Citizens juries are a site of adult learning. A common juror response is: There is masses of information coming in! Organisers need to be aware of information overload. At the end jurors always say: We learned so much.
There is a big increase in understanding about how the sponsoring organisation works. Over the time the jurors are meeting, say for a 4-day local government sponsored jury, you see a change in capacity.
For example in response to the statement “I have a clear understanding of council’s policy, strategies and priorities”, you’d want to see a shift to the left on this graph by the end of the jury, as we did at City of Darebin’s Participatory Budgeting jury.
The benefit for you as a sponsor organisation isn’t in selected jurors getting to understand your agenda. It’s in engaging with the learning process yourself, as a director, board or council member or manager. It’s in realising how much citizens want to make a contribution for the sake of their neighbours and for strangers they’ve never met. People want to influence things for public good.