Technical Report on the Design, Organisation and Evaluation of the Second Citizens' Assembly on Energy in Hamra

The Citizens’ Assembly (CA) on electricity and energy justice in Hamra was conducted over three days in November 2025 in Hamra, Beirut. It was organised and implemented by Jibal NGO, following a partnership with and methodological input from the (En)Visioning Justice project at University College London. It builds on the first CA held on energy justice in Hamra in 2020and serves as a second iteration aimed at refining the methodology within a real deliberative setting and contributes to the creation of a Toolkit for Organising Citizens’ Assemblies in Arab Countries. In 2020, Lebanon was witnessing a deteriorating decrease of public electricity provision, generator providers were progressively stepping in to fill the gap. A year later, the government removed fuel subsidies, leading to diesel shortages, long power cuts and rapidly rising fuel prices. Households resorted to either buying their own private generators or to installing their own solar systems to meet their electricity needs; while many people were losing access to electricity. With air pollution on the rise, people were organizing in different ways, and there was a call to create a collective context that is fair for everyone. The second CA’s primary purpose was then to understand the current energy context in Lebanon and to expose the residents of Hamra to existing and emerging alternative energy models; and through structured deliberation and democratic participation, to identify collective priorities and criteria for energy justice in Hamra, ultimately reaching final recommendations through a voting process. The CA centered on one overarching question: How can we organise collectively to reduce the cost, pollution, and mental burden of electricity on our lives? To answer this, 35 randomly selected residents of Hamra participated in a structured process combining learning, facilitated discussions, and decision-making. Jibal conducted comprehensive planning: consultations with experts, local stakeholders, and community actors; the formation of an advisory group and evidence group; a randomized recruitment process; and a three-day convening during which assembly members (participants) deliberated and developed recommendations. Through this process, participants identified key criteria to be considered and recommendations for more equitable and sustainable energy provision. These recommendations are intended to inform Beirut’s wider energy stakeholders discussions through the assembly’s observers; activists, municipal representatives, government institutions, and private sector actors; pushing for the inclusion of perspectives which are often excluded from formal decision-making to be meaningfully integrated into future energy planning and policy making.