According to the Coalition for a Global Citizens’ Assembly, led by Iswe Foundation, a new global democratic experiment is underway as they prepare to convene a “Civic Assembly” in early 2026 that will bring together 105 everyday people from around the world. The initiative, rooted in the principles of deliberative democracy, seeks to gather a “mini‑version” of humanity to deliberate and propose recommendations on the future of global food systems in the context of climate change.
The assembly will focus on the central question: “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?”
Unlike conventional international policy processes that are dominated by state actors and expert elites, the Civic Assembly uses random selection or “civic lottery” to recruit participants, ensuring demographic diversity across gender, age, education and other key characteristics. On their website, organisers explain that they ran a global lottery of locations in September 2025, using an algorithm to select points on the world map weighted by population and adjusted to slightly over‑represent climate‑vulnerable regions. From these points, community partners help identify potential participants, and a second demographic lottery in early January 2026 will complete the selection of the assembly’s 105 members.
The website explains further that from 17 January to 14 March 2026, assembly members will engage in a series of 42 hours of online deliberation over 14 three‑hour sessions. The process is said to be designed to guide learning, scenario exploration, and collective decision‑making. Participants meet in timezone‑based working groups supported by facilitators and notetakers.
The Civic Assembly is stated to be part of a wider Global Citizens’ Assembly ecosystem, which includes self-organized Community Assemblies that allow broader public engagement at local levels. According to the Civic Assembly organisers, the combination of these two formats creates a complementary system that connects local perspectives with a specific global focus.
Once deliberations conclude, the Civic Assembly’s recommendations are said to be carried forward through an impact phase, beginning in March 2026. Together with outputs from Community Assemblies, these proposals aim to send a “clear signal” to decision‑makers and institutions at every scale about the priorities and insights of ordinary people on how “to maintain a healthy planet and feed everyone who lives on it.”
The Civic Assembly builds on the momentum of earlier global citizens’ assembly efforts, including pilots at climate conferences and the broader movement for permanent global civic engagement. Advocates see such assemblies as a vital innovation in global governance, expanding participation beyond traditional diplomatic circles and building a more inclusive approach to solving shared crises like climate change.