Announcing the recipients of our first research grants!

One of the programs prioritized by People Powered members during our planning process in 2022 is the award of research grants to help participatory democracy practitioners improve their impact. 

To connect the grants program to our members’ work, we identified their research needs through a survey earlier this year. After an initial evaluation, the selection committee requested more information about proposed projects from a shortlist of members. The committee then selected four grantees who will carry out their research over the next six months. The recipients were awarded grants ranging from $5,000-$10,000. We look forward to sharing the results of their research next year! The grant recipients are:

Bareedo Platform (Somalia)

Based in Somalia, Bareedo Platform is a nongovernmental, youth-led organization dedicated to promoting democratic values and institutions, a participatory and inclusive society, open government, and robust digital literacy, skills and security.

With the grant, Bareedo plans to study the impact of e-participatory platforms on citizens in Somalia cities such as Garowe and Mogadishu.The organization also plans to research how e-participatory platforms can be replicated by other local governments. Based on primary and secondary data sources, the research will contribute to the understanding of inclusive democracy practices, particularly youth engagement. 

This research will feed into our Building Inclusive Democracy program,  helping us develop training courses and other resources. 

Curious about digital participation platforms? Check out our digital participation resource center.

ASSOAL (Cameroon)

L’Association des Amoureux du Livre (Association of Book Lovers) is a social support organization for local development actors. Created in 1998 by students, the organization initially focused on building reading skills among residents of Yaoundé. Over time, the organization also focused on governance, decentralization, human rights and other cross-cutting social issues.

With the help of the grant, ASSOAL plans to study the inclusion of internally displaced people in participatory processes. Following significant sociopolitical upheaval in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon since 2016, over 712,800 people have been displaced. ASSOAL is working to protect the rights of displaced persons in the targeted localities. It will conduct research on how internally displaced people can be integrated into participatory processes and included in municipal budget priorities. 

This research also will contribute to our Building Inclusive Democracy program.

Jaroslav Dvorak, Klaipeda University (Lithuania) 

A professor and member of the Global Participatory Budgeting (PB)  Research Board, Jaroslav Dvorak will work with his team to assess the feasibility of using drama to support community engagement in Lithuania. Jaroslav plans to collaborate with Valentina Burksiene, associate professor in public administration and politics at Klaipeda University, and Gabriele Burbulytė-Tsiskarishvili, lecturer in the same department. The team will conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups with stakeholders.

Jaroslav has worked as a professor and head of the Department of Public Administration and Political Sciences at Klaipeda University. He served as  the university’s representative in the Klaipeda region development council (2019-2021), and in its Participatory Budget Lab, where he promoted PB capacity building.

The research will be used to further develop the needs assessment and legislative theater content of the Participation Playbook. Learn more about how legislative theater can be used to address policy challenges facing communities. 

Field of Dialogue Foundation (Poland)

The Field of Dialogue Foundation (Fundacja Pole Dialogu) is an organization that supports the participation of citizens in public life and creates tools to facilitate dialogue. 

Through the research grant, the foundation will collect data on the impact of its democracy and deliberation tools on the lives of participants. In the process,  the foundation will recruit media networks to disseminate related public information.

The research will be used to provide new data for our growing global compilation of impact data on participatory democracy. Learn more about the Field of Dialogue foundation’s work in our member profile.