Call for Applications: Facilitator for Citizens’ Assembly Project

Facilitator Call: Citizens’ Assembly Project | Western Cape

We are recruiting facilitators based in the Western Cape to support an upcoming Citizens’ Assembly. This is a rare opportunity to be involved in South Africa’s first large-scale Citizens’ Assembly and to contribute directly to democratic innovation and public deliberation. Facilitators play a critical role in ensuring that discussions are inclusive, respectful, and deliberative, enabling a diverse group of residents to engage meaningfully with complex public issues.

About Citizens’ Assemblies

Citizens’ Assemblies (CAs) bring together a representative group of people to learn about an issue, deliberate together, and develop recommendations for public decision-makers. They are widely used internationally as an inventive complement to representative democracy. Applicants are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with what a Citizens’ Assemblyprocess looks like before applying.

Role and Time Commitment

• The Citizens’ Assembly will take place over six Saturdays between August and October (exact dates to be confirmed).
• Facilitators are expected to attend all Assembly sessions.
• Facilitators must also attend:
  • One in-person two-day training 28-29 March 2026, 9am-4pm and
  • A small number of preparatory online training and briefing sessions in the months leading up to the Assembly.
• This is a paid, short-term role linked to training and Assembly delivery. Facilitators will be paid R2000 per session. Facilitators will also receive an additional stipend of R2000 for attendance at training in March.
• Applicants must be based in the Western Cape, as in-person attendance is required.

We are looking for people who:

• Have at least 5 years facilitation experience and/or facilitated 10 deliberation processes or groups (e.g. community workshops, dialogues, education, organisational settings) where facilitation was the primary role or job function
• Experience and comfort with facilitating difficult discussions in diverse and sometimes contested spaces.
• Experience and comfort with facilitating strong emotions and personalities
• Experience and comfort with moving groups towards constructive expression and deeper understanding.
• Can facilitate in English and Afrikaans or English and isiXhosa.

Preference will be given to applicants who are able to facilitate in all three languages: English, Afrikaans, and isiXhosa.

Formal facilitation qualifications are not required but preferred; sufficient relevant experience, facilitation approach and language ability are more important.

Training:

Facilitator training in March 2026 will cover:

• What Citizens’ Assemblies are and how they work.
• The role of facilitators in deliberative processes and how this type of facilitation differs from other types of facilitation.
• Techniques for non-directive facilitation in potentially difficult and/or contested spaces.
• Facilitating in multilingual and diverse contexts.
• The specific design and curriculum of the Cape Town Citizens’ Assembly.

 

How to Apply:

Please submit:

• A short CV (maximum 2 pages), including facilitation experience and language competencies.
• A short motivation (minimum 100 words) addressing the following questions: What is your personal approach to facilitation? What are your principles for facilitation? Please demonstrate these principles in action using an example from your CV.

Please send applications to: Kira Alberts (kca@sun.ac.za) and Alison Kuah (alisonkuah@gmail.com)

Closing date: 6 March 2026

 

About the Project

The Citizens’ Assembly is hosted by the Centre for Research on Democracy (CREDO) at Stellenbosch University and the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group (PUG) at the University of the Western Cape alongside our partners at the Western Cape Provincial Government Climate Directorate and is supported by the Future Fund. The project aims to test and strengthen deliberative democratic practices in South Africa. More information: CREDO: https://www0.sun.ac.za/credo/ or PUG: https://pugresearch.org.za/research/citizens-assembly/