracy by strengthening the understanding of the power of deliberative processes to solve complex problems from local to international level.
Who we are
We are a dynamic and diverse group of people from all over Switzerland. We are driven by the urgent need of a less polarized, more sustainable and resilient society and we are working towards a society with a balanced deliberation and representation leading to an independent, transparent and long-term oriented decision-making process.
Our vision
We will contribute to creating a new understanding of politics and democracy through the establishment of citizens’ assemblies and other forms of deliberative processes, where all people, by cultivating trust and togetherness, will feel the agency and legitimacy to actively shape their long-term future, and in so doing create a less polarized, more sustainable and resilient society. Citizens’ Democracy believes that solutions to complex problems have to be deliberated on in the community.
Our aim
Citizens’ Democracy aims to promote, design and evaluate deliberative processes, as well as specifically citizens; assemblies, from local to international levels, thereby fostering a dynamic independent participative democracy based on full transparency and balanced deliberation and representation. In cooperation with relevant societal and political actors, we shall serve as a think and act tank for deliberative participation, such as citizens’ assemblies, in order to enhance their legitimacy with a view of integrating this innovative democratic approach into the policy process or find solutions related to community issues.
Our objectives
- Co-create projects and campaigns in Switzerland and worldwide that want to implement participative deliberation processes, such as people or citizen assemblies.
- Offer expertise in the design, implementation and evaluation of current and future experiments related to deliberative democracy
- Support as advisor member ongoing initiatives to function as a civil society observer
- Contribute to reflections on community rooted participation
- Participate in national and international networks, sharing and learning good practices and reflections of previous projects
Our team
We are a small but constantly growing team. We work based on mandates and co-create projects together with interested communities.
Alexandra Gavilano, Executive director and co-founder
Alexandra Gavilano is a passionate catalyst for social transformation and experienced process designer for deliberative processes. She works as an independent expert with her organisation “Resistance and Resilience” and supports communities in their activities related to conflict transformation, deliberative processes, community based climate adaptation, as well as international and national actors in campaigns related to environmental justice. She is on the advisory board of UNPO (Unrepresented Nations People and Organizations) and has co-launched several initiatives and associations with social and ecological linkages in Switzerland, Peru and globally. As Swiss-Peruvian she appreciated from very early on the democratic system we have in Switzerland. However, when facing the planetary crisis’ she started to search for new options to strengthen the democratic system with participative approaches. After first explorative activities, beginning in 2019, about the potential of Citizens Assemblies in Switzerland in the Nova Helvetia journey and the Catalyst lab, she co-launched Citizens’ Democracy and has been training organisations on deliberative approaches, and has functioned as advisory board or process designer for the different projects.
Célia Doloir
Célia Doloir supports the work with translation of the documents and supports in the networking activities.
Niklas Schuler
Coming from the civil engineering sector with an interest in transformative change making methods, Niklas Schuler is passionate about problem solving and how we can change from the status we are in, to a healthy and sustainable one. Deliberative democracy is for him the key to overcoming the biggest problems of our time together as a society. Niklas supported in his roles as website designer.
Board members
Paolo Jacomelli
It is time to give all people a bigger role in decision making. Paolo Jacomelli believes citizens’ assemblies can achieve this and can also help find solutions to the many environmental problems facing us. He comes from a teaching background and his roles in citizens’ democracy include networking and website content. Paolo is a pensioner with time on his hands for the moment and supports with translation and networking.
Riaan Kämpfer
Born and raised with plenty of international background and experienced in automotive engineering and repair, Riaan Kämpfer has done organizational and strategical work in different environmental movements since 2019. He is now finalizing his studies in Mobile Robotics with the aim of gaining as much knowledge as possible and to have a sustainable impact on our future. Riaan is supporting the vision with administrative support, finance and duties related to the association work.
Previous members
Brigitte Portner
Brigitte Portner is a researcher and has supported the baseline work of the DIA tool project. Due to new tasks at the University she had to step down of the volunteer role with Citizens Democracy.
Raffael Widmer
Raffael was a great contributor to Citizens Democracy and volunteering on a regular basis. He has left the organisation as he had the opportunity to take a lead role in the project management of a Citizens Assembly (Zukunftsrat) with Pro futuris, where Citizens’ Democracy was part of the advisory board.
Bettina Duerr
Bettina supported the organisation as board member during several years and participated in the organisational development of Citizens’ Democracy. She is now working for Fastenaktion and focuses her volunteer work on climate advocacy.
Our Network
Deliberative processes are gaining more and more importance all over the world and in Switzerland. We are in steady exchange with multiple organisations and projects on a national as well as international level:
- Discover our network
- Learn more about other Citizen Assemblies in Switzerland and abroad.
Contact
- For any questions and to get involved: contact@citizens-democracy.ch
- For media inquiries: media@citizens-democracy.ch