KNOCA - Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies

How do we design and run high-quality #CitizensAssemblies, and how can these assemblies foster real citizen engagement to help cities achieve #NetZero status? Our director, Eva Bordos, alongside Damir Kapidzic, professor at the University of Sarajevo, led a two-day planning and capacity-building workshop in Sarajevo last week for representatives of three Net-Zero cities: #Sarajevo, #Podgorica, and #Elbasan. We are inspired by the commitment of Mayor Benjamina Karić as the Grad Sarajevo - City of Sarajevo progresses toward hosting the first #NetZero #ClimateAssembly in South-East Europe! We were delighted to be joined by Graham Smith from KNOCA - Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies, Democratic Society's Fontana Valenti Carlotta Fontana and Deniz Celik from NetZeroCitiesEU and are looking forward to continuing these partnerships and collaborations!

New blog post on "Climate Assemblies - the fastest road towards climate action?", by Bjørn Bedsted from the management group of KNOCA, ahead of the Sixth International Conference on Learning Cities #ICLC6, focused on #ClimateAction! Read more here 👇

Why do we need a framework for involving children and young people in climate assemblies? “As we navigate practical ways for young people to be included in climate change education and action, the citizens’ assembly process has become a key framework for our organisation, Millennium Kids. The work done by Katie Reid, KNOCA, in collating this document is a game changer, giving us the opportunity to share ideas, collaborate and build a stronger climate change youth voice and engagement network locally, regionally and globally. Brilliant!” 🗣️ Catrina Luz 🐈⬛ Aniere 🌳, CEO, Millennium Kids Inc. “If we want to succeed in creating meaningful child and youth participation, we need a framework that brings children and young people’s own resources and competencies into play, to achieve a real impact on their own lives and society. Katie Reid's Report captures exactly how we best create such a framework." 🗣️ Sofie Puntervold Kristensen, Consultant, WE DO DEMOCRACY Download the new KNOCA Guidance, authored by Katie Reid, on Children and Young People’s Participation in Climate Assemblies here: https://lnkd.in/dZGAq3wZ 🔗 #ChildRights #ChildParticipation #YouthParticipation #ClimateCrisis

Why should children and young people be involved in climate assemblies? “Children know what children need, and it’s our future we’re talking about. We need to be given a seat at the tables that discuss that future, and have our voices not only listened to, but valued." 🗣️ Niamh, aged 17, Young Advisor, Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, Ireland "This guide from KNOCA shows that when you organize your process with children and young people included, they will give you hope for a stronger democracy.” 🗣️ Yves Dejaeghere, Executive Director, Federation of Innovation in Democracy Europe (FIDE - Europe) Read more and download our new guidance on Children and Young People’s Participation in Climate Assemblies, authored by Katie Reid, here: https://lnkd.in/dZGAq3wZ 🔗 #ChildRights #ChildParticipation #YouthParticipation #ClimateCrisis

Dear KNOCA members, friends and followers, As summer arrives in the northern hemisphere, it’s the perfect time to unwind and dive into some thought-provoking reads. Whether you're relaxing by the water, atop a mountain, or in the park, we have curated a special summer reading list just for you! 🌊🏞️📖 Here's a sneak peek of what we have in store for you: 📌 Current Trends Report - Stay updated with recent and future developments in our field. (https://lnkd.in/dwzqHJCH) 📌 Guidance on How to Engage Children and Young People by Katie Reid - Essential insights for inclusive engagement of the youngest among us. (https://lnkd.in/dZGAq3wZ)  📌 Playbook for Climate Civil Society Organisations by Alina Averchenkova - Just released and packed with strategies for how CSOs can make the most of assemblies. (https://lnkd.in/d7uKu6Fx) 📌 Detailed Analysis of Permanent Climate Assemblies by Dr. Nabila Abbas - Fresh off the press and ready for deep dives into the world of permanent assemblies. (https://lnkd.in/dMjuZeV5) And if reading feels too strenuous, catch up on our Workshops and Learning Calls on our increasingly popular YouTube channel! (https://lnkd.in/dFNwiWP) 🎥 After the summer, we’ll return with a bang! Join us in September for the launch of Graham Smith’s new book, "We Need to Talk about Climate: How Citizens’ Assemblies Can Help Us Solve the Climate Crisis." (https://lnkd.in/dQw7yCif). Available in print and as a free audiobook fri mid September, this open-access publication reflects on our collective journey over the past three years. 📘🎧 🔔 Stay Connected: Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest recordings of our events and workshops. And if you want to receive this and more directly in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/dZ3SbtzW Or go straight to our website for a full overview: https://www.knoca.eu Have a wonderful summer, wherever you are! #KNOCA #SummerReads #ClimateChange #CitizenAssemblies #DeliberativeDemocracy #ClimateAction #BookLaunch #StayInformed

Join our KNOCA Launch Event on a Playbook for CSO’s!     📅  Tuesday, July 2nd  🕒  3:00-4:30 PM CET  📍 Online    Civil society organisations (CSOs) are often unsure about how to position themselves in relation to climate assemblies. Should they advocate for assemblies? How should they engage with a proposed assembly in their country, region or municipality? Should they participate in the process or just watch from the side-lines?    KNOCA aims to help CSOs think through these and other questions. Written by Alina Averchenkova from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), “Making the Most of Climate Assemblies: Playbook for Civil Society Organisations” makes the case that CSOs can contribute significantly to ensuring assemblies have robust impacts on climate governance. Lack of engagement is a missed opportunity.    The Playbook provides an 8-stage process for CSOs to consider their role in ways that build their knowledge and confidence to act, developed from a number of interviews and workshops with climate CSOs.    Join us at the launch event where Alina will introduce the Playbook, walk us through the 8 stages and answer any questions. We will be joined by Oisín Coghlan, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Europe Ireland and of course o Chair Graham Smith. 🔗 Read more and register from the link in comments 👇 #CivilSociety #ClimateAction #ClimateGovernance #DelibWave

🌍 New KNOCA Guidance on Children and Young People’s Participation in Climate Assemblies! 🌍 Building upon and complementing existing guides and manuals on how to run a climate assembly for adults, this new KNOCA Guidance authored by Katie Reid provides unique considerations for reimagining and applying a citizens’ assembly model to include children and young people. 👧👦 The guidance is for commissioning bodies, policy officials, designers and facilitators of citizens’ assemblies. It can also be used by community groups, schools, child and youth groups - anyone who is interested in learning more about children’s participation in climate action, and intergenerational dialogue on climate! 📚🌱 Find the guidance on KNOCA’s website under “practical guidance” or follow the link in comments. 🔗 Four Key Insights: 👨👩👧👦 Involving children and young people can enrich the intergenerational legitimacy and impact of climate assemblies: adult assembly members are reminded of their responsibilities to younger and future generations, and children and young people feel listened to, valued and taken seriously. 📊 Involving children and young people has significant potential to strengthen the future of democracy and climate governance by enhancing democratic and climate literacy within education systems. 🔄 Children and young people can and should be involved in climate assemblies in different ways. Most importantly, children and young people should be involved from the very beginning of the process to ensure it reflects children and young people’s own ideas. ✅ There are practical, ethical and design factors to consider when working with children and young people which can often be positively navigated by taking a child rights-based approach to the conceptualization, design and delivery of climate assemblies. #ChildRights #ChildParticipation #YouthParticipation #ClimateCrisis 🌏

Our Chair Graham Smith will be speaking at this event on the need for thinking and designing democratic innovations to connect different practices into balanced ecosystems. It's part of a launch of the white paper: "From Waves to Ecosystems: The Next Stage of Democratic Innovation" by the Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, University of Delaware and People Powered. Read more and sign up here: https://lnkd.in/dAqYJEPF

👉 Key Learnings from our Workshop on Emerging Trends, Challenges and Opportunities in climate assemblies! Thank you to all who participated in our presentation and discussion of the trends report developed by KNOCA Chair Graham Schmidt. The report was discussed and commented by Erica Hope, Director of the Climate Governance Programme at the European Climate Foundation and Claudia Chwalisz, Founder and CEO of DemocracyNext. Thank you both very much for your clever reflections! Here are three key take-aways: 📜 🔦 The Current Trends report was the basis for a broader conversation about public engagement in the climate transition.   🍀Pertinent themes included the growing connections between climate and democracy civil society organisations, how best to facilitate systems thinking and democratic learning and tactics for encouraging broader political support.   📈 Scaling up is going to require a combination of assemblies becoming an everyday part of our democratic practices and storylines that resonate with wider publics. 🎥 The recording and presentation are now available from our website. Find link in comments! #ClimateAssembly #StakeholderEngagement #ClimateGovernance #DelibWave

👉 Key Learnings from our Workshop on Engaging Stakeholders in Climate Assemblies!    Thank you to all who participated in our latest workshop led by Ines Omann, Dr. who is authoring a KNOCA Briefing on the different forms of involvement of stakeholders and their roles in climate assemblies.    Here are four key learnings:     🤝🛠️  Stakeholders can bring a lot to assemblies, from their knowledge and perspectives to amplification and implementation. But it requires careful design.    🔍📝 The selection of stakeholders is critical. Commissioners and organisers need to be clear what they want from stakeholder engagement. From this, criteria for selection can be developed. No one solution fits all.    👥 💪 Whichever ways stakeholders are involved, ensure citizens are empowered and not disempowered.    🧑🏫🔄 Stakeholders need support and training to engage with citizens (and vice versa). Some of this can be done beforehand. Some of it requires interactive methods in the assembly to build trust and respect.    As always we appreciate your active participation in our workshops and a special thank you to the presenters Mirijam Mock Christoph Streissler, Simone Zippel, Erwan Dagorne and Miriam De Pagter. 🎥 The recording and presentation are now available from our website. Find link in comments! #ClimateAssembly #StakeholderEngagement #ClimateGovernance #DelibWave