Launched in February 2011, the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD) is a national, nonpartisan center for debate, research, education and policy generation regarding civic engagement and civility in public discourse consistent with First Amendment principles. Based at the University of Arizona, NICD offers an institutional structure to support research and policy generation and a set of innovative programs advocating for civility in public discourse, while encouraging vigorous public debate, civic engagement, and civic leadership. (continue)

Led by the Danish Board of Technology, World Wide Views on Global Warming (2009) is considered the first in-depth global citizen consultancy on climate change. WWViews established a model for the future inclusion of the world’s citizens in global policymaking. The novel and practical project design made it potentially possible for all nations on the planet to take part and to produce comparable results that can be clearly communicated to policymakers. World Wide Views on Global Warming involved roughly 4,000 citizens in 38 countries spanning ... (continue)

The “Democracy Communications Network” was a 2007-2009 project centered around an informal group of leaders (listed below) who agreed to periodically write letters to the editor, blog posts, and other media pieces as part of larger, collaborative campaigns that raise awareness of the importance of quality public engagement.  Use the “Democracy Communications Network” tag to see all the great articles that were written in association with this project. Also see the General Tips for Writing Op-Ed Articles. AmericaSpeaks, the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, Everyday Democracy, the ... (continue)

This great little list of tips by Laura Chasin, founder of The Public Conversations Project, appeared here on the Christian Science Monitor website around January 14, 2011 in response to the shooting in Tucson, Arizona. This article is part of a series of articles on civility at www.csmonitor.com/Topics/civility. (continue)

Written by NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher to expand upon the text on our “What Are Dialogue & Deliberation?” page. Since dialogue and deliberation processes help people learn more about themselves or an issue (Exploration stream), resolve conflicts and improve relations among groups (Conflict Transformation), improve knowledge and influence policy (Decision Making), and empower people to solve complicated problems together (Collaborative Action), the keys to success differ based on purpose. There are, however,  several conditions that help increase the likelihood of success of any dialogue or ... (continue)

USARiseUp.com has launched two online dialogues on race, and you are invited to join the conversation: The National Collegiate Dialogue on Race Relations at www.usariseup.com/category/department/national-collegiate-dialogue Race Relations in Your City at www.usariseup.com/publishers-note/join-town-hall-discussion-about-race-relations-your-city? The website has a monthly online magazine with several departments, covering a variety of topics and interests designed to help us celebrate our commonalities, better understand our differences and create a comfortable space to address those things that divide us. Their writers represent the ethnic groups that make up America; and their visitors ... (continue)

NCDD’s October 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement is packed with tools and stories to help you tackle contentious problems in your community. Download the Resource Guide at: www.ncdd.org/files/NCDD2010_Resource_Guide.pdf The Resource Guide showcases the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation’s best collaboratively-created products (like the Core Principles for Public Engagement and the Engagement Streams Framework), as well as recognizing and directing you to a lot of the great work on public engagement that has been done by others in our field. Created for our 2010 ... (continue)

This 2010 book by NCDD member Don Schneider is a psychological field manual for constructive dialogue about social and environmental concerns, and the progress of civilization. Why is it that some people don’t seem to understand the urgency of the challenges we face? Why is it sometimes so difficult to talk with them in ways that might lead to collaborative solutions? This book offers a fresh perspective on some of the psychological factors affecting our attempts to communicate with people we know about issues that ... (continue)

PRIA's founders believed in two principles of development: Participatory Research, which believes in the intrinsic value of people's knowledge as basis for their own empowerment, and Participatory Development, a process which empowers people to create and implement their own development plans. In the process of its work at the grassroots, PRIA pioneered a vast range of methodologies and tools for the empowerment of the marginalized, including Participatory Training, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation, Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue, and Community Based Monitoring. (continue)

NCDD’s October 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement showcases the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation’s best collaboratively-created products (like the Core Principles for Public Engagement and the Engagement Streams Framework), as well as recognizing and directing you to a lot of the great work on public engagement that has been done by others in our field. Created for our 2010 regional events (all attendees received a copy), this must-have guidebook was developed to share stories and resources with the dialogue and deliberation community, public ... (continue)