DemocracyCo
DemocracyCo is one of Australia's most established deliberative democracy practices, providing end-to-end design, facilitation, and project management for citizens' juries, panels, and assemblies. It was co-founded by Emily Jenke and Emma Fletcher — both with backgrounds in SA public service and community engagement — out of a frustration that governments were not achieving quality reform commensurate with the scale of problems faced by communities.
The practice does not advocate a single methodology; it selects approaches suited to each process. Its core principle is that giving citizens genuine influence means committing at the outset to implementing some or all of what they decide.
Key people
- Emily Jenke and Emma Fletcher — co-founders, both with backgrounds in South Australian public service and community engagement. Jenke facilitated the 2014 SA Citizens' Jury on road sharing; the practice grew from their shared frustration that governments were not achieving quality reform commensurate with the scale of problems faced.1
Notable processes
- SA Nuclear Fuel Cycle Citizens' Juries (2016) — A two-stage process involving 50 then 350 South Australians deliberating on whether SA should store international nuclear waste; described at the time as the world's largest citizens' jury on nuclear waste storage
- Citizens' Jury: Sharing the Roads Safely, SA (2014) — Explored road sharing between motorists and cyclists; facilitated by Emily Jenke
- Citizens' Jury: Reducing Unwanted Dogs and Cats, SA — 50 citizens, 5 days, 13 recommendations, 11 adopted and legislated
- Citizens' Assembly on Responsible Social Media Discourse, Bosnia and Herzegovina — International process designed by DemocracyCo with Sortition Foundation recruitment
- The People's House — An ongoing methodology giving MPs tools to engage randomly selected constituents; piloted in ACT and Victoria
Related organisations
- newDemocracy Foundation — Sydney-based research and practice organisation in the same space
- MosaicLab — Melbourne-based deliberative practice
See also
History
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2016-11-11
Facilitated the SA Nuclear Fuel Cycle Citizens' Jury on storing international nuclear wasteLandmark large-scale citizens' jury
Sourcing: High
a citizens’ jury established by Premier Jay Weatherill has just concluded. It provided advice to the State Government on the question: “Under what circumstances, if any, could South Australia pursue the opportunity to store and dispose of nuclear waste from other countries?” ... including the organising body, democracyCo
Date is the article's publish date (the jury itself "has just concluded" at time of writing); described elsewhere on this page as the world's largest citizens' jury on nuclear waste storage at the time, involving 350 South Australians in the final stage.
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2026-09-01
Building Common Ground — online training on social licence for complex public policy through deliberative engagement
Sourcing: Medium⚠ Unverified
No note, quote, or fragment behind this citation yet — click through to verify manually.
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