October News: Free Mentorship, Online Courses, New Resources

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These are difficult times for democracy, but we’re rising to the challenge. In the past month, our 40+ member organizations joined dozens of advocates from around the world to launch two new People Powered programs. Together, we’re providing free mentorship, organizing practical online courses, sharing new tools, and advocating for shared priorities. 

See the highlights below, plus three easy ways that you can support this work.

New Online Courses: People Powered University

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There are A LOT of webinars. We think it’s time to try something different. 

When we asked government and community leaders what they needed to make participatory democracy work, they said that there were plenty of conferences and expert panels, but not enough support for solving common problems. That’s why we’re launching People Powered University, a new program of online courses designed to address common practical challenges faced by participatory democracy programs.

The first course focuses on how to make participatory budgeting (PB) more inclusive, engaging, and empowering for people with disabilities. As participation shifts online during COVID, we face new challenges - and opportunities - for engaging people with disabilities. In this course, disability rights advocates and PB implementers from around the world will share best practices, review lessons learned, and help you plan action steps.

Rising Stars Mentorship

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Are you trying to launch or improve a PB program? Apply for the Rising Stars Mentorship Program.

We’re offering free coaching from experienced PB implementers and leaders, for government officials, staff, and advocates who are new to PB. We know it’s challenging to find relevant practical guidance. Sometimes you just want to talk with another human who can help answer your questions, in your language.

We’ve carefully selected 27 mentors from 18 countries, and they’re ready to help.

Making Open Government Work

Individual support and training are important, but we also need to change international policies and systems. We’ve been working with the World Bank and Open Government Partnership (OGP) to identify how they could better support participatory democracy: 

  • We organized a global webinar with the World Bank on participatory governance during COVID. 

  • We joined partners in developing recommendations for OGP’s Co-Creation process, to help countries develop more meaningful, inclusive, and equitable open government plans. 

  • We worked with OGP’s Local Program to plan how to better help local governments launch participatory programs.

Staffing Change

2020 has been a challenging year, full of unimaginable changes. This has forced us to shift plans at People Powered. Due to health issues and unexpected changes at her prior organization Digidem Lab, Sanna Ghotbi needs to reduce her workload and step back from her role as Co-Executive Director. Josh Lerner will remain as Executive Director. Sanna looks forward to still supporting People Powered in the future, with you.

Featured Member: Democracia en Red

Democracia en Red (DeR) is an Argentine NGO that develops and supports digital tools for participation. They are currently supporting the largest university PB program in the world - all online! The National University of Rosario is using PB to reconnect its 100,000 person community and decide how to invest 18,000,000 pesos. The coordination team, which is advised by Global PB Research Board member Alberto Ford, quickly transitioned in-person PB to a virtual process, using a platform designed by DeR. Read more about this impressive university PB.

Featured Event: Active Democracy in Times of Emergency

As the world faces Covid-19, climate emergency, and political unrest, what democratic approaches can address these challenges? Join People Powered Board Member and Reboot Executive Director Panthea Lee, along with OECD policy analyst Claudia Chwalisz and RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor, on October 8th to explore practical strategies for long-term change. This event marks the London launch of the OECD report Catching the Deliberative Wave. Read more and register here.

Featured Resource: PB & Climate Change

Can PB help address climate change? The new report “Contributions of Participatory Budgeting to Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation,” by Yves Cabannes, reviews 15 PB initiatives focused on climate change. In December we’ll host an online course to help governments and organizations understand the lessons from the report and other work on PB and climate change. To get started, read the report.

What You Can Do