🎉 2025 Rewind! Top 5 participatory democracy wins
/Despite plenty of challenges, 2025 gave us so many reasons to feel hopeful about democracy. Around the world, people stepped up to shape climate solutions, pioneer innovative digital tools, tell new stories about democracy, and push their governments to be more inclusive. And together with members and partners, People Powered helped turn those moments of participation into lasting change.
Here are the highlights we’re proud of, and the progress you helped make possible.
1. We doubled our support for community-led climate solutions 🌱
We expanded the Climate Democracy Accelerator! Since 2022, we have supported over 90 participatory programs to develop community-led climate solutions, in more than 33 countries. In 2025, we launched the next phase of the accelerator, doubling the number of participants.
This year, we shared new videos and stories of some of the most inspiring climate action programs that we brought to life:
Brazil: Legislative theatre and community-led climate solutions in the Amazon
India: 5 strategies for participatory climate action from the Indian Himalayas
Mexico: Climate change & corruption are linked. How can participatory policymaking tackle both?
We also partnered with international organizations like the Asian Development Bank and the Fisheries Transparency Initiative to inspire even broader climate democracy.
2. We provided guidance on how to effectively and ethically use AI for democratic participation 👩🏽💻
In 2025, we raised the bar for how governments and organizations can use technology for democratic engagement:
We launched the updated Digital Participation Tool Ratings, a comprehensive global assessment of 30 tools — with new insights on how AI is transforming translation, sense-making, and deliberation.
We expanded the Guide to Digital Participation Platforms, with FNF and UNDP, to provide clearer standards for using AI responsibly and for designing accessible and effective participation.
We published instructive stories on how to design digital participation in diverse contexts: Colombia, Germany, Northern Ireland, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda.
To turn these resources into action, we engaged 700 practitioners in over 30 countries through AI for Digital Democracy webinars in February and September. Together, this work strengthened global capacity to ensure AI expands -- rather than limits -- people’s voice in government decisions.
3. We launched the global Democracy Narratives Alliance to reinvigorate support for democracy 💬
Together with a global group of organizations, we launched a new initiative to compile, develop, and promote compelling narratives that increase public support for and engagement in democracy. The Democracy Narratives Alliance brings together more than 35 organizations, research institutions, and funders working on democracy and communications, under the umbrella of the Global Democracy Coalition.
In October, we convened a two-day workshop to align around a shared democracy narratives playbook. We started to assemble global research, resources and support programs, and we shared learning through a series of international workshops.
4. We provided essential global resources for participatory democracy 📚
We supported participatory democracy advocates on the ground by synthesizing complex global research and turning it into accessible and practical resources on:
School Participation: A new Participation Playbook track, impact data, and 30+ resources and case studies to help develop active young citizens, strengthen school communities, and encourage democratic engagement.
Mainstreaming Participation: A new Playbook track, research data, and case studies on how to turn one-off pilot programs into long-term changes in governance.
Impact Data: Updated impact data and interactive databases for participatory budgeting and school participation.
Impact Stories: Poland's first youth citizens’ assembly: Designing a Safer Digital Future, Participatory methods build trust & deliver clean water in Kenya, From Georgia to Berlin: How Mentorship is Powering Local Innovation in Participatory Democracy, and more!
5. We scaled up a global movement to renew democracy 🙋🏽
Even as support for electoral democracy declined, we expanded global support for participatory democracy. Thanks to our programs and members, more and more advocates are invested in using participation to give people a voice in important decisions affecting their lives.
Local Organizations and Governments: We onboarded 117 participants to accelerators and mentorship programs, to help them launch and improve participatory programs. Thousands of advocates applied for these programs, underscoring the massive need for more peer to peer democracy support.
Members: We grew our membership to over 260 organizations and individuals who are leading participatory democracy work around the world - see our new interactive map.
Looking Ahead
Thank you for supporting our work and the global movement! There’s much more to do. Stay tuned for our next email on what’s coming in 2026. Will you join us in expanding people’s power?