Democratic Governance, Environmental and Climate Challenges, and Societal Transformation: Deliberation, Inclusiveness, and Citizen Empowerment for Sustainable Food Systems

Project Information

DEMETRA

Grant agreement ID: 101132286

DOI

10.3030/101132286

EC signature date 6 November 2023

Start date 1 May 2024

End date 31 October 2027

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 389 322,50

EU contribution

€ 2 389 322,50

Coordinated by

SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DEMETRA (Democratic Governance, Environmental and Climate Challenges, and Societal Transformation:Deliberation, Inclusiveness, and Citizen Empowerment for Sustainable Food Systems)

Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

DEMETRA addresses one of the most urgent challenges of our time: how to govern the transformation towards sustainability in a democratic, inclusive, and effective way.
DEMETRA seeks to contribute to the development of effective, egalitarian, and democratic forms of citizen engagement in decision-making processes.
The project focuses specifically on deliberative and participatory processes (DPPs) as innovative mechanisms to facilitate public involvement in sustainability transitions, with a particular emphasis on transforming food systems.

The overall aim of DEMETRA is to identify, analyse, and promote DPPs that can empower citizens, foster inclusive participation, and generate legitimate and widely supported solutions for the transition toward sustainable food systems.
This involves understanding the enabling and constraining conditions for DPPs at the individual (micro), organizational (meso), and institutional (macro) levels across diverse European contexts.

By fostering democratic innovation in the governance of sustainability transitions, DEMETRA is expected to generate significant outcomes including societal, policy, scientific, and civic impacts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first reporting period (M1-12), the first three research work-packages (WPs) WP1, WP2, and WP3, were carried out.

WP1 consisted of five tasks that have all been completed: 1) An extensive review of the state-of-the-art literature on deliberative and participative democracy. 2) The definition of the main concepts used in the DEMETRA project, including a definition of deliberative participatory processes (DPPs). 3) The construction of a theoretical framework connecting the different concepts used in the DEMETRA project. 4) The outlining of a set of quantitative and qualitative measures for assessing the deliberative and participatory quality of different settings. And 5) The preparation of a set of guidelines for empirical analysis.

WP2 consisted of four tasks that have all been completed: 1) The preparation of guidelines to collect information about survey data. 2) The collection of information at the national level. 3) The collection of information at the cross-national level. 4) The highlighting of useful survey variables for future work packages and writing a report.

WP3 consisted of five tasks that have all been completed: 1) The mapping of the food system arena in each of the seven cities of the project. 2) The preparation of a questionnaire for an online survey. 3) Conducting the online survey. 4) The analysis of survey organizational data. 5) The drafting of integrated report on organizational analysis.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The impact of WP1 is indirect. It provides a conceptual and theoretical repository that can (and has) been used by other participants to perform their DEMETRA work packages in a conceptually and normatively consistent manner.

The impact of WP2 lies in showing that despite the social and political importance of relying on citizens’ participation and deliberation to discuss and decide on environmental issues, this link is little explored through survey research. It remains difficult to fully integrate democratic innovations when inquiring about climate change or food habits. WP2 shows that only a marginal number of survey items were concerned with the active participation of citizens in decision-making on environmental or food issues. This confirms the need to work towards a research agenda that starts from the interactions between the field of deliberative participatory processes and food systems.

WP3 delivered scientific impact according to DEMETRA’s objectives by mapping the food systems, enabling us to understand the background conditions that support DPPs of the productive actors, the goals they pursue, and what their experiences and practices are. Additionally, this initial mapping provides indirect scientific impact by feeding into the preparation of future workplan activities in WP4 and WP5. Finally, the scientific impact of the WP3 will culminate in a special issue based on data and insights gathered during WP3 fieldwork.

DEMETRA Lock Screen