This isn't the global hub for this movement. It's an Australian instance—a working example of how to run Living Room Conversations in your community. Everything here is CC0. Fork it. Adapt it. Run it in your country.
The Living Room Conversations model is grounded in decades of research on deliberative democracy—the idea that when everyday people from different backgrounds come together to listen and think carefully about an issue, they find more common ground than either side expects.
It works because it's built on a few simple but powerful principles: personal stories first, positions second; citizen facilitators rather than professional mediators; small groups in informal spaces; and a structured format that protects the conversation without scripting it.
The Australian version is Pilot 1.0. Every session we run teaches us something. We share what we learn back into the materials—on GitHub, in public, for anyone to use.
Listening, storytelling, finding common ground—these work across cultures. The structure travels even when the content changes.
Markdown on GitHub. No proprietary formats. A translator can open it in any text editor.
No licensing negotiations. No attribution requirement. You don't need to email us. Just take it.
When you improve the materials, a pull request makes that improvement available to everyone—including us. The model gets better with every country that runs it.
When you fork github.com/cclambie/DCAF, you get a complete, working model for running citizen-facilitated deliberative democracy sessions.
The complete 90-minute facilitator guide—time-blocked, with exact language and facilitator tips. Ready to print. Ready to adapt.
The one-page document handed out to participants. The 10 ground rules that make the conversation safe and productive.
What to do when things go sideways. Someone dominates. Two people start debating. Someone gets upset. Real situations, practical responses.
The site you're looking at now. Fork it and replace "Australia" with your country. Your own instance, your own domain, your own community.
The entire repository is CC0—public domain dedication. No copyright. No permission required. Take everything.
Ask questions, share learnings, and connect with others running the model—across countries. The common space for the whole project.
Most of the methodology translates directly. But some parts are Australia-specific and will need adapting for your context.
You need a GitHub account. That's it. Fork the repository, clone it locally, and you have everything. The rest is editing Markdown and HTML.
You don't need our permission—but we'd love to know. Tell us in GitHub Discussions and we'll add a link to your instance here. It helps others find country-specific versions of the model, and it helps us understand how the methodology travels.
These are versions of the Living Room Conversations model adapted for specific countries. Each is independently run. Each is CC0.
Let us know in GitHub Discussions and we'll list your instance here.
Add your country →