"Because of its inclusiveness, the citizens' assembly opens space for imagination": Q&A with Muzna Al-Masri and Mariam Daher on Climate Assemblies in the MENA region

This interview is part of the series "Voices of Climate Democracy". The series provides a platform for insights from the people making climate assemblies happen around the world, through local, national, and global initiatives. We explore what works, the challenges that arise, and how learnings can enrich future climate assemblies.

In 2020, 33 residents from the Hamra neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, participated in the Citizens' Assembly on Electricity and Energy Justice, convened as a small-scale pilot project by the RELIEF Centre (today Prosperity Co-Laboratory for Lebanon, a transdisciplinary research collaboration, based at the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London). In five sessions over three days the participants tackled questions about energy justice and developed recommendations. Muzna Al-Masri, facilitator and member of the organizing team, reflected on the experience in a case study featured in International IDEA's publication on climate deliberation in the Global South, highlighting the assembly as a space for nurturing political imaginaries. 

In this interview, Muzna Al-Masri and her colleague Mariam Daher, coordinator of the Hamra citizens' assembly at the RELIEF Centre, discuss the long-term impacts and learnings from this experience and how this applies to two new citizens’ assemblies that they are planning through the (En)Visioning Justice project, a research grant based at the Urban Lab, University College London. More generally, they reflect on the value of continuing to promote climate assemblies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

As we learned in your report, a huge part of the planning phase was to consult with stakeholders and the local community to co-design the citizens' assembly. Why was this so important? 

Mariam Daher: Firstly, it was important because this was a new project. Before parachuting into the community we were working with, we wanted to take our time and introduce it properly. That's why the stakeholder consultation meetings were so important—to see how the citizens' assembly as a deliberative tool resonated with people in this specific context. Is it useful? Does it add value? Do they have any input on how to translate and adapt the methodology? Because this is a European practice, and we were bringing it to our context.

Secondly, as we are observing more clearly in the two citizens' assemblies we are currently working on, the consultation meetings are a very important component of the planning phase. For me, co-designing the citizens' assembly is a huge part of organizing it. The difference between citizens' assemblies held in our region, which is politically charged and less democratic, and those in Europe for example, is that the phase of relationship-building and consultation with stakeholders in the community is critical. It ensures the success of the citizens' assembly by embedding it, giving it credibility, and creating a space where citizens feel comfortable to participate and express themselves.

Muzna Al-Masri: The stakeholder consultations were also important because we weren't entirely confident in the concept ourselves. We were questioning it and wanted to bring in broader perspectives to think it through with us. One of the key things we're still thinking about now is: what's the value of these consultations in a non-democratic context, where there isn't really a desire by policymakers to listen to what you have to say? When we first started planning in 2019, policymakers might have felt compelled to listen to what the people had to say amidst a moment of political uprising, but by the time the political moment had shifted, that interest was gone, and the policymakers abandoned the process entirely and decided not to come.

Given the lack of policymaker engagement, what value do you see for citizens' assemblies in politically constrained contexts?

Muzna Al-Masri: What stood out to me in the citizens' assembly in Hamra was the actual deliberation between citizens. The chance for different experts, with divergent and even at times opposing perspectives, to be together and think together and present to citizens, to design an inclusive space. Because of that inclusiveness the citizens' assembly opens a space for imagination—beyond just reaching decisions. Globally, citizens' assemblies are often seen as a way to reach decisions that can be carried forward in the policymaking process, but in our context, I'm not sure that's possible. Instead of reaching concrete decisions that can be taken up, we were able to articulate a path forward. The problem was that there was no one to carry it forward, no local NGO or other entity picked it up. 

Do you think there was a long-term impact from creating this room for deliberation and exchange, even though no one picked up on the recommendations?

Muzna Al-Masri: For me, I would say not really. I learned a lot from it personally. But I don't know if the technical experts really seized the opportunity to listen fully to what people were saying or to engage in cross-disciplinary discussions. For example, an expert claimed that we could generate 50 percent of our energy from solar power. However, people responded with skepticism, doubting its political feasibility—reflecting their deep mistrust of the state. And now, four or five years later, their skepticism has been proven right, as the state did not follow through on its promises. If the experts had refined their ideas based on practical feedback from the community, there could have been a real impact.

Mariam Daher: I agree with Muzna. I think the whole point of the citizens' assembly is that it is a two-way learning experience: citizens learn from experts and experts should learn from citizens. Maybe the second way didn't develop as much in our case, but I do think that there was a spark. The feedback we got showed that there was an activation of citizens. But with the continuously evolving political landscape and because no one took it forward, the spark died.

Within your new project "(En)Visioning Justice: Citizens' Assemblies and Energy Futures in the Global South" you are planning to conduct citizens' assemblies in two in cities in the MENA region by the end of 2025. What kind of learnings from the pilot assembly in Hamra are being implemented in the planning process for the upcoming ones? And what are the difficulties in transferring those learnings?

Muzna Al-Masri: We felt we had to make a lot of effort in the first one because we were still discovering the concept. Even deciding on the name was a challenge. What do we call it in Arabic? If we say 'citizens', does that include refugees? What is the appropriate word? When we sought funding for two more citizens' assemblies, the aim was to test the methodology further within the regional political context and eventually developing a toolkit in Arabic. The existing toolkits include so many principles of citizens' assemblies that just won't work here. The main elements that we can retain are inclusive deliberation, learning from experts, and reaching a decision or a proposal for a way forward. And of course, neutrality of facilitation or organizers, in order to be inclusive. But beyond that, there are so many elements, like the commitment to policy, a heavy organizational system or sortition, that just won't work. It needs to be much more flexible.

Mariam Daher: I don't know how to answer this question, maybe because of this challenge of democracy within non-democracies. I feel like citizens' assemblies in our context have to be organic. A citizens' assembly has a life of its own that continuously interacts with the social and political background. And so, for each country, the experience has been a bit different. There are similarities, of course. The lessons that we learned in the stakeholder consultation and in the application itself, we are definitely applying again now. But we're still exploring how to really hone in on the added value.

Muzna Al-Masri: While it has been really difficult to explain to people what a citizens' assembly actually is, there are moments when people see its potential—and when they do, there is magic in that. At least that's what I felt during the citizens' assembly in Hamra. It wasn't just about the event itself, it felt like a deeper learning experience for everyone involved.

Can you describe what a citizens' assembly, in an ideal scenario, could be for you? What kind of tool or instrument could it become, particularly in the contexts you're working in?

Mariam Daher: I really like the points Muzna brought up. My focus has been more on the political angle, mostly because that's where we've faced the greatest challenges. But it is also about creating a space where people from diverse backgrounds can come together and learn from each other. We're in a place where we need to have dialogues between different groups about different topics, and we need to find ways to ensure that these dialogues actually are beneficial for everyone. A citizens' assembly could be the tool that helps initiate and sustain those dialogues, whether on technical issues or including the political dimension and how to transform it.

Muzna Al-Masri: Yes, I agree with that, and I'd add one more layer: the possibility of articulating a shared vision. Even if we're not talking about fully aligned visions, one of the goals of a citizens' assembly is to create a more shared vision. I doubt that we can have a citizens' assembly where 70 people in a room all say that this is exactly what they desire. But maybe the assembly can lead to a majority agreeing on a direction that feels right for most of the participants—that in itself is valuable.

The climate assemblies within the (En)Visioning Justice project are planned to take place before the end of 2025, probably in Lebanon and Tunisia. Follow the updates here.

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