Advisory Assemblies (CAA) bring together communities affected by an issue, such as energy poverty, to receive ongoing support from activists and others affected by the same issue. It is a horizontal approach to participation, meaning that its focused is engaging affected communities engaging with each other.
Name of Method
Brief description
CAA are used to engage marginalised communities affected by a given issue and support them to share and confront their experiences. CAA offer a protected space for communities to air their grievances and be heard, as well as the opportunity to receive ongoing support, from a trusted group of peers, rather than the government or authorities.
Type/Level of Method
Challenges
Problem, Purpose and Needs
CAAs have primarily been implemented to address energy and fuel poverty, which often has a gendered dimension affecting women and the most vulnerable in society. Thus CAAs aim to empower and mobilise these affected communities through sharing their experiences and knowledge in a space without the presence of authorities or utility companies and instead receive support from activists and their peers.
Relevance to Climate Neutrality
Challenges
Thematic Areas
Impact Goals
Issue Complexity
Issue Polarisation
Enabling Condition
Essential Considerations for Commissioning Authorities
CAAs are not usually commissioned by governments, but organised by intermediary organisations. It is essential that CAAs retain a horizontal approach, where authorities are not directly engaged with participants at the meetings. CAAs may be followed up with other vertical methods that connect affected communities and decisionmakers, but this should come later on and not be part of the CAA itself.
Engagement Journey
Governance Models and Approaches
Enabling Conditions
Democratic Purpose
Spectrum of participation
Communication Channels
Actors and Stakeholder Relationships
The main participants involved in CAAs are the people most affected by the issue at hand. In addition, activists and others affected by the issue support the process to facilitate, provide signposting and advice. During the assembly, participants take on different roles such as timekeeper and introductions.
Participant Numbers
Actors and Stakeholders
Participant Recruitment
Interaction between participants
Format
Social Innovation Development Stage
Scope
Time commitment
CAAs are organised as recurring events, every two weeks. In addition to the assemblies themselves, there are additional activities carried out with participants in extra workshops, in the broader community, and follow up actions and solutions to address the issue. Therefore, CAAs should be part of ongoing, long term efforts to understand and meet the needs of affected communities.
Resources and Investments
Typical duration
Resources and Investments
In-house
Step by Step
Because CAAs seek to bring together often marginalised communities, it is essential that the leading organisation is a trusted intermediary specialising in the topic and with strong community connections and trust.
CAAs are open sessions, organised in the same venue each time, and held at regular intervals. The aim is that participants will return over time and build a collective intelligence approach from cumulative knowledge and learning to support each other.
Assembly meetings typically last around two hours. Participants may take on the role of facilitator, timekeeper and so on, but are also supported by activists, and the intermediary organisation, in the structure and running of the meeting.
During the meeting, participants hear about the organisations and points of contact where they can find information and further guidance on their situation. There is also dedicated time for sharing testimonies and experiences, and air grievances. Everyone is welcome to share their opinion.
In the CAAs on energy poverty, the meeting was also used to fill in surveys to provide (anonymous) data on participants’ energy situations. This data serves a monitoring purpose and is reported to the local authority, strengthening accountability.
Participants agree to try and take actions based on the advice given before the next assembly. Additional help and support may be needed from organisers to support people to take the necessary actions. This can take place outside of the assembly and might include an advocate or activist accompanying participants to appointments, for example.
Evaluation
Connecting Methods
To deal with energy poverty, CAAs are part of a package of connected methods that are combined to empower, support and mobilise people affected by energy poverty. Read about the overall approach here.
EmpowerMed
Flexibility and Adaptability
The core features of CAAs are that they are recurring at regular intervals, held in the same place, with the same participants. The CAA breaks the usual boundary of expert and citizen, the affected participants are the experts in their own experience and this is core to the CAA approach. They should also be focused on finding solutions together, through participants’ peer to peer learning.
Existing Guidelines and Best Practice
https://www.empowermed.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Collective-assemblies-module-and-powerpoint-En.pdf
References and Further Resources
Ortiz, J. et al (2021). Tackling Energy Poverty through Collective Advisory Assemblies and Electricity and Comfort Monitoring Campaigns. Sustainability, 13, 9671. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13179671
Sareen, S. et al (2020). European energy poverty metrics: scales, prospects and limits. Global Transitions, vol. 2, pp. 26-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.01.003
SOGESCA (2020). Collective Advisory Assemblies: training module. EmpowerMed. https://www.empowermed.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Collective-assemblies-module-and-powerpoint-En.pdf
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