The European Commission's Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (CC-DEMOS) was launched in 2021 to provide services, guidance and tools, and to build capacity to support the development of socially robust policy through citizen engagement processes in the EU. The work of CC-DEMOS develops upon a strong legal basis to encourage and support Member States in their efforts to engage citizens in policymaking. In 2023 the Commission adopted a Recommendation on promoting the Engagement and Effective Participation of Citizens and Civil Society Organisations in Public Policy-making Processes (2023/2836) and published a Communication, ComPAct COM(2023)667, with both documents recognising the need to build capacity on citizen participation in Member States at all levels of Public Administration. It is within this framework that CC-DEMOS has invested in building a specific training offer on citizen engagement processes based on co-creation and deliberation for public administrations at local, regional and national level across the EU. To achieve this objective, CC-DEMOS has collaborated with Democracy X and ifok, which have extensive experience in organising and conducting participatory processes in different countries and at the local, regional, national administrative levels. The development of the training has been informed by an adaptive approach to the needs and expectations of the public administrations it aims to serve. Thus, the training was piloted at three different levels of competence - basic, advanced and train-the-trainer - in Denmark and Poland between June 2023 and May 2024. The present course-book has been designed to support the acquisition of basic knowledge and competences in citizen participation. It is informed by a knowledge and practice-oriented approach, providing a number of knowledge inputs, case-studies and practical examples that should inspire public administrations for thinking through the 'why' and the 'how' of participatory processes. Thus, the present course-book provides the knowledge, tools and techniques for safely and effectively stepping into the talk and the walk of citizen participation in policymaking. It is for policy professionals, civil servants and public officials who need to articulate the promises and challenges of citizen participation in terms of legitimacy and accountability, as well as in terms of organisation and implementation in their own administration. The present course-book also provides a reference framework for nurturing creativity and innovation in citizen participation, expanding the conversation with other public administrations, and fostering mutual learning. The basic level of knowledge and competences at which the present course-book is set makes it usable in association with the basic level training course - before, during and after it - as well as in preparation for the advanced level training course and the Train-the-Trainer level.
