Civic Fusion Workshops in Europe
Client: Local, Regional, and National Government Agencies and Universities in Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden
Background
Government officials and academics have sought to apply public policy mediation approaches to unresolved complex issues and situations in Europe. Many countries are working to create mediator capacity to engage stakeholders and the public to effectively address issues such as environmental protection, land use, immigrant integration, radicalization, democratic governance, and corruption.
Process
Susan Podziba has provided numerous workshops and webinars to introduce civic fusion approaches of public policy mediation for developing actionable and sustainable agreements. Sessions have included: mediation assessment, process design, mediation skills development, and managing complex multi-party, multi-issue negotiations. She uses government participants’ actual cases to illustrate ways to identify representative participants and strategies for confirming their constituent credibility as well as refinements for applying tools of policy mediation in specific cultural contexts.
Among the clients and locations of civic fusion workshops are: the General Directorate for the Central Organization, Emilia-Romagna Regional Government in Bologna, Italy, ParteciP.A. Salone della Democrzia Partecipativa in
Modena, Italy, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research in Delft, Netherlands School for Public Administration in the Hague, Helsinki University of Technology, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and Dalslandskommunernas Kommunalförbund. In Scandinavia, she has been consulting on a European Union-sponsored sustainable development project, which is premised on the theory of Civic Fusion.
Result
Workshops provided by PPM and many other professional mediators and scholars have contributed to the transfer of public policy mediation knowledge and techniques for use in European countries and contexts. There are now numerous European practitioners helping to address national, regional, and local policy conflicts.
