People Powered

We started in 2020 to expand people’s power to influence government decisions and public policy. We are a non-profit with 11-50 employees. We support organizations and governments building participatory democracy, especially advocates and reformers in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Our work has three main parts: developing and sharing resources, providing support, and building community.

To share resources, we partner with researchers, organizers, technologists, and designers to create a toolbox of practical resources. Our online resource center compiles these guides, tools, and content. Tools like the Participation Playbook offer interactive guidance, and our digital participation guidance helps with tool selection. We also compile and share research data on how participatory democracy impacts communities worldwide.

For support, we connect governments and organizations with guidance to launch and improve participatory programs. This includes international learning opportunities, training, coaching, and connections for civil servants, advocates, NGOs, and government reformers. Our mentorship programs connect experienced leaders with those launching new initiatives. Our accelerator programs provide comprehensive capacity-building support, helping innovators prepare action plans. Our training programs address common challenges in participatory programs.

In building community, we aim to grow the collective power of organizations, government practitioners, researchers, and advocates. We function as a global union for individuals and organizations working on participatory democracy, and as a global partner for international organizations and funders. Member activities foster collective learning, capacity-building, fundraising, co-creation, and decision-making. We also form partnerships with groups focused on democracy, inclusion, technology, and climate change to address global challenges through participatory democracy. These efforts support programs like participatory budgeting, participatory policy-making, participatory planning, and citizen assemblies.

Our mission is to expand people’s power to make government decisions by supporting organizations and governments that are building participatory democracy around the world. We aim to expand people’s power to shape public policy.

We are a fully remote organization with an international staff, promoting a flexible work environment. Even though we’re remote, we foster team cohesion and collaboration through annual in-person events, like staff retreats. We also give employees opportunities to travel and collaborate with members and partners. Our focus on community building extends internally, supporting a culture of collective learning and action.

We offer comprehensive health insurance, including medical, vision, and dental coverage. We contribute 3% to your pension and provide 3 weeks of organization-wide breaks annually (in August and December). Paid time off includes 15 vacation days and 12 floating holidays, for a total of 27 days. You also get 7 days of professional development leave per year and 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave. After 5 years of service, you are eligible for 1 month of fully paid sabbatical leave. We also provide opportunities to travel and collaborate with members and partners at annual in-person events.