Public Dialogue & Facilitation represents the art and practice of enabling constructive conversation across differences to build mutual understanding, shared purpose, and collective capacity for action. This civic innovation domain encompasses the methods, skills, and infrastructure that allow diverse groups — from neighborhood meetings to national policy forums — to deliberate complex issues, bridge divides, and co-create solutions through structured yet adaptive processes.
The field has experienced what the OECD calls a "deliberative wave" building since the 1980s and gaining significant momentum since 2010. Citizens' Assemblies, Deliberative Polls, World Cafés, and other representative deliberative processes are increasingly convened by public authorities at all levels of government to tackle complex policy challenges — from climate change to infrastructure investment. The landmark 2004 British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform demonstrated that randomly selected citizens, given adequate time and information, can engage deeply with complex issues and produce sophisticated recommendations.
Facilitators are vital to this work, building bridges between expert testimony and citizen understanding while ensuring all participants have equal opportunity to contribute. Quality deliberative processes require at least four full days of in-person engagement, careful listening, consideration of multiple perspectives, accurate information, and skilled facilitation that creates safe spaces for respectful disagreement. Organizations like the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) serve as conveners and resource centers, tracking methodologies including Sustained Dialogue, Wisdom Councils, Appreciative Inquiry, and Open Space Technology.