Election year dialogues 2023 – the takeaways
Throughout 2023 we delivered a series of community dialogues on the most divisive political topics in Poland – in the months ahead of the watershed election which brought liberal democrats back to power. The purpose of the project was to map Polish voters’ polarization on key topics from the electoral agenda and to showcase a constructive way of discussing political differences which reduces affective polarization.
Over 400 people from all over Poland registered to participate. 122 of them, representing different political camps, met in 10 online dialogues, each on a different topic, drawn from the political debate. These included: national identity, family policy, wall on the border to Belarus, EU-Poland relations. The conversations lasted three hours each and were led by NCF facilitators, according to our community dialogue protocol. Some were broadcast live on Facebook.
Mapping polarization
Each od the 10 dialogues was observed by a social analyst, who mapped the lines of division and common ground emerging on the particular dialogue topic. This knowledge was then converted into Dialogue Maps presenting areas on which participants found agreement and where they disagreed–but also how the respective polarizing and depolarizing narratives worked in the conversation. Maps are publicly available to NGOs, national and local government units that work on the topics and need to build community around an issue.
What was the impact?
The goal of the project was to confront polarization and start social bridging among participants. Key metrics, aggregated from 10 dialogues, are as follows:
71% of participants feel a greater sense of community with other people despite differences
68% feel that they have a better understanding of people holding opposing views
68% feel more ready to have a constructive conversation with people who think differently than they do
66% feel more ready to listen to the views of people who think differently from them.
Disseminating dialogue skills
In the final phase of the project, we consolidated our know-how into a popular guidebook titled "Let's Talk“. It covers various facets of bridging: including seeing the different types of conversations we have, the benefits of engaging across the aisle, reasons why we avoid contact with individuals holding divergent views, potential topics for everyday exchanges, practical advice on initiating conversations, examples of effective questions, and tips on avoiding spats.
To see the full project report please visit the impact report page. This dialogue series was funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. Under this grant we also delivered:
