Members Newsletter

Hi Members,

October is moving quickly — and so is the People Powered community!

First, PP Decides 2027 is in its final week. If you haven’t yet reviewed the three strategic directions on Common, please add your comments by October 12. Your feedback will be considered before the strategic plan moves forward.

Beyond PP Decides, this month we’re sharing work and opportunities from across the network: from youth civic engagement in Bangladesh and participatory budgeting research in the US to new tools for deliberation and organizational learning.

As always, the aim of Inside the Community is simple: when it lands in your inbox, there should be something useful to learn from, participate in or connect around.

🗳️ PP DECIDES IS ON!

You asked us to make People Powered more participatory. FINAL WEEK: Add your PP Decides review by October 12!

Yes! We’re in the final week of member review for People Powered’s 2027–2030 Strategic Plan.

The three proposed strategic directions are now on Common, and we need members to leave their comments directly on the platform so we can see and synthesize your feedback before the plan moves forward. To review, you need to be invited using your known email address first.

You do not need to write a long response. Tell us what feels clear, what concerns you, and what you think works particularly well.

Review closes: October 12

Not yet invited or having trouble accessing Common or submitting your review? Contact Christine for troubleshooting assistance.

Already reviewed? Thank you, you’re all set.

Drop the PP staff a note of encouragement on WhatsApp on this new Strategy✓

This is your strategy too. We hope you’ll take part!

🌍 FROM THE COMMUNITY

🇧🇩 Creating Space for Young People to Talk Democracy

People Powered member SERAC-Bangladesh recently brought young people together for a Civic Circle focused on their role in strengthening democracy.

Through open dialogue and peer exchange, participants explored civic rights and responsibilities, civic education, digital democracy, transparency and accountability and how young people can participate meaningfully in public life.

The Civic Circle is a continuing, locally led initiative, and SERAC is keen to connect with members interested in collaboration, partnership or support for youth civic engagement.

🎭Theatre to Change the Conversation on Plastic Pollution

The Amaon Theatrix Ensemble is using theatre and spoken word to spark conversations about plastic pollution in Lake Victoria, Kisumu, Kenya. Through its Voice of Sango initiative, the group is connecting environmental pollution to health, livelihoods and everyday community life using creative, community-led communication to make climate action more accessible and participatory. Edwin Koga shares more in this blog post.

🌍 Building More Climate-Resilient African Cities

The Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN) has published a new policy brief exploring how African cities can strengthen climate resilience while better responding to the realities of the urban poor.

The brief looks at the role of stronger data, innovative financing, participatory policymaking and practical monitoring tools in shaping more inclusive urban resilience.

🏫 How is School Participatory Budgeting growing?

People Powered member Daniel Schugurensky and the Participatory Governance Initiative at Arizona State University have published a new overview of the growth of School Participatory Budgeting in the US.

The report traces School PB from its first Phoenix high-school process in 2013 through its expansion across more than 1,000 schools, looking at how implementation differs across states and what can be learned from the experience.

Working on School PB elsewhere? Daniel would also love to see members document how the practice is developing in other countries. Please reach out to him!

🏗️ Making Infrastructure Decisions more Open

People Powered member Democracia en Red has helped launch Ministerio Abierto, an open-source platform designed to make public infrastructure processes easier to follow and participate in.

People can comment, contribute documents, register for meetings and follow participation connected to particular projects or municipalities.

Because the platform is open source, other governments can also explore adapting it for their own participation processes. Check it out here.

🎉 COMMUNITY WINS

A few things worth celebrating from across the People Powered community.

🚇 Bogotá Residents Deliberate on the Culture of their Future Metro

People Powered members Fundación Corona and Extituto de Política Abierta, together with Bogotá’s planning authorities, have completed the city’s third Deliberative Cycle.

Over five weeks, residents selected through sortition developed recommendations on civic culture and how people will use, care for and experience Bogotá’s new Metro.

There was another reason to celebrate: the citizen-participation strategy also received a Smart City Innovator Award at ANDICOM. Read more here

💡 USEFUL TO MEMBERS

🧭 Want to sharpen your strategic-planning skills?

People Powered member PRIA is running a five-part online Master Class Series on Strategic Planning for organizations navigating growth, change and uncertainty.

The course covers strategic thinking, tools and frameworks, organizational priorities, and how strategic planning connects to monitoring and evaluation.

📅 October 16-November 13 · Fridays · Online

⏰ Registration closes October 12

PRIA is also offering a 10% discount when three or more participants from the same organization enrol together. Explore the course here.

🗂️ A New Public Home for Citizens’ Assembly Reports

Assemblis has launched a public library of assembly reports, giving organizers a place to document and share their citizens’ assembly work.

Several reports from practitioners in the People Powered network are already being added. Anyone can create an Assemblis account and publish an assembly report — so if you have a process worth documenting, this may be a useful place to share it and help build a broader evidence base for the field.

Check out the report library here.

💡 Leadership Mentoring for African NGOs

People Powered member Dr. Janice Da Silva and the ENGAGE Institute for Human Development are offering a 90-minute online Smart Leadership Mentoring session for African NGOs, covering people-centered leadership, emotional intelligence, communication, decision-making, team management and resilience.

The session is USD 300 regardless of group size, allowing organizations to involve their wider leadership team.

Connect with Janice → reach out for her email!

🤝 CONNECT & COLLABORATE

🇧🇼 Heading to Gaborone? Find your People Powered people

The Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy takes place in Gaborone, Botswana, October 7–10, bringing together practitioners, researchers, policymakers and civil-society leaders working on citizen participation and democratic innovation.

We know some People Powered members and friends will be there — including Greta!

If you’re attending, go find her, say hello, and connect with fellow PP members while you’re there.

And if you hear something that shifts your thinking — a sharp idea, a useful lesson, a surprising moment, or even a small glimmer of hope — bring it back to the member WhatsApp group. We’d love to hear what stood out to you!

💬 Keep the Conversation Going

You don’t have to wait for the next Member Update to connect with other members.

Google Group. Share opportunities, resources, questions and collaboration requests with the wider community. 📧 people-powered-members@googlegroups.com
WhatsApp For quicker conversations, introductions and informal connection: These spaces belong to the community — use them! 💟

📣 YOUR TURN

What’s Happening in your Corner of the People Powered Community?

Have an event, resource, collaboration request, funding opportunity, publication, project update or community win that other members should know about?

Send it our way for the November edition of Inside the Community.

Until next month,
Christine,
Community Manager.