July news: 🎉Our first video, funding & mentorship deadlines
/
July 20, 2023
In this month’s issue:
New video for our third birthday!
Program application deadlines
Deep dives into our accelerator programs
National participatory planning in Brazil
New fellows at People Powered
… and more!
Subscribe to get our newsletter by email!
People Powered Turns 3! 🎂
🎉 We mark the three-year anniversary of People Powered today!
We’ve come a long way since our launch. We have a surprise for you – our first video about People Powered! It introduces the team, our members and our global work to expand people’s democratic power. We filmed it during our Mexico convening in May – see how many famous spots you can find! Psst… why not give us a birthday gift after you’re done watching?
Opportunities 💡
Two of our most in-demand programs for organizations and government staff are now accepting applications!
Climate and Digital Democracy Accelerators
The deadline for applying for accelerators has been extended to July 24. Selected participants will receive expert mentorship and implementation support from a pool of US$550,000 in funding. Apply now and get the support you need to launch your own participatory program!
Rising Stars Mentorship
The Rising Stars mentorship program is also accepting applications until August 6. It pairs you with your own expert mentor, who provides regular coaching and mentorship to help you plan or launch a participatory democracy program.
Updates 📢
When people are mad at the government, try legislative theater
What value can you get by signing up for a People Powered mentor? Frank Mphalo from Zimbabwe’s Green Governance Trust explains how mentor Katy Rubin helped him use legislative theater to give young people a say in the climate change plan for their district. We also share how our Democracy Residencies program with Extituto de Política Abierta is planting new seeds for legislative theater in Colombia and Brazil.
Digital democracy: How do we ensure that the online 'revolution' is promise, not peril?
The goal of the new Digital Democracy Accelerator (DDA) is to help civil society organizations and governments ensure that generative AI and other new technology deliver more benefits that harms. In this interview, one of the experts serving as consultant and mentor for the DDA, Reema Patel from Ipsos, shares what she’s most excited about, her biggest fears and her hopes for the accelerator participants. Read more.
People Powered welcomes two fellows from Kazakhstan and Brazil
Say hello to two talented team members at People Powered, Aidana Zhumabekova and Ana Clara Giovani, who bring expertise in learning innovation and digital media and communications! Learn more about them!
Brazil launches participatory national planning process
Amid global democratic crises, Brazil's government is pioneering citizen participation in decision-making with the Participatory Pluriannual Plan (PPA Participativo). This initiative facilitates public input in outlining national goals for four years, leveraging state plenaries, a digital platform, and a policy council forum. Despite inherent challenges, this groundbreaking approach signifies a leap towards fulfilling President Lula's promise of a participatory national budget. Dive into this narrative of enhanced democracy. Read more.
People Powered has a new look!
Have you noticed something different? People Powered has updated our branding to make our colors and visuals more accessible and user-friendly. Two of our core values are inclusion and learning, and we’re excited to apply new learning about color palettes to make our resources more inclusive! Why not explore our website and let us know what you think?
Featured Resources 📚
Placemaking for democracy toolkit. Useful tools for workshops and activities at every stage of planning, designing and facilitating a community-led placemaking process with citizens. [English]
Brazilian democracy can count on the strength of citizen deliberation. A report on a series of deliberative mini-publics run by the Decidania program in Brazil. [Portuguese]
Building youth voice: a participatory budgeting toolkit. This resource provides guidance, methods and tools for designing and organizing PB for young people, particularly aimed at teachers and educators. [English]
Upcoming Events 🗓️
September 6-7: Open Government Partnership Global Summit, Tallinn (Estonia)
September 27: Participation Playbook launch (virtual)
November 6-8: International Observatory on Participatory Democracy Conference, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Funding Opportunities 💲
July 31: Ecosystem Grants Program, offering up to €30,000 to civil society organizations to work on artificial intelligence and society (European Artificial Intelligence & Society Fund).
July 31: Ideation grants of €10,000 to support individuals and collectives who “want to think through ideas and explore solutions to make politics more inclusive, hopeful and human” (Multitudes Foundation).
July 31: Call for Tenders on Green Public Administration and Multilevel Governance. The Council of Europe is seeking experts to advance principles and practice of good democratic governance.
August 28: Grants for projects that promote gender equality and social inclusion in schools (Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange — KIX).
September 1: Civic Innovation Fund 2023-2024, funding civic education project ideas by young NGOs with up to €12,000 in funding.
Various: OGP Local application. Sign up for info sessions in English and Spanish to learn more about the expression of interest process.
Rolling deadline: Global Fund for Women, funding for gender justice initiatives and organizations run by historically marginalized communities.
What to do 🙋
Apply for our Accelerators or Rising Stars
Forward this email to colleagues interested in participation and democracy.