July 2024
Cultures of Assembly with DemocracyNext and the City of Esch

In July 2024, COA started a strategic collaboration with DemocracyNext and the City of Esch. An initial stage consisted of a 3-day block of meetings, bringing together the mayor, key political representatives of the City Council, the political parties, agents of the services of the city, as well as key local actors from within the city to whom the initiative was presented and discussed. Later during the summer, this culminated in the approval of the project by the City Council. From October 2024 until January 2025, the Citizens' Assembly Learning Programme is providing expert guidelines to the different sections of the city services, as well as local actors and civic organisations, while discussing the upcoming implementation of a deliberative assembly in the city.
In 2025, the project aims to launch the first Citizens’ Assembly in Esch, addressing key questions about the future of the city.
The initiative builds upon the collective intelligence of people living in the city to work together and find common ground on future policy recommendations. The intention is to learn from this first experience to institutionalize Citizens’ Assemblies and make them a permanent infrastructure of Esch’s expanded democratic culture.
More information here and here.