March News: Supporting Democracy in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, and Beyond

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It’s not easy to be hopeful now. As I write this, Russian troops are continuing to invade Ukraine, killing thousands of people and tearing down an emerging democracy. The situation looks grim, as we confront how frighteningly easy it still is for a tyrant to brutally overrun another country.

And yet, if we look closely, there are rays of light - the focus of this month’s newsletter. 

Russia invaded, in part, because democracy was growing in Ukraine – not just via elections, but through bottom-up participatory democracy. Ukraine is one of the few countries that has passed a national participatory budgeting (PB) law, allowing residents to decide how part of the national budget is spent. Over 100 cities across Ukraine also set up their own participatory budgeting and planning programs.

Community engagement in Kyiv's participatory budgeting program.

Once Ukrainians got a taste of people-powered government in their communities, they kept wanting more. This rising tide of citizen power is an existential threat for autocratic rulers, and it has inspired a vicious response. This is an existential threat for autocratic rulers, and it has inspired a vicious response. Joe Mathews writes in Zócalo that the war between Russia and Ukraine is actually “a clash between two of the most powerful trends in worldwide governance: increasing authoritarianism in nation-states and increasing democracy in our local communities.” 

To win this broader war, we can’t just be anti-authoritarian. We have to be pro-democracy. We must support organizations and government reformers who are nurturing democracy in challenging contexts. That’s what we’re doing at People Powered, including partnerships with two organizations profiled below, the Association for Communities Participatory Development in Ukraine and Alternatív Közösségek Egyesülete (AKE) in Hungary.

But this isn’t just about Ukraine. The mass exodus of 2 million people from Ukraine is impacting neighboring countries such as Hungary and Poland. In an already impossible situation, Black and Asian refugees are facing racism, abuse, and segregation as they flee. We share below how our members in those countries are making their governments more inclusive, which is all the more necessary now. 

And let’s not forget that while the focus is on Ukraine right now, political violence is forcing people to flee their homes around the world. Our members in countries such as Cameroon and Colombia are working in the face of violence to strengthen local democratic governments and bridge divides. As they know too well, the long-term antidote to authoritarianism and repression is people-powered government. We commit to building it, with you.

Josh Lerner & the People Powered team

Update from Hungary: How to Turn Youth Apathy into Hope

How can activists plant seeds for democracy in anti-democratic regimes? In Hungary, People Powered member organizations K-Monitor and Alternatív Közösségek Egyesülete (AKE) are trying one strategy - bringing democracy to schools. 

Through our mentorship program, Madison Rock of the Center for the Future of Arizona is supporting a PB pilot in a high school in Debrecen, the country’s second largest city and a stronghold of the ruling party. We interviewed Madison and Ágnes Molnár from AKE about the launch, and how they overcame apathy and the “COVID effect.”

Featured Member: Association for Communities Participatory Development, Ukraine

Leonid Donos of ACPD providing mentorship through our Rising Stars program.

People Powered member organization ACPD has been a strong partner in our global work and a regional leader. It works to increase the capacity of local authorities and organizations in Ukraine to engage in dialogue and democratic decision-making, including through participatory budgeting and planning. It also facilitates international cooperation, working to build trust across post-Soviet countries such as Georgia and Moldova.

Leonid Donos from ACPD is a mentor in our Rising Stars mentorship program, helping activists launch participatory democracy programs across the region. Before Russia invaded, we were planning a new round of training and mentorship with Leonid in Ukraine this month. 

Featured Resource: Engaging Refugees

There were 82 million forcibly displaced people in 2020, including refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people (IDPs). Conflict, natural disasters worsened by climate change, and economic distress have driven increasing numbers of people to seek safety, human rights, and well-being in new countries.

It is vital to include immigrants, refugees, and IDPs in civic life and decision-making to help them integrate into their host societies. Learn how to do this in our online course and info sheet, Engaging Immigrants and Refugees in Participatory Budgeting, available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Chinese. International experts from Ukraine, Colombia, Sweden, the United States, and Taiwan share best practices, lessons learned, and actionable recommendations. 

There are many barriers to the inclusion of immigrants and refugees.

Featured Event: Youth Participation through Participatory Budgeting

Youth participation is key to democracy, even in the face of conflict and authoritarianism. Join practitioners and participation experts to hear what Europe’s Youth PB Accelerator program learned by researching the experiences of young people, in school and in the community, when they were given control of a budget. People Powered members Field of Dialogue Foundation (Poland) and Shared Future (United Kingdom) are core partners in the program. In this two-hour interactive workshop on March 17, they will share a detailed toolkit and DIY manual, with in-depth practical guidance and tips for how to run your own school or community participatory budgeting process. (Note that there are two different sessions, to accommodate different time zones.)

What You Can Do