Regulation
The People's Assembly is guided by the following values:
- democracy for all;
- in a democracy, the people are the supreme authority;
- democracy is for all: the people are the highest representatives of the people;
- the People's Assembly aims to make high quality and well-considered decisions.
The People's Assembly will be organised in accordance with internationally agreed principles (Good Practice Principles for Deliberative Processes for Public Decision Making, OECD):
- Clear purpose and mission statement
The purpose of the People's Assembly is formulated as a clear task to solve a problem of public importance. The task is formulated neutrally and as a question.
- Demographic representativeness
The composition of the People's Assembly must correspond to the profile of Tallinn's population, i.e. it must be a cross-section of Tallinn's population. A random sample will create a 'mini-population' of the city's population. The greater the number of participants in the population, the more diverse the views of the population they represent.
Crowdelected by random selection in two phases: a personal invitation is sent to 30 000 citizens of Tallinn in the early autumn, and then a final selection is made from among those who have expressed an interest in participating the final list of 65 people.
Everyone in Tallinn has an equal chance of being elected to the People's Assembly. A few exceptions (e.g. people working in the city administration and the city council) will be excluded from the composition of the People's Assembly in order to maintain the credibility of the process.
The process of random selection will be designed by the organising team, and a description of the process will be made available to the public.
- Transparency and visibility
The residents of the city will be informed of the holding of the People's Assembly before the process starts.
The design of the People's Assembly and all materials (agendas, background papers, video presentations of experts and stakeholders, proposals and voting results of the People's Assembly, random sampling methodology) will be made available to the public in a timely manner.
The source of funding for the People's Assembly will be made public.
Tallinn City Hall will make public the responses to the proposals of the People's Assembly, together with an evaluation of the process. These will be disseminated to the public.
After the end of the consultation, the organising team will publish a summary describing the methodology used to organise the consultation.
- Accessibility
The organisation of the People's Assembly will have thought through how to involve normally under-represented groups of the population. In setting the timetable, care will be taken to ensure that dates and times are suitable for as many participants as possible. People with special needs will be given equal participation in the choice of location and space.
Experts are asked to use clear messages and simple language
- A varied and balanced approach to the theme
Participants in the assembly must be given an appropriate overview of the topic. During the knowledge acquisition phase, experts will address as broad a range of perspectives and solutions to the assembly question as possible. Due to time constraints or other practical considerations, presentations may be combined. In addition to the presentations and information proposed by the organising team and the experts, the participants in the People's Assembly will have the possibility to request additional presentations and information.
- Discussion and reflection
One of the main virtues of the People's Assembly is the search for common ground between participants. This common ground will be expressed in the form of proposals to the city administration.
The proposals will be discussed in small groups as well as in a larger circle. Each participant will have a chance to speak, listen to different opinions and ask questions. The solutions that emerge from the group work will be considered from different perspectives.
Group discussions will be facilitated by discussion leaders.
- Sufficient reflection time
In order to make well-considered proposals and decisions, it is necessary to give the participants in the People's Assembly sufficient time for reflection. Participants have the possibility to extend the length and number of their meetings if they wish (subject to budgetary constraints).
- Accountability and impact
The People's Assembly is clear when it starts, where the proposals will go, what they will affect and who will be responsible for their implementation. The municipality that has commissioned the People's Assembly commits itself to respond to its proposals in a timely manner and to report regularly on their implementation.
- Evaluation
Participants in the People's Assembly must be able to provide anonymous feedback on the whole process. The evaluation must be based on objective criteria, such as the quantity and variety of information received, the time taken to acquire the knowledge and the objectivity of the facilitation of group discussions.
The organising team will conduct an internal evaluation of the process in line with international good practice principles - to identify what was successful and what lessons can be learned for the next exercise.
The final evaluation of the impact of the People's Assembly must take into account the impact of the proposals made and their implementation.
- Independent organisation and monitoring
The People's Assembly will be facilitated by an independent organising team (DD Centre for Democracy), which will prepare the process of random selection, the timetable, invite experts and panellists to the People's Assembly. The organising team will be assisted by the Tallinn Strategy Centre. The organising team will have the final say on the design of the Plebiscite, assuming that it is in line with the Plebiscite standards.
The People's Assembly process should be independently monitored by a group of stakeholders separate from the organising team. The monitoring group will check that the climate assembly is in line with the written objectives and principles.
- Right to privacy
The names of the participants in the People's Assembly will be protected during the Assembly to protect them from unwanted media attention or possible influence by interest groups. At the request of the participant, his/her name may be published after the assembly.
Group discussions are also protected and will not be referred to.
Participants' personal data will be protected in accordance with international standards, such as the EU GDPR and Estonian laws.