Participants are more able to make a contribution to key decisions that will impact their lives. Participants often become advocates of the issue that they are discussing and are more likely to take part in further democratic processes. At the same time engagement processes have a significant learning element to enable groups build their understanding and make great contributions.
Deliberative approaches also tap into the creative possibilities inherent within a diverse group of people. From this, novel solutions can arise that are grounded in diverse everyday experiences and that would not have been considered by groups of professional experts. Lived experience panels such as the Expert by Experience Panel on the Minimum Income Guarantee in Scotland as particularly effective at surfacing unseen challenges and solutions.
Across the increasing numbers of citizen assemblies, juries and other participatory processes, participants felt included and influential in decision making, and they showed enthusiasm and critical thinking. 90% of participants from the Climate Assembly UK agreed that such assemblies should be used more often to inform decision-making by Government and Parliament. The Assembly also had an influence on them. In an evaluation, two years after Climate Assembly UK, most assembly members said they had changed their behaviour since participating in the process: 91% of the respondents reported they had made one or more changes to their behaviour since participating and 49% said they had made 10 or more changes. And, for context, behaviour change was never an intended outcome of the process.