The Problem

Governance affects each of us – every day, everywhere. It’s essential for dealing with existential challenges like pandemics, the climate crisis, racial inequity, and economic volatility. Tackling these issues requires effective governance at local, national, and global levels. Without it, we will fail. However, dominant forms of governance around the world often rely on outdated ideas and structures and are trapped in increasingly troubling patterns. As we face escalating global crises, the current paradigm of governance is fraying, frequently failing to meet the needs of people, planet, and future generations.

The Promise

We see elements of what a new paradigm of governance might look like; one that centers the well-being of people and planet, embraces a complexity mindset, lives into the promise of a digital age, and restores practices of abundance and relationship.

We think governance should be equitable, include those who have been marginalized, respond to the increasing interconnectedness of our world, and invite people into collective problem-solving. Governance systems must withstand the complexity of a more mobile global population, the scale and rapidity with which technology connects us, and the severity of the climate crisis.

A Possible Path

Our guiding star is to build a world where people and planet flourish by transforming how we collectively steward our interdependent well-being, aided by a healthy relationship with technology, now and into the future.

We believe this transformation means moving away from top-down, control-oriented, and indirect forms of governance that were built for a pre-digital age. It means shifting how we think about governance and transitioning to systems that better serve the needs of people and planet. We can’t be sure of how this change will happen, or on what timeline. But for now, we aim to lift up communities, prototypes, and ideas that demonstrate how governance can be fundamentally different.

We do this by leveraging our different experiences, expertise, and roles to accompany leaders, activists, and changemakers around the world as they mitigate the harms of existing governance systems and make space for alternatives to flourish. Like doulas, we seek to provide mindful support within systems and structures grappling with disruption and change, and we nurture the birth and growth of new ideas and practices.

We hold the network as a space where members build relationships, engage in sensemaking, test and iterate ideas, and explore proofs of possibility. We do this through in-person convenings, greenhouse groups, learning and connecting sessions, and sharing news and resources from our work. We hope this will spawn further cross-fertilization, innovation, and collaboration among network members and their partners, which will, in turn, propel us toward our guiding star.