October News
/Dispatch series explores PB impact
Participatory budgeting is continuing to spread around the world. But to what extent can and is it driving social and political change? And when PB processes fail to achieve their objectives, what are the causes? People Powered staff and members of the Global PB Research Board have collaborated with the Deliberative Democracy Digest to develop and share a series of briefs exploring this topic:
A theory of change, mapping out what is necessary for PB to achieve positive change for people, communities, and governments.
The impact of PB on governance and community well-being, drawing from studies in Brazil, the United States, South Korea, and Peru.
The impact of PB on civil society and political participation, based on research from 10 countries.
The impact of PB on civic education and learning in cities, schools, universities, and other institutions. (forthcoming)
The articles complement our online courses and research briefs on these topics.
What should People Powered do in 2022?
We’re planning for 2022 and want you to help decide what we do! People Powered is inviting you to decide our 2022 spending priorities and organizational policies. This is your opportunity to think BIG about new research, tools, content, partnerships, and other projects that support participatory democracy. We’re committing $200,000 to fund your top priorities. Submit your ideas by October 24. We want to hear from you!
Help build a guide on digital-participation platforms
Last year, our members voted for an online, interactive guide to digital participation platforms as their top priority in 2021. We’re hard at work on that now and we want your input in shaping this free, public resource! Read about the guide and complete the survey by October 23!
People Powered’s members voted to create this guide as their top priority in our organizational participatory budgeting process last year. We then secured additional funding for the project from the National Endowment for Democracy, in collaboration with the nonpartisan International Republican Institute.
What value do mentors offer? We take you inside
Ágnes Molnár
One of the unique services offered by People Powered is the opportunity to sign up for one-on-one mentorship by an experienced practitioner in the field of participatory democracy. But if you’ve never tried it, you might be wondering how it works and how it can help. So, we decided to take our readers inside one of our mentor-mentee relationships, documenting their experiences and perceptions as their relationship evolves.
Read about the launch of a school PB initiative in Hungary, with U.S. practitioner Madison Rock mentoring Miklós Merényi and Ágnes Molnár, two NGO activists in Hungary.
We’re hiring interns in communications & analytics
We’re looking for two paid interns to join the People Powered team beginning in January. One will focus on producing multi-media digital content and the other will help collect, organize, and analyze data.
The start date is in January , the location is remote and we welcome applications from candidates anywhere in the world (although there is also the option to work from our New York City office). The deadline to apply is November 8.
Featured resource: online PB webinar series
The Democratic Society is a Brussels-based organization (and People Powered member) that conducts research and builds infrastructure to help people shape the decisions that impact their lives. And it produced a four-part webinar series that explains how to:
Featured member: Social Equity and Participation Center
The United Nations Office of Social and Economic Affairs recently recognized China’s Participation Center, a People Powered member, for implementing a program considered a good practice for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Participation Center, the UN said, was able to “circumvent limitations on traditional citizen participation, even in the precarious period of the pandemic.”
Participatory Budget ProjectIn 2018, the center created an online system to digitize PB in Chengdu city. The platform boosted citizen engagement by mobilizing younger working adults as well as vulnerable groups like migrant workers and housewives. By January of this year, the e-platform had been implemented in 73 communities, with 57,273 registered residents.
The Participation Center has worked on PB in Chengdu since 2011, conducting field research and implementing projects to promote urban development and governance.
People Powered is independent!
People Powered staff
The People Powered staff has spent a lot of time in the past several months transitioning from our fiscally sponsored status with the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) to full independence as a separate nonprofit organization. THANK YOU, PBP, for helping us get on our feet!
To celebrate this new status and bring together our expanded staff (we’re now eight!), we gathered in Brooklyn for our first in-person staff retreat. In addition to the group photo below, check out our fun photos on our website. (Tip: Hover over each person’s photo to see the prop they chose to represent their work.)