National Dialogues are a new way of carrying out societal dialogue in cooperation between citizens, communities and authorities. National Dialogues focus on issues and themes that are important to people and communities in a way that strengthens inclusion and creates an understanding of different challenges and opportunities based on people’s experiences.
National Dialogues are a series of dialogues that can be repeated and the idea is to invite as many people and communities as possible to organise the dialogues. The purpose of the dialogues is to build an understanding of different societal phenomena, challenges and opportunities through the participants’ experiences.
The National Dialogue model is not a political process and it does not aim for unanimity or decision-making. The aim is to gain as extensive an understanding as possible of people’s experiences and the economic, social and ecological challenges at hand. The aim is to strengthen social inclusion, cohesion and the ability of Finnish society to change through social dialogue.
The aim of a dialogue is to increase understanding about the issues to be discussed, about other people and about oneself. Dialogue is an inalienable core of democracy, which strengthens everyone’s inclusion, equality and freedom.