Following a successful pilot series in 2020, our Political Education and Participative Democracy Workshops are currently being ran as part of Community Dialogue’s wider Civic Innovation programme 2021-22.
Developed in collaboration with AvilaMedia, our 3-steps strategy aims to Empower, Engage and Elevate. The series includes educational activities combined with consensus building dialogues. Our process has been carefully designed to be responsive to participant’s interests, concerns and capacity, supported by an accessible learning toolbox.
Each workshop includes facilitated dialogues where we will address questions such as:
- How can we best prepare ourselves for participation?
- What are the barriers to decision making in Northern Ireland?
- What does being heard look and feel like?
Using a flexible engagement approach, each session flows between dialogue and presentation allowing participants to explore the themes along with their personal experiences. Designed for both in-person and online engagements, the workshops are deliverable as single sessions up to complete series, depending on the participant group’s existing knowledge and objectives.
Throughout the series, groups will be supported by our skilled facilitators to:
- Receive training on political structures and participative democracy methods.
- Explore opportunities to have your voice heard and identify issues that matter to you.
- Learn about consensus building dialogue.
- Build action planning skills.
- Access workshop materials through our online learning toolbox.
- Join our Network for Civic Action and attend collaboration days.
- Participate in opportunities to share experiences and ideas directly with local and regional decision makers and influencers.
- Attend complimentary training sessions and preparation events with our partners.
To support our flexible method, we encourage members of existing groups to attend a consultation workshop session. This session is offered to discuss specific learning requirements and potential objectives from participation. Our team will then model the learning process according to the feedback provided.
To read about our pilot series and feedback please click here.
If you are interested in participating in one of our workshop series or would like to know more please contact admin@communitydialogue.org to register for our mailing list.
