FIDE — North America and We Do Democracy Host Lead Facilitator Training October 15–24

​FIDE — North America and We Do Democracy are hosting a three-day Lead Facilitator Masterclass this October, with sessions in Washington, D.C. (October 15–17) and San Francisco (October 22–24), designed to train experienced facilitators to lead citizens' assemblies from start to finish. The training draws on instructors from Denmark, Germany, and Canada and centers on hands-on practice, with participants spending half their time actively facilitating rather than listening to lectures. Attendees leave with concrete skills in process design, group facilitation, mediation, and managing dysfunction within deliberative settings, along with direct feedback from an international team of trainers. The masterclass reflects the kind of rigorous, practice-based skill-building NCDD's network relies on to sustain high-quality dialogue and deliberation work across the country.

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Well-designed citizens' assemblies depend on facilitators who can hold complex group dynamics, guide participants through structured decision-making, and adapt when things don't go as planned. FIDE — North America, in partnership with We Do Democracy, is addressing that need directly with the Lead Facilitator Masterclass, a three-day intensive training running in two U.S. cities this October: Washington, D.C., from October 15 to 17, and San Francisco, from October 22 to 24. The training is led by an international team of facilitators and process designers, including Zakia Elvang of We Do Democracy, Jacob Birkenhäger of the European Commission, Marjan Ehsassi of FIDE — North America, and Peter Macleod of MASS LBP, each bringing direct experience running citizens' assemblies in Denmark, Germany, and Canada.

The curriculum is structured around four core areas: foundational principles of deliberative facilitation, process design, hands-on facilitation practice, and decision-making and reflection. Rather than emphasizing theory, the training is built around a 30-50-20 model, with half of participants' time spent actively practicing facilitation skills such as managing group dysfunction, mediating conflict, and guiding large-scale dialogue and voting processes. Participants leave with a practical toolkit for supporting deliberation, the ability to design a full assembly process and team, and a connection to an international community of practice, giving them tools that extend well beyond a single training weekend.

​For practitioners in the dialogue and deliberation field, the ability to run a citizens' assembly at a professional level remains a specialized and often scarce skill, making structured, expert-led training like this one especially valuable to the broader network NCDD supports. Facilitators looking to deepen their practice and connect with peers working on deliberative democracy internationally can find full details and register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8p_kNb2jTs2P9JjUGCQQCFhO8FUJOLOLQzo4voBZvlCLWnw/viewform.