A Transformative Journey in Democratic Innovation: Lessons from the People Powered Accelerator

A few months ago, we received news that filled our whole team with excitement: Commonground Initiatives had been accepted into the People Powered’s Democracy Innovation Accelerator. At the time, we knew we were stepping into a global community of democratic innovators, but we didn’t yet understand how transformative the experience would be.

Today, as we look back at the first part of the program, we’re reflecting not only on what we have been learning, but on how this journey is helping us reshape the way we think about participation, power, and the landscapes in which democracy is built.

Entering the Accelerator: A Moment of Intention

When we joined the programme, we carried a simple yet ambitious question:
How can we create more chances for participatory democracy to truly centre communities,especially those historically pushed to the margins?

The Accelerator encouraged us to return to the foundations. Participatory democracy, we were reminded, requires commitment. It asks for a clear, intentional vision, combined with a realistic and grounded action plan. Tools alone are never enough, what matters is designing systems that consistently and intentionally put people first.

Understanding Complexity: Participation Has Many Forms

As the weeks unfolded, we were exposed to participatory methods from every corner of the world. What became immediately clear is that there is no universal model of participation. Each tool, from participatory budgeting, citizen assemblies, or co-created policies, carries its own strengths and limitations.

Success starts with contextual understanding: political dynamics, cultural norms, community relationships, institutional attitudes, and even local histories of trust or distrust. Participatory democracy is not simply deployed,it is nurtured, shaped, and adapted.

Another powerful insight emerged from our exchanges with international peers: democratic innovation is most sustainable when institutions are involved. Municipal governments, public bodies, and local authorities hold the levers that can transform participation from occasional projects into long-term democratic structures.

But we also saw the other side.

In many contexts, including some similar to our own, institutions can be passive, resistant, or even openly hostile to participatory approaches. In those environments, participatory tools must do more than engage, they must protect. Protect communities, protect participation, and protect democratic spaces from being undermined.

The Accelerator is teaching us that creativity is not just useful, it is essential. Sometimes participation must operate within institutional frameworks; other times it must navigate around them, or push gently against the boundaries they impose.

One theme that appeared again and again in our discussions was a challenge many teams face but few openly talk about: securing stakeholder engagement 

Gaining alignment, legitimacy, and shared ownership is slow, delicate work. It requires long-term relationship building, negotiation, and patience, far beyond what any project timeline usually accounts for. Yet without this foundation, even the most promising participatory process risks remaining disconnected from real influence.

When Civil Society Leads, New Possibilities Emerge

We also learned from organisations working in places where institutions simply do not provide space for participation. Many of them have built independent, community-led democratic frameworks, creative models that operate outside formal channels yet generate meaningful forms of collective decision-making.

These experiences reminded us that democracy does not flow from the top. Sometimes it grows quietly from the ground up, through civil society, neighbourhood networks, and resilient communities who refuse to disengage even when the system makes it difficult.

However, these initiatives require time, strong community infrastructure, and strategies to withstand or navigate anti-democratic behaviours from the very institutions that hold power. Their persistence and creativity inspired us deeply.

Perhaps the most enriching aspect of the Accelerator was simply being surrounded by peers—organisations experimenting, adapting, failing, rebuilding, and trying again.

The honesty of those conversations, the “we tried this, it didn’t work,” the “here’s what we wish we had known”, gave us insights we could never have gained alone. Innovation, we learned, is a collective effort.

A Note of Gratitude

As we continue this chapter, we want to express our sincere gratitude:

To the global community we met through People Powered,thank you for expanding our imagination of what democracy can look like.

To our mentor, Pier Paolo Fanesi, for his steady support and commitment throughout the programme.

And to the team behind the Accelerator, for crafting a space rooted in care, creativity, and shared purpose.

We will soon share more about our next steps and the work on the Participation Playbook.

Stay tuned!