Our democracy is in flux: last week's election saw a tearing down of the old right/left divisions with new cleavages emerging based on leave/remain, or city/country. In the face of such seismic change, Nesta is launching a £100,000 fund to support new forms of everyday democracy that will bind our communities back together and find ways for people to have more influence over how public services work for them.

Ten Democracy Pioneer awards of £10,000 each will fund tests and experiments in new forms of everyday democracy. All of which see people having more say on how public institutions - from councils to schools and health services - are delivered in their communities. 

Nesta will fund Pioneers who have found new ways to increase engagement (especially from marginalised groups), focusing on challenges such as countering fake news, making institutional decision making more transparent, sharing power locally, creating forums for constructive disagreement and holding elected officials to account.

The award is Nesta’s response to the persistently low level of trust in politicians, with 44% saying that government was the most broken institution in the UK, and 59% saying the government doesn’t listen to people like them.* 

Nesta has long worked to improve civic systems and over the last decade has researched, championed and supported a range of innovations in democracy and civic participation: from making the case for more people powered public services in local government and health; ways to shape a more social impactful sharing economy; calling for a high energy democracy to support an inclusive economy; research and practical experimentation around digital democracy and participation to more recent explorations of new ways for institutions to harness the wisdom of the crowd to find solutions and make decisions using new methods like collective intelligence and participatory futures.

Vicki Sellick, Executive Director of Innovation Programmes at Nesta, said:

“One thing is clear: people are crying out for ways to express their views, passions and positions in a way that is heard and acted upon, more frequently than at the ballot box every five years. The Democracy Pioneer Awards aim to stimulate participatory, open, and engaging conversations, where many more people feel part of building their community.”

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Press contact - Will Hoyles, 07812 362714, [email protected]/[email protected]/twitter.com/Nesta_Press

• Entries are open now until 31st January 2020 and more information will be available from 00:01 on 18th December 2019 at http://www.nesta.org.uk/project/democracy-pioneers
• A YouGov poll run for Nesta days before the General Election last week, found that people would spread their vote across the political spectrum, given the chance. It showed that people don’t fit into neat political boxes, highlighting the need for people to feel represented and have a voice on issues that might not toe party lines of central politics. YouGov poll for Nesta. Total sample size was 1,680 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th - 6th December 2019. https://www.nesta.org.uk/news/big-loss-support-main-parties-and-big-benefits-green-and-brexit-parties/
• *Edelman Trust Barometer 2019 - https://www.slideshare.net/Edelman_UK/edelman-trust-barometer-2019-uk-results-132908642