Members develop global resources and strategic plan at first in-person convening
/The most incredible part of the member convening was encountering each other in person. Now I feel more part of People Powered, much more included and responsible! I learned about a lot of interesting projects and ideas, and engaged in so many discussions. It was exciting to participate in the organization’s strategic planning, to strengthen relationships with amazing people, and get input on a project I’m working on.
- Alberto Ford, Argentina, Global PB Research Board member
The People Powered community met in person in May for the first time since the beginnings of the organization in 2019. And it was pure magic.
A group photo of attendees at the 2023 People Powered Members Convening
One hundred and three people, from 55 organizations, based in 30 countries spanning five continents participated in a five-day member convening in Mexico City. We represented many different perspectives and contexts, but four shared goals: build stronger relationships, develop a shared understanding of the building blocks of participatory democracy, develop new global resources, and start drafting a new strategic plan.
Bringing that many people, who are so scattered around the world, together in one place takes a lot of work and substantial resources. However, it was voted the top priority by our members last year, so we made it happen, with the support of One Project, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ford Foundation.
Here are five reasons why it was all worthwhile:
It gave us an arena for sharing knowledge.
We spent three days sharing what we know with those among us who are newer to the field or to a particular practice.
On the first day, thanks to the hard work of member Ollin and its partners, we were treated to a day-long tour of Mexico City through the lens of people power and participatory democracy. We visited the city’s antimonumentos, the people’s response to governments’ tendency to build monuments to people and events that oppress rather than liberate.
In the case of the Justicia statue featured in the photo gallery below, the city conducted a makeshift "consultation" in which citizens could use a digital platform to vote on four options to replace the original statue of Christopher Columbus. However, the people refused to participate, since it was a top-bottom exercise in which all the options were predetermined by the government. A group of feminist activists erected the “purple woman,” and the situation is now at an impasse.
At the conclusion of the tour, we saw the practice of participatory democracy in action. For example, we visited a park that was reclaimed by the people through participatory budgeting and watched the latest round of voting conclude.
It allowed the time to brainstorm and create new resources.
On the second and third days of the convening, participants attended workshops on the various types of participatory democracy, allowing everyone to consider how to expand their work back home.
Then, we broke up into small, focused groups to assess the existing tools and resources offered by People Powered and identify both how they could be improved and expanded and new offerings that should be added. Participants rolled up their sleeves and got to work, helping design the next generation of online courses, modules in the Participation Playbook and additions to our resource center.
A particular focus during this time was how to make participatory programs more inclusive of often marginalized communities such as women, youth and displaced people.
The collective energy and intelligence fueled our work to define new ways of advancing the field, together.
We spent the last day and a half of the convening drafting a new strategic plan for People Powered that will propel it, and the entire participatory democracy community, forward during the next three years. We began by identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and discussing if/how those should change our primary strategic directions (build pathways for policy change, build the global community and build the organization). Stay tuned for updates as the process continues!
Our growing and evolving community became stronger.
People Powered started as the Global PB Hub in 2019. Since then, we have grown dramatically in numbers and strength.
Our bottom-up governance system means we can only be as effective as our people power—the connections between each of us, both organizationally and as individuals. And the strength of those connections clearly grew “muscle” during the convening, both during the sessions and the many breaks we built in for networking and fun!
Many participants expressed that one of the main benefits of the convening were new and stronger partnerships and friendships.
It infused us with a generous dose of optimism and inspiration to keep working.
Despite exhaustion after traveling thousands of miles and from engaging in activities more than eight hours a day, there was a tangible and contagious sense of optimism and hope that energized us as we left for home.
One of the feedback forms left on the tables at the last session.
Thank you to the funders that made this convening possible!
It is clear that participatory and deliberative democracy faces many threats, and that working in this field is messy and hard. But in the words of so many convening participants, “seeing our global community in person, hearing the diversity of ideas and coming away knowing that everyone is working for a collective good left us feeling empowered and recharged.” We are ready for the next three years!
Do you know an organization that would make a good People Powered member? Encourage them to join!
Looking ahead
The People Powered team is working to make sure that the ideas contributed and the commitments made are explored and sustained. But to keep building on the foundation we laid, it’s important that each of our members remain engaged in the community. Watch for so much more to come!