On February 26, 2024, we witnessed at the Spanish Congress of Deputies the presentation by Oficina C of the latest reports it has produced, as well as a program to match deputies with scientists.
What parallels can we find between the work of Office C and Deliberativa?
In the current context, informed decision making has become fundamental to address the complex challenges facing our society. Office C, a public entity dedicated to the generation of scientific and technical reports, plays a crucial role in this process by providing parliamentarians of the Spanish Congress of Deputies with the necessary tools to understand key issues for the country.
On the other hand, at Deliberativa, we are an organization that designs and promotes citizen deliberation processes (Conventions, Assemblies or Citizen Juries), seeking to democratize the elaboration of public policies through informed citizen participation. Although at first glance we may appear to be entities with different missions, we share an essential common objective: to inform in a balanced way in order to produce quality public policies. This article explores the common challenges and potential synergies between these two entities and how their collaboration could enrich both political decision-making and citizen participation in Spain. On this path, establishing criteria to ensure balance and neutrality in reporting is a significant challenge for both Office C and Deliberativa.
Can citizen participation contribute to informing parliamentarians? Can scientific reports be used to inform Citizen Conventions?
While Office C brings its expertise in consolidating reports based on scientific evidence, Deliberativa proposes a methodology that facilitates citizen participation in the decision-making process. Establishing bridges between both activities could allow linking technical knowledge with social wisdom, ensuring that policy decisions are not only informed by science, but also by the perceptions and needs of citizens.
In parallel, the reports produced by Office C could serve not only to parliamentarians, but also as background material to prepare the content of the deliberations of the Citizen Conventions, thus opening a horizon of possibilities to enrich the dialogue and strengthen public policies from a more inclusive and representative perspective.
How to go further in citizen-oriented reporting? From scientific reporting to deliberative reporting.
At Deliberativa, we believe that reports aimed at proposing public policies should go further and we are currently trying to do so in the framework of the Citizen Conventions. In addition to researching and analyzing the issues, it is essential to add an extra layer of information that adequately contextualizes the political dilemmas and disagreements between experts from different interest groups. This additional information should clarify the costs, benefits, and trade-offs or compromises necessary to be able to take on the policy proposals, thus facilitating a more nuanced understanding of the options at stake.
Additionally, in a Citizens’ Convention, the challenge also lies in making information accessible to all people, regardless of their level of education. This implies transforming technical reports into tools that make up a diversified deliberative curriculum. Going beyond the written text by integrating practical exercises, infographics and interactive workshops that facilitate understanding and citizen engagement. Implementing this approach requires constant innovation in communication and education methods, as well as a commitment to inclusion and accessibility. By achieving this, it would be contributing to a more informed society, but also fostering a more vibrant and participatory democracy.
The future of our democracy
At Deliberativa we deeply believe in the need to strengthen democracy by placing expert and scientific knowledge at the center, but also the tacit knowledge of citizens. We believe that public institutions such as Office C are key pieces when weaving this new framework of good democratic governance. We hope that Office C can play a role in the citizen and deliberative institutionality that is coming and we are eager to collaborate to make this happen.
Image: Presentation at the Congress of Deputies, Madrid, of the 2024 Office C reports.