Democratic Dialogue - A Handbook for Practitioners

Democratic Dialogue: A Handbook for Practitioners aims to be a practical guide on how to organise, facilitate and assess dialogue processes. It combines conceptual and practical knowledge, while providing practitioners with a repertoire of tools, experiences, and approaches adapted to the issue at stake, the local context, and the stakeholders involved.

More than a compilation of techniques, the Handbook provides the reader with a ‘how to’ guide to organise a tailor-made dialogue from assessment to evaluation.

Part 1: The Conceptual Framework addresses some basic questions about democratic dialogue. Why is it needed? What is it, exactly? How does it contribute to positive change? Further readings and sources of information on particular concepts and case examples are included.

Part 2: Putting Concepts into Practice follows the steps of an unfolding dialogue initiative, from early conversations about the need for and possibility of dialogue to designing and implementing a dialogue process and evaluating the outcomes. At each step, the guide offers an overview and suggests specific actions to take in order to deal with any issues and challenges that are likely to arise. Case studies provide concrete illustrations, and the suggestions for further reading explore particular tools and approaches.

Part 3: Applications offers examples of three fully developed dialogue initiatives. These include a regional dialogue organised by the OAS in San Mateo Ixtatán, Guatemala; a country dialogue sponsored by UNDP in Mauritania; and an International IDEA democracy-building project in Nepal.

Appendix 1 presents a comparative table of case studies. For each case, the Appendix provides a brief statement of context, purpose, and outcomes.

Appendix 2 presents a brief overview of available dialogue processes and tools, and includes references to sources of further information on how to use them.