Making the Most of Climate Assemblies: Playbook for Civil Society Organisations

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. 
© ICA - The Irish Citizens’ Assembly (An Tionól Saoránach)

Written by Alina Averchenkova from the LSE Grantham Institute, “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 aims to help CSOs understand the value of assemblies and how they can develop and deliver a strategy to improve the commissioning, design,

implementation and follow up to assemblies so that they have meaningful impact.

CSOs can engage with assemblies in different ways:

  • Proponent and advocate for an assembly to take place

  • Expert advisor as part of the assembly’s governance bodies

  • Provider of evidence to the assembly

  • Communicator and amplifier of the assembly

  • Watchdog of the integrity of the process and the follow up by government

  • Campaigner and advocate for the citizens’ recommendations

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.‍

Contacts

Alina Averchenkova
Distinguished Policy Fellow
Grantham Research Institute, LSE