Home - DemocracyCo

What

we do

DemocracyCo is a world-renowned team with a proven track record in using deliberative democracy to support governments, non-government organisations and industry to engage and mobilise communities. Our work offers a way to create sustainable solutions to complex problems: solutions that empower the community, align the diverse needs of individuals, governments and organisations, and give governments real, evidence-based solutions that help them to answer some of the big questions that face our world today.

Our work supporting democracy is nonpartisan and impartial, with clients including local, federal and state government; environmental, utility and infrastructure organisations; regional development authorities; non-profit and NGOs; and humanitarian and philanthropic organisations.

Who

we are

Our team is a global leader in democratic engagement, with a strong and proud pedigree of policy, politics, and deliberative democracy strategy, design and implementation, both in Australia and overseas.

With many years’ national and international experience in community engagement and deliberative democracy, we have earned a global reputation for tackling some of today’s toughest questions, by creating the conditions for meaningful dialogue and fostering the type of understanding and collaboration that creates powerful, lasting change.

Why we do this work

The trust impasse

Our world is facing some of the greatest challenges that humankind has ever seen, and our need for innovation and change is more acute than ever before. But change cannot happen without a level of trust in our governments and institutions. Governments also cannot achieve change alone. Real, sustained change demands the support, expertise and united action of communities, industry and government – together.

In Australia and overseas, we are seeing rapidly declining levels of trust in our institutions: polarised groups who feel disenfranchised, disconnected and locked out of the decision-making process. We find ourselves in a state of trust gridlock, meaning that many of the reforms our world so desperately need don’t even get off the start line.

There is an urgent need to restore trust in public decision-making and leverage the combined expertise of communities, industry and government – so we can break this gridlock and move towards positive change.

Working with democracyCo was nothing short of transformative. We set out a typical tender process and received a proposal from demCo that was not in line with our typical tender process, but it intrigued the selection panel to the point of accepting the proposal … and then we ‘buckled in for the ride’ and came out the other side with new perspectives and opportunities founded in evidence and deep insight. Oh, and the number of people on the ride increased along the way! Thank you, Em & Em (and team), for the ride … and most of all, for handing us the wheel so we can keep going.

Ben Fee

CEO Riverland and Murraylands Regional Development Authority

Our

Clients

Our clients include local, federal and state government; environmental, utility and infrastructure organisations; regional development authorities; non-profit and NGOs; and humanitarian and philanthropic organisations.

Where

we work

We have supported communities, governments and NGOs to tackle some of the most pressing and challenging environmental, peace-keeping and social issues of our day – as far afield as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Philippines and the US; and as close to home as regional South Australia.

What makes us

different

At DemocracyCo we help you to move beyond loud opinions and outrage – to understand the considered judgement of your diverse communities and or stakeholders.

We do this by working with you and your stakeholders and or the community to co design sustainable and evidence-based solutions to the complex problems. We provide expert advice about how you can build deliberative democracy and meaningful community engagement into your policy and project development right from the outset: helping to ensure that you are using the right engagement methods in the most impactful way, at the right time and within budget. We do this through our deliberative democracy advisory services, training programs and by co-creating Engagement Roadmaps with your team. We bring not only a wealth of experience in facilitation but also in extensive experience in public policy development, government communications, community engagement and public administration across many portfolios – which means that we can provide advice that is cognisant of the context in which you work

Excellent, experienced and unflappable; willing to learn; could see that the cultural context in the Balkans – collectivist and not individualist – leads to substantively different processes and outcomes.

Mark Baskin