Overview
Participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies, and participatory policymaking are among the innovative democratic practices recently experimented with by governments and civil society organizations to amplify people’s voices in decision-making. Most of these experiments have been pilot programs and have not been sustained or integrated into standard governance practices. In partnership with People Powered and the Open Government Partnership (OGP), we are implementing a two-part program. First, the program will synthesize best practices for mainstreaming diverse democratic innovations into a learning curriculum and training materials. Second, we will launch this learning program with a pioneering global cohort of government reformers and civil society leaders, working with them to develop and implement action plans for mainstreaming democratic innovations in their countries.
Objectives
Objectives
Enable civil society and government leaders around the world to have access to pedagogically effective learning curriculum for mainstreaming PDD, for diverse methods and at diverse scales.
Build the capacity of 15 government reformers and civil society leaders to develop and start to implement action plans to more effectively mainstream PDD in their governments.
Build greater skills and capacity of a consortium of key global and regional organizations to support the mainstreaming of PDD.
Research and Synthesis (July to October 2024)
Join our global partners as they gather primary and secondary data on the mainstreaming of participatory democracy and deliberation (PDD) processes in their regions. Participation of opportunities include sharing case studies, policies and legislation, communications content, resources, and expert guidance. You can participate by contributing to surveys, interviews, and submitting case studies. Additionally, look out for our upcoming learning webinars designed to provide clarity and answer any questions you may have about how to get involved.
Launch of the Learning Program (September 2024 - March 2025)
We will open applications from September 2024 to November 2024 to recruit participants for the first cohort of the program. Once selected, we will convene the partners for a kickoff meeting in Nairobi in March 2025.
Who can apply?
The application is open to all governments and civil society organizations worldwide that meet our specified criteria. These criteria will be published in advance for your review and familiarization. In the meantime, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions for more information (FAQs).
Other opportunities, dissemination and evaluation
The consortium will follow participants for at least one year to evaluate their success in mainstreaming participatory democracy and deliberation (PDD) in their localities and to address challenges in future cohorts.
We will disseminate project learnings and resources globally through public events and communications. In partnership with project collaborators, we will share relevant materials and facilitate learning opportunities.
Additionally, we will plan for the continued use of the learning curriculum and program by project partners, including further OGP leadership collaboratives and regional activities.
Outlook of the learning program
We envision the learning program accommodating more cohorts of government and civil society participants over the long term. Our evaluation of the first cohort will inform our next steps. Stay tuned for updates, successes, challenges, and new opportunities.
Events and opportunities
We are organizing webinars and information sessions throughout the program’s duration. Below are details of our upcoming events, along with information on past sessions.
