Global ‘Room’ will use participatory and deliberative democracy to advance SDGs

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Eight years ago, U.N. member states endorsed an ambitious blueprint for achieving peace and prosperity for people and the planet by 2030. At the heart of that blueprint are 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), ranging from gender equity to no poverty. In 2023, at the midpoint of that timeline, Josh Lerner of People Powered and Diana Dajer of Fundación Corona will facilitate a new initiative to use participatory and deliberative democracy to support the SDGs.

17 Rooms, an initiative of the Brookings Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation, has asked Josh and Diana to lead a global, action-oriented discussion focused on SDG 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development; provide access to justice for all; and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” 17 Rooms works by convening participants from disparate communities in their own “Rooms,” or working groups — one for each SDG. Each room is tasked with identifying cooperative actions that members can take over the subsequent 12-18 months to improve outcomes. The top ideas are then presented to the UN.

Josh, executive director of People Powered, and Diana, manager of citizen participation for Fundación Corona and also a member of the People Powered board of directors, will co-lead Room 16. The Room brings together a cross-section of experts from a dozen international organizations to advance targeted actions to institutionalize high-quality participatory and deliberative democracy, as a way to build accountable, inclusive and participatory institutions. These institutions, in turn, can then help enable all of the other goals.

The room will meet in person on May 5-6, just before a convening of our member organizations in Mexico City, thanks to support from the Ford Foundation. It will then continue to meet virtually for several months. The goal is to prioritize one to three important, actionable next steps to institutionalize participatory and deliberative democracy around the world. The room will focus on how to transform institutions of governance so that democracy extends beyond elections on a systemic level, rather than via one-off exercises. 

This collaborative initiative will be an opportunity to strengthen the global ecosystem of participatory and deliberative democracy. In recent years, innovations in democracy, civic engagement and participatory governance have multiplied rapidly. Several international organizations are working to expand this movement, but without regular coordination. By agreeing on common priorities, the hope is to reduce fragmentation, increase collaboration and accomplish more together.

The room participants are:

  • Diana Dajer (co-lead), Fundación Corona

  • Josh Lerner (co-lead), People Powered

  • Greta Ríos (Room associate), People Powered

  • Aaron Azleton, National Democratic Institute

  • Adrià Duarte, International Observatory on Participatory Democracy and United Cities and Local Governments

  • Aluna Serrano, Extituto de Política Abierta

  • Anna Downs, International Republican Institute

  • Anthony Zacharzewski, Democratic Society

  • Caroline Vernaillen, Democracy International

  • Enrique Bravo-Escobar, National Endowment for Democracy

  • Ieva Cesnulaityte, DemocracyNext 

  • James Muraguri, Institute of Public Finance

  • Rachel Locke, University of San Diego

  • Rose Longhurst, Open Society Foundations 

  • Sarah Mendelson, Carnegie Mellon University

  • Sofia Castillo, SUR

  • Tim Hughes, Open Government Partnership 

Note that while participants are expected to bring their experience to the table, they are asked to put aside their institutional agendas/loyalties, to focus on what’s best for an issue, not an organization.

If you have ideas for actions that the room should consider, please send them to josh@peoplepowered.org and ddajer@fcorona.org!