Upcoming webinar explores how citizen deliberation builds social capital and trust across diverse communities.
As public institutions face rising complexity and shifting expectations, innovative approaches to citizen engagement are proving essential for maintaining democratic legitimacy and community cohesion. Following this motto, a new webinar will examine how citizen deliberation through Citizens Parliaments can strengthen democratic participation. Nico Carpentier and Vaia Doudaki from Charles University in Prague will share findings from this deliberative initiative, which brought citizens together to explore media’s role in society and develop collective responses to democratic challenges.
The Czech Citizens Parliaments, conducted within the MeDeMAP project, demonstrate how structured public dialogue can build what political scientist Robert Putnam calls “social capital”—the trust and shared understanding necessary for effective community collaboration. Participants developed both stronger connections within their own groups and bridges across different perspectives.
Organised by the Institute of Policy Studies at the National University of Singapore, the webinar intends to help practitioners in policy development, stakeholder engagement, and facilitation understand how engagement design influences outcomes and fosters shared ownership among participants. The session provides both conceptual grounding and practical applications for enhancing public engagement efforts.
More information about this event can be found here – https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/ips/events/details/policy-lab-learning-webinar-citizens–parliaments–lessons-in-public-participation?nocache=1