Page 81 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

• Do men and women to have equal responsibilities and opportunities in public life? This will determine how you include men and women in sharing public decisions. You may have to think of ways to ensure women have an opportunity to contribute while being sensitive to the role they would otherwise play in public life. • What experience does your country have with democracy? Are democratic norms widely accepted in your country? Is your country only newly ‘democratic’? If democracy itself is only new to your country, then you may experience less push back against innovation and changes to how democracy is done. Whereas, if your country has a long history of democracy and voting, you may find that there is considerable resistance to the idea of changing how democracy is done. • What is your country’s literacy rate? If your country has a low literacy rate, then you will need to take into consideration how you can inform participants through methods that involve in- person educating or shared learning exercises that bring people along with learning through a process (such as videos). • How is disagreement often handled? What type of cultural norms might prevent face-to-face disagreement or questioning? Are there social hierarchies that might mean some demographic defer to others for answers or advice? You will need to balance these considerations to ensure the room can work together to find solutions. 79