February News: Digital participation, funding calls & our new democratic governance

February News

Here’s the latest news from People Powered and participatory democracy worldwide. This month features:

  • Launch event for digital participation ratings

  • Guest post on Open Government Partnership

  • People Powered upgrades its democratic governance

  • Final call for PhD fellowship opportunity

  • News from our members and partners, and more!

📩 Subscribe to get our newsletter by email!

Join the Launch of the 2024 Digital Participation Ratings!

What are the best tools and platforms to enhance your digital participation program today? What criteria should governments and organizations use when selecting a digital participation tool? To help democracy practitioners decide, People Powered will launch its 2024 ratings of digital participation tools on March 14!

The 2024 edition is now updated for the third year with the input of independent experts and hundreds of users and developers. It features new platforms, methodological improvements, and a revamped Airtable presentation. Learn how to use the ratings to improve your digital participation program.


How can governments engage people in meaningful decision-making online?

What are good practices for including all voices in digital participation, especially those most affected by policy decisions? How can we harness the benefits of rapid technological change while guarding against threats like disinformation? These questions sit at the intersection of digital governance and public participation, two focus areas of the global Open Gov Challenge

In a guest blog post for the Open Government Partnership, People Powered’s Nikhil Kumar and Melissa Zisengwe explain how we can better support organizations working on digital democracy globally, in ways that adapt to rapidly changing technologies and contexts.


People Powered Upgrades its Democratic Governance

People Powered is a member-driven, democratically governed organization. Our members decide on organizational plans and priorities, and staff then implement those priorities. We recently updated our governance system, including strategic planning, our annual decision-making process (People Powered Decides), regional hubs, and thematic committees. As part of this change, we phased out the Global Participatory Budgeting Boards to transition to broader support of diverse participatory and deliberative practices. If you’re interested in democratic governance in organizations, read more about our model.

Only two more weeks to apply to be our learning and evaluation specialist!

Applications for the fully funded two-year postdoc fellowship for a learning and evaluation specialist are still open. People Powered was selected as a host organization by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) for its prestigious Leading Edge Fellowship program. The learning and evaluation specialist will help us understand, communicate and grow the impact of our work, in order to accelerate transitions to participatory democracy around the world.  

Apply by 9 p.m. ET on Monday, March 13, 2024 (2 a.m. UTC on Tuesday, March 14, 2024). Applicants must be authorized to work in the US for the entire duration of the fellowship term.

  • Register for the Digital Participation Tool Ratings launch.

  • Share our postdoc fellowship opportunity.

  • Donate to help us build participatory democracy globally together!