The Votes Are In! Here Are Our 2022 Priorities

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At People Powered, we practice what we preach. Our mission is to expand people’s power to make government decisions, but we practice participatory democracy in our organization as well. 

Each year, we invite our members to decide what we do and how we spend our budget for the next 12 months. This year, our 60 member organizations and 54 board members voted on how we spend $200,000 and on new policies for how we operate as an organization. Special thanks go to One Project for investing in this process, showing how funders can practice democracy too! Can you join them in supporting this global work?

Through 15 meetings and online discussion, our members brainstormed 64 ideas, then developed them into 20 budget and policy proposals. A total of 104 members participated in the final vote. Sixty-six percent were from the Global South and 56% were women or gender non-conforming. They prioritized six projects and three policies, below.

We will implement these priorities in 2022, alongside other big plans - launching a guide and ratings to digital participation platforms, an interactive participation playbook, global support for participatory climate action, and more!

Budget projects: What we will do together

1. Regional hubs to expand participatory democracy ($60,000)
Work with coordinating organizations in key global regions to host discussions and activities.

2. Member workshops for learning, collaboration, and celebration ($10,000)
Organize a series of workshops developed by members, for members, to support each other's work.

3. Small grants for research and publications ($50,000)
Award grants to People Powered members to conduct small research studies and publish the findings.

4. Professional translators for materials ($20,000)
Hire professionals to translate People Powered content, to improve language accessibility.

5. Talks on innovative new research ($10,000)
Organize a series of online events for researchers to share and discuss new studies with People Powered members.

6. Exchange program between People Powered members ($50,000)
Create an exchange program in which members visit each other to learn about and contribute to innovative local work.

Policies: How we will work together

1. New membership agreement
Adopt a clearer agreement that describes the roles, benefits, and commitments of People Powered members. 

2. Member voting for Board of Directors candidates
Enable People Powered members to nominate and vote on candidates for the organization's Board of Directors.

3. Inclusion and accessibility policies
Define standard practices for People Powered and its members to make our work inclusive and accessible for marginalized communities. 

To see the full list of ballot items and vote counts, visit the budget and policy pages of our governance platform.

Let’s keep growing together

In 2022, we will work with our members to implement these projects and policies. Stay tuned for updates! We’ve already heard from funders interested in providing more support for these global priorities, so hopefully we’ll be able to implement some of the other amazing projects on the ballot. 

We’re learning a lot as we practice democracy, and we commit to sharing and applying our lessons learned in 2022. In the meantime, we’re inspired by the response to our inclusive planning process from our members. A few examples:

  • “People Powered is sharing power and possibilities with its members, thus demonstrating how to apply these principles and avoid elitism and exclusion in governance.”

  • “This is amazing and the most participatory method I have ever seen.”

  • “Really looking forward to a more participatory world through this planning.”

As always, this work wouldn’t be possible without our members and staff around the world, and our financial supporters.

Will you join us in supporting the projects prioritized by our global community?

This is our final news announcement for the year! The entire People Powered team will be off from December 24-January 2. We will take this time to reflect, be thankful, and spend time with friends and family. We hope you enjoy the holidays as well!