The heart of participatory democracy is that citizens’ interests and needs should be the focus of every political decision-making process at all governance levels. Participatory and deliberative processes allow for exactly that – giving citizens the possibility to take part in decision-making and to provide the impulse for change.

Different standards have been adopted under the aegis of the Council of Europe, including guidelines for civil participation in political decision making, Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the participation of citizens in local public life, Recommendation CM/Rec(2023)6 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on deliberative democracy and a code of good practice for civil participation in the decision-making process. Round table events, expert discussions, capacity building and public campaigns are organised to raise awareness and knowledge regarding international and European standards such as those above, always including NGOs and citizens, and technical assistance is provided to introduce innovative formats of citizens engagement.

Various tools supporting participatory democracy are available on the webpages devoted to this subject, including to analyse and forecast decision options, a game-based training for citizens and schoolchildren and a toolkit for young girls and women from disadvantaged groups.

The online platform BePART provides a space for peer-to-peer learning for practitioners from public institutions and civil society through sharing good practice examples of civil participation Initiatives: Share your own good practice on BePart.