Virtual Deliberation: Creating a Shared Hemispheric Agenda

Nicole Spencer
Partners of the Americas

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     Last modified: March 18, 2005

Abstract
To support civil society organization (CSO) participation in the Summits of the Americas, Partners of the Americas’ Center for Civil Society will facilitate online deliberations on eight themes: Indigenous Peoples, transparency, sustainable development, peace building, citizen participation, education, political parties, and labor. The results of the deliberations, which will take place April 4-May 6, 2005, will be shared with decision makers prior to and at the 2005 Summit of the Americas.

Partners’ online deliberations will strengthen CSO participation in the Summits by:

• Facilitating substantive reasoning and dialogue among CSOs: Moderators will guide participants in framing the issue and then in a deliberation. The emphasis will be on finding common ground for action and providing governments with feedback on how CSOs see the issues facing the region and potential strategies to address those issues.
• Orienting CSO participation by providing background information: The online deliberations’ Web site houses a “library” with information on the Summit process, articles on the themes, and previous CSO recommendations.
• Bringing together CSOs from across the hemisphere that are working on the same issues.

Participation in the online deliberations is open to CSOs from throughout the hemisphere. The deliberations will be conducted in Spanish with weekly summaries in English and Spanish.

The online deliberations are part of Partners’ ongoing research on the role of deliberation and technology in supporting effective CSO participation at the local, national, and hemispheric levels. Some of the questions Partners seeks to answer with this initiative include:

• How internet technology can be used to provoke the collective naming of issues of shared interest to diverse CSOs
• How discussion guides can be framed to encourage deliberative engagement
• How such interactions can be effectively moderated
• How deliberative practices impact the political behavior of CSOs

For more information, visit http://foroscumbres.redinter.org