Mainstreaming Participation: How to Turn One-Off Innovations into Systemic Change

In recent decades, governments and civil society organizations have experimented with various innovative new democratic practices aimed at increasing people’s voice in decision-making, such as participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies, and participatory policy-making. However, practitioners report many challenges to turn these pilot programs into sustained or mainstreamed governance practices.

In response, we see a growing global movement towards mainstreaming participatory and deliberative practices. In other words, embedding high-quality practices that increase participation and deliberation more widely and transition innovations to common best practices. There are now dozens of examples in government from Brazil, Kenya, countries in Western Europe, the Philippines, and more.

 At our learning webinar, we will explore:

• How can government reformers turn democratic innovations into long-term structural changes?

• How are civil society organizations working with governments to mainstream participation and what are the innovative strategies employed?

• How are international organizations playing a part in supporting mainstreaming? We will showcase the Open Government Challenge on public participation, the soon-to-launched Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator, and more.

• How can foundations and funders prioritize allocating resources and funds to programs with the highest potential for impact?