The Civic Assembly

What is the Civic Assembly?

As part of the wider Global Citizens’ Assembly (GCA), a Civic Assembly follows the blueprint of a citizens’ assembly process, bringing together a randomly selected, mini version of the world’s population for a deep deliberation on an important global topic where existing governance systems are struggling to find solutions.

The Civic Assembly of 2026 will consider and make recommendations to shape the future of global food systems in light of our shared climate challenge.

Why run a Civic Assembly?

The Global Citizens’ Assembly contains both Civic Assemblies and Community Assemblies. While Community Assemblies provide a way for many more people to be involved and create action locally, a Civic Assembly provides a particular type of legitimacy that can only be obtained through long duration, professional facilitation, and lottery selection. The combination of both formats is what makes the Global Citizens’ Assembly special, one format building a global picture from many local pictures and the other addressing the global issues directly with a snapshot of the global population.

Process at a glance

Step 1

Location lottery

September 2025
An algorithm picks random locations in the world.
Points are more likely to land in locations where
more people live, with adjustments made to slightly
over-represent more climate-vulnerable regions.

Step 2

Recruitment

September-December 2025
GCA teams in each world region search for trusted
community organizations near each map point.
These Community Hosts will recruit 5-10 potential
Assembly Members and, later, support the
participation of the one who is chosen at that location.

Step 3

Demographic lottery

Early January 2026
To achieve a balanced ‘mini-public’, another algorithm
selects one person from each map point so that
together they resemble the collective diversity of
the world's population in terms of gender, age,
education, and other relevant characteristics.

Step 4

Deliberation

17 January - 14 March 2026
The selected Assembly Members explore key
dilemmas in global food systems in the context
of climate change, producing recommendations
based on thoughtful judgements about what
they have learned from information about the
topic and from each other.

Step 5

Impact

March 2026 onwards
The Civic Assembly’s recommendations, together with
outputs from Community Assemblies, provide a clear
signal to people and institutions at all scales to direct
the decision-making and actions needed to maintain
a healthy planet and feed everyone who lives on it.

Structure of the Civic Assembly

The Civic Assembly is made possible by a decentralized global team. Each Assembly Member is supported with logistics and translation by a dedicated Community Host who, in turn, are supported by Regional Lead partners. Assembly Members meet in regular Working Groups based on their timezone supported by a dedicated Facilitator and Notetaker, with systems in place for sharing ideas and perspectives between groups and to build a sense of community among everyone involved.

Assembly Member locations

To find the 105 Assembly Members, a lottery algorithm was run in September 2025 to pick random points on the world map. This algorithm uses a NASA database to ensure everyone in the world has a near-equal chance of being selected, subject to maximum quotas for countries and UN regions, a preference for diversity by including at least 60 countries, and a slightly higher allowance for people in the most climate-vulnerable countries.

Topic, framing & methodology

In 2025/26, the Global Citizens' Assembly is supporting the Government of Brazil’s Mutirão efforts to establish a Citizens’ Track within the climate COP process. Reflecting Brazil’s role as a major food producer and custodian of vital ecosystems, the Civic Assembly in early 2026 will focus on key dilemmas around the governance of global food systems and their close links to climate change.

Food is a topic that connects people from all backgrounds. By exploring how to feed everyone within planetary boundaries, the Civic Assembly will confront difficult questions that lie at the heart of global climate governance. The following framing question has been developed to stimulate these conversations:

“What changes, if any, should we make to how we grow, share, and eat food, so that everyone has enough to nourish themselves, while tackling the causes and impacts of climate change?”

Deliberation process outline

The members of the 2026 Civic Assembly will gather online for 42 hours, over 14 three-hour sessions, between January and March. The structure of the deliberation process is based on the popular Three Horizons framework and the CLIMAS methodology.

Where are we now?

Introduction to the Assembly.

Surface Assembly Members’ own experience alongside expert-informed learning on topics including climate change, diet & health, food production & distribution, sustainability.

Where do we want to go?

Set a collective vision/goals.

Use scenarios to understand the links between food and climate, highlighting constraints and opportunities in the political/policy landscape.

Explore key dilemmas between food systems and environment/climate impact, identifying new future scenarios.

How do we get there?

Define impact areas (e.g. consumption patterns, land use), identify key leverage points, and explore the trade-offs of different approaches to addressing the impact areas. Understand who benefits, who loses, and how harms can be mitigated.

Propose, draft, and finalize recommendations based on the trade-offs around the collectively-defined future scenario.

Outputs & impact

The recommendations of the Civic Assembly will be brought to the world through a cultural campaign and a Coalition of supportive institutions. Together with the actions proposed and driven by Community Assemblies, these will inspire and direct the change that needs to happen at all levels, from individuals and communities up to national governments and international organizations.