People Powered

06/16/2026

An open call for creators worldwide 🌍

The Democracy Stories Lab invites you to share visual stories about what the future looks like when people have a real say in the decisions that shape their lives.

We’re looking for short videos, illustrations, and graphics that open up new conversations about voice, power, fairness, and collective decision-making. Your content can be original or already published — as long as it’s yours.

🏆 4 winners — $1,000 each
🏅 5 honorable mentions — $500 each
Plus amplification across the People Powered and Democracy Narratives Alliance networks and a global screening event.

📅 Applications open July 14 | Deadline: September 14
🔗 Full call in bio

Whether you work in art, comedy, civic tech, gaming, or community organizing — if you have something new to say about democracy, we want to see it.

06/16/2026

What would the future look like if people had a real say in the decisions that shape their lives?

We want to see your answer.

People Powered and the Democracy Narratives Alliance are launching the Democracy Stories Lab: an open call for creators worldwide to share visual stories about voice, power, fairness, and collective decision-making.

We're looking for short videos, illustrations, and graphics that open up new conversations about democracy in unexpected ways. Content can be original or already published, as long as it's yours.

🏆 4 winners receive $1,000 each
🏅 5 honorable mentions receive $500 each
Plus amplification across the People Powered and DNA networks and a global screening event.

📅 Applications open July 14 — deadline September 14, 2026

Whether you work in comedy, art, civic tech, gaming, or community organizing — if you have something new to say about what democracy means, we want to hear it.

Read the full call and creative brief:

We're looking for creators who can tell compelling stories about voice, power, and collective decision-making — with up to $1,000 in awards.

06/11/2026

Applications are now open for the 7th Cohort of the Climate Democracy Accelerator (CDA) — People Powered's global programme that supports governments and civil society organisations in designing and implementing participatory solutions for climate action.

This year's focus:
⚡ Renewable Energy
🌾 Regenerative Agriculture
🤝 Inclusive, community-led decision-making

As the India lead partner, Pria India invites aspiring applicants to join an information webinar and learn how your organisation can access:

✅ Expert mentorship
✅ Implementation grants
✅ Global peer learning opportunities
✅ Support to strengthen democratic climate governance

📅 11 June 2026 (Thursday)
⏰ 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM IST
💻 Online

During the session, we'll walk you through:

* Programme objectives and benefits
* Eligibility criteria
* Application process
* Mentorship and funding opportunities
* Live Q&A with prospective applicants

🚨 Applications close on 26 June 2026!

Join the webinar - https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/MGVZYdKxTTSu1eMVP4qeoQ #/registration

06/11/2026

Klara Cizkova, a civil servant at the Ministry of Health builds structures, training, and a strategy to embed participation into policy processes. She was supported by the Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator and Rising Stars Mentorship.

06/08/2026

She was the only one pushing for citizen participation inside her ministry. Now the whole ministry has a strategy for it.

Meet Klara Cizkova 🇨🇿 Klara is an alumna of the Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator, a program by , , and to help reformers embed participation into government from the inside out.

🔗 Read and watch her full story. Link in bio

06/08/2026

For over a decade, Klára Čížkova was often the only person inside the Czech Ministry of Health pushing for citizen participation in policymaking. She had the conviction, but she needed the tools, the strategy, and a community that understood why this work matters.

Through People Powered's Rising Stars Mentorship and the Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator — a program with the Open Government Partnership and the Institute of Public Finance — Klara went from launching a youth working group inside the Patient Council to helping the ministry adopt an official participation strategy, introduce training programs, and develop frameworks to guide new policy processes.

What started as one reformer's persistence is now how the ministry works.

📖 Read the full blog post:

Klara Cizkova, a civil servant at the Ministry of Health builds structures, training, and a strategy to embed participation into policy processes. She was supported by the Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator and Rising Stars Mentorship.

06/04/2026

🏔️ These women are saving the Himalayas — with their own hands.

In the Indian Himalayas, glaciers are receding, weather is growing more erratic, and oak forests are being degraded. Five villages came together through a Citizens’ Assembly to fight back.

🌿 Women led the way — bringing generations of ecological knowledge to restore degraded land, recharge water sources, and revive biodiversity.

✊ This is what happens when the people who know their land best are given the tools to protect it.

This story came out of People Powered’s Climate Democracy Accelerator. 📢 Applications for the next cohort are now open — link in bio!

DemocraticInnovation

05/28/2026

What do you do when a policy is right, but the approach to implementing it isn't working? 🤔

Nairobi had a new clean air policy. It had a plan to replace polluting matatus with electric buses. But matatu owners, whose livelihoods depended on the industry, had real concerns, and the top-down approach wasn't creating space to address them.

Civic Voices changed the process. Instead of pushing harder, they opened the conversation wider, bringing matatu owners, county officials, and citizens together through participatory forums and a digital platform.

🚌 The matatu owners who once resisted now pilot electric buses. Riders prefer the quiet. 🌱 The trust that process built led to a solar-powered cold storage facility at City Park Market, serving 160 traders daily and diverting 100 tonnes of organic waste a year.

It started with People Powered's Climate Democracy Accelerator. Civic Voices is now a People Powered member.

Full story:

Nairobi's Air Quality Bill was enacted in 2022. Implementation stalled — until a local civic tech organization applied participatory methods learned through People Powered's Climate Democracy Accelerator.

05/26/2026

[Webinar] When communities get a real say in climate decisions, the results go further than any top-down policy could 🌱🌎

In Nigeria, a citizens’ climate assembly produced a draft climate policy and created a new government office for citizen participation. In India, a climate program restored a watershed and brought two divided Adivasi communities together. In Brazil, a citizens’ assembly shaped municipal climate policy and sparked a growing national movement.

Join us to hear directly from the Climate Democracy Accelerator (CDA) practitioners behind these stories:
🇳🇬 David Wuyep, Fundlink Aid International
🇮🇳 Elizabeth Mwaura, Pipal Tree
🇧🇷 Marcella Nery, Delibera Brasil
Plus Mercedes Nasiff (Open Government Partnership), Valery Molay and Melissa Zisengwe from People Powered.

📅 June 2 | 9–10:30 a.m. ET | 1–2:30 p.m. UTC | 6:30–8 p.m. IST

🔗 Register https://www.peoplepowered.org/events-content/climate-democracy-in-action-global-case-studies
You’ll also get advice on applying for the next CDA cohort (up to $25,000) and Rising Stars Mentorship.

05/15/2026

Climate solutions work best when they come from the people living them 🌱⚡️

Through our Climate Democracy Accelerator, Fundlink Aid International supported communities in shaping their own responses to the climate crisis.

💡 Want to create something similar? Apply to the Climate Democracy Accelerator!

🔗 Link in bio