Context

Traditional evaluations of mini-publics often focus narrowly on demographic representativeness and procedural integrity. In Dunfermline, we took a broader, more ambitious approach. Together with Elisabet Vives, I helped shape a multi-layered evaluation framework that not only assesses the internal quality of the Assembly, such as facilitation standards and evidence balance, but also examines its long-term relevance within the local participatory ecology, as Jason Chilvers, Helen Pallet and Tom Hargreaves have so sharply insisted.

Our strategy includes:

• Summative evaluation to measure core democratic standards.
• Formative evaluation to support continuous improvement and innovation.
• Ecosystemic evaluation to understand how the Assembly fits within Dunfermline’s social, cultural, and institutional landscape.

This work is deeply aligned with the Scottish Government’s Democracy Matters agenda, and it places strong emphasis on community ownership and the development of democratic capabilities. By embedding these principles from the outset, the Dunfermline Assembly is poised to become a model for participatory governance across the UK.