Participatory and deliberative democracy can significantly improve the lives of historically marginalized groups, such as women, youth, and displaced people. When these communities share their views and actively participate in decisions like budget planning or policymaking, the outcomes are more likely to reflect their priorities and positively impact their lives.
Nevertheless, it is challenging for governments to find comprehensive support for adopting best practices for engaging these groups. To address this issue, People Powered is looking for government and civil society leaders to form a new cohort of innovators seeking to embed best practices for the inclusion of marginalized groups in participatory programs.
To be selected for this program, applicants must be civil society organizations working with governments and have a participatory initiative already underway. The accelerator is open to applicants from Latin America, Africa, Asia, or Eastern Europe, and 12 participants will be selected for this cohort.
The Inclusive Democracy Accelerator (IDA) is a six-month, practice-oriented training and support program to help civil society organizations and governments improve participatory initiatives to better engage historically marginalized groups. Participants will develop a project to engage these communities more effectively in existing decision-making processes, with a focus on youth, women, and displaced people. Selected applicants will have access to a dedicated mentor to guide the improvement of their program, along with:
Step-by-step resources such as the Participation Playbook, our interactive online tool for designing participatory programs.
Practice-oriented live sessions and online courses.
Peer networking opportunities, including attendance at a two-day international workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, with all travel expenses fully covered by the program.
Learn more about current and past Accelerator participants
Timeline
Applications closed on December 1, 2024.
Program timeline:
October 8–December 1, 2024: Applications were open until December 1, 11:59 pm UTC (check your timezone here).
December 2024–January 2025: Shortlisted participants are notified
January–March 2025: Due diligence and onboarding
March 2025: The program begins with a virtual kick-off session
April–September 2025: Participants develop their action plans with the support of mentors and participate in check-in sessions
September 2025: The program ends
September–December 2025: Participants begin to implement their action plans
November 2025–January 2026: Participants share learnings
Program timeline.
More application details
Civil society organizations working in collaboration with government authorities to plan and manage participatory programs already underway.
Government officials, staff members and policymakers who want to improve a participatory program to include marginalized communities such as youth, women, and displaced people.
Note:
A formal partnership between the government or policymakers and civil society organizations and advocacy groups will be a prerequisite in the selection process to support more enduring programs and transforming programs. One person from each partnership will be a program participant.
Participants need to be based in Latin America, Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe
Applicants should nominate a lead participant with professional proficiency in at least one of the following languages: English, French, Portuguese or Spanish. The lead participant will track program progress, engage other project members and stakeholders in the activities, attend the two-day in-person workshop, communicate with the program support, and be accountable for the conclusion of the action plan development. This person will receive a participation certificate.
This current IDA cohort consists of 12 government and civil society leaders. It will start in March 2025 and end in August 2025. In this cohort:
Participants can expect to spend an average of two to three hours per week from March to August 2025 for the duration of the training program and mentoring support.
Participants should set aside a key date (to be confirmed) in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2025. All travel expenses will be fully covered by the program.
Participants also will be asked to set aside a few key dates on their calendars to participate in the program’s live Zoom sessions.
Develop an action plan (project) to improve the engagement of women, youth or displaced people in an ongoing participatory or deliberative process.
Engage internal and external stakeholders to develop an action plan.
Attend and participate in dedicated training and mentorship/peer support activities and discussions.
Attend a two-day international workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.
Report on project progress through surveys and learning reports.
Engage with other cohort members to support each other's work.
The application form contains the following questions:
Does your organization or your partner organization have a current participatory process you would like to improve through this program?
Describe your and/or your partner's experience with participatory democracy initiatives. [100 words]
Describe your experience with inclusion in participatory and deliberative processes with governments or communities. [100 words]
Describe your current participatory process and the proposal for including marginalized communities. [250 words]
Describe the main challenge of inclusion you want to address through this program. [200 words]
Why and how is your participation in the Inclusive Democracy Accelerator important to you and your organization? [150 words]
What goals do you seek to accomplish by participating in the Inclusive Democracy Accelerator program? [100 words]
Describe existing support you have to implement improvements in the participatory program you described (resources, personnel, expertise, partnerships for implementation, etc). [200 words]
Watch the info session
We recently held an info session to explain more about the Accelerators and why you should apply. Watch the recording of it below to learn more.
Learn more about our IDA expert committee
(From top-left to right)
Aluna Serrano, Columbia
Extituto de Politica Abierta
Aluna is the Coordinator of collective intelligence of Extituto de Politica Abierta (Colombia). She is a political scientist, historian and Master in Engineering of the Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne University. Her professional experience is mainly focused on the design and implementation of citizen dialogue and consultation processes in Ile de France. In partnership with social organizations, she has co-designed projects for the Participatory Budget of the Paris City Hall. She worked as a researcher for the Political Advocacy Network Nosotras Ahora. She currently works in the area of research and political innovation of this organization.
Charlie Martial NGOUNOU, Cameroon
AfroLeadership
Charlie is a passionate participatory democracy expert for AfroLeadership, a civil society organisation dedicated to governance, democracy, transparency and participation in Africa. He works as a senior expert for various international institutions and governments, for which he provides consulting, coaching, training services on governance, management, public finance, digitalization and more. Charlie sits as a board member at People Powered and several other international organisations.
Miklós Merényi, Hungary
K-Monitor
Miklós Merényi is a local democracy expert from Budapest, Hungary. He has a decade of experience at K-Monitor, a grassroot watchdog organization, where he led projects to enhance citizen engagement with public spending, including developing the first participatory budgeting process in a Hungarian middle school. He is also the creator of partimap.eu, a customizable, map-based survey tool designed to promote public involvement. At present, Miklós serves as the vice-mayor's desk officer for public relations and citizen engagement in Budapest's 8th District. Being the most socially diverse area of the city, this municipality strives to implement a participatory model of local self-government, with a strong focus on inclusivity.
Ewa Stokłuska, Poland
Shipyard Foundation
Ewa Stokłuska is a sociologist, facilitator, and trainer based in Warsaw, specializing in public participation, dialogue facilitation, and equal treatment in public policies. With over a decade of experience, she has designed and led participatory processes, written strategic documents for public administration, and worked in local government. She served as Head of the Diagnosis and Participation Department in Gdynia and Deputy Director of the Social Communication Center in Warsaw. Currently, she works with the Shipyard Foundation, collaborates with the Human Rights Cities Institute, and is part of the Minister for Civic Society’s Working Group on Dialogue and Participation.
Fernanda Uro Aboites, Mexico
Ollin, A.C.
Fernanda is a Mexican born and raised, with over 13 years of experience in development cooperation, democracy issues, and gender affairs. I have a BA on international relations, an MA on Middle Eastern Studies and another MA on Public Policy. I have worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in local and national electoral institutes in Mexico as well as at the United Nations Development Program, always coordinating projects on governance, democracy and citizen participation.
Peter N Ngure, Kenya
Pathways Policy Institute (PPI)
Peter is a Global Health, and Climate justice expert with over 12 years of hands-on experience in mentorship/coaching, partnership management, capacity strengthening of individuals and coalitions, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) planning and advocacy, development of investment cases, and health financing. His academic background includes a Master of Arts in Rural Sociology and Community Development, University of Nairobi, (2012) and is a Global Leadership Accelerator Trainer of Trainers with Gates Institute and a winner of the 120under40 Gates Institute next generation of Family planning leaders and a Mandela Washington Fellow 2018.
