People Powered Decides: Vote Results & What’s Next
/Happy Holidays!!! We have a special democratic gift for you: vote results!
Each year, People Powered members around the world decide our top priorities, then we turn these priorities into action. Everything we’ve accomplished so far (see our Impact Report) is the result of this bottom-up decision-making. This year, our members approved our new strategic plan, prioritized activities for 2024, elected a new board member and decided new policies. We’re thrilled to share the results with you below!
In the spirit of giving, will you contribute to this work by joining People Powered as a member or making an end-of-year donation, if you haven’t already?
Our 2024 Priorities
Through months of discussion and voting on video calls and the People Powered Decides platform, our members decided which activities from our strategic plan we will prioritize in 2024. Below are the most prioritized activities and how we will implement them.
1. Accelerator Programs
We’ll work with our members to provide comprehensive capacity-building support for planning and launching 70 participatory programs. We’ll focus on addressing critical issues such as climate change and artificial intelligence, with expanded support across Europe.
2. Training
We’ll synthesize global knowledge and best practices, and turn them into learning programs, online courses and Participation Playbook content. After releasing an improved version of our digital participation course, we’ll create new courses on the inclusion of marginalized communities and strategies to mainstream participation.
3. Partnerships
We’ll team up with international organizations to connect them with the resources, support and expertise that they need to run diverse participatory and deliberative democracy programs. This includes current partnerships with the Open Government Partnership, National Democratic Institute, Fisheries Transparency Initiative and Nets4Dem, and new partnerships - maybe with your organization?
4. Member committees and hubs
We’ll set up and manage spaces for focused member participation, including regional hubs and thematic committees (based on our new governance structure - see below). We will focus on having each committee and regional hub make at least two meaningful decisions about our work in 2024.
5. Connect staff and members
Expand member engagement roles for staff, recruit staff and contract workers from the membership, and host internships/fellowships for members. All staff will support member committees and hubs, and we will prioritize contracting our members for developing resources, speaking engagements, and mentorship.
6. Attract more unrestricted funding
Secure flexible funding to support organizational priorities. We will prioritize raising general operating funds, through grants, donations and membership dues, to enable our community to focus on the top long-term priorities that it has identified for accelerating global transitions to participatory democracy.
New Organizational Policies
Members also decided on key organizational policies that dictate how we work together. This year, members approved three policies that change how People Powered is governed and structured, and voted for staff to develop three additional policies. Our newly approved policies:
1. New Membership Model
We will implement three changes in our membership: opening up individual membership, experimenting with new funding streams and increasing engagement with government officials. If you’re supporting participatory democracy in your community, we now invite you to join People Powered as a member!
2. New Governance Structure
We will phase out the Global PB Boards, to transition from our initial focus on participatory budgeting to our current approach of supporting diverse participatory democracy methods. The new governance system includes several broader committees and regional hubs that connect People Powered members with each other and with the organization’s programs.
3. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy
This policy describes how we support diversity, equity and inclusion internally in People Powered and externally in the world, including our commitment to shift power and resources to where they are needed most.
Members also voted for staff to develop new policies on organizational travel, public communications, and an updated pay scale for contractors. Stay tuned for news on these!
Our New Board Member
Our members also elected a rising star to our Board of Directors! Carla de Paiva Bezerra is a civil servant and researcher who is currently the Director of Digital Participation and Network Communication at the General Secretariat of the Brazilian Presidency. She is responsible for the national Brasil Participativo Platform, one of the world's largest digital participatory governance programs. Welcome, Carla!
Join Us!
People Powered is a bottom-up membership-based organization. Our members are the organizations and individuals that are building and supporting participatory democracy around the world. If you want to be part of a global transition to a more participatory democracy, join us! You’ll help decide what we do and be part of the global community that turns the plans into action.
Thank you!
This work wouldn’t be possible without our members and staff around the world, and our financial supporters.
Will you join us in supporting participatory democracy?
This is our final news announcement for the year! The entire People Powered team will be off December 23 - January 2. We hope you enjoy an end-of-year break!
P.S. If you make a donation before the end of the year, it will be matched 4-to-1 by a generous donor! So if you give $100, it becomes $500!