WHAT WE DO

We recognize that our world is changing and that is up to all of us to shape the change that will happen anyway. Currently western societies are under enormous strain from multiple overlapping crises, polarizing dynamics and the atomisation of society. In a time when we need all the capacity for collective decision making we can get, it is rapidly diminishing. To navigate the transitions ahead as peacefully and coherently as possible a thriving and active civil society is a crucial factor. We are here to work between and across causes. We help civil society to grow around the edges. We provide support for those who are most active. We foster a strong and resilient civil society.

We Are Stewards of Democracy and Participation

CAN’s actions are informed by our understanding of democracy and participation. The way we see it, participation at different scales of society (e.g. household -> neighbourhood -> district -> city) is the basis for a living, breathing democracy. While democracy is a term broadly used to describe institutions and structures, we understand it as a process by which we are able to take decisions together for the benefit of the whole. At the core of how we understand democracy and participation is the idea that everyone has inherent capacity to contribute to the democratic process beyond voting. However this capacity and the degree to which it can be accessed, varies, depending on socio-economic positioning, very personal life stories and the social context at any given moment. High level structures like representative democracy or federal governing systems fall short of accounting for all of this rich diversity. To make democracy work we need something more.

It is our aspiration to help fill this space that is left unoccupied and leaves democracies around the world vulnerable to populism and authoritarianism.

It is our mission to find and share ways of supporting people to access their power, cultivate strong relationships across social divides, know what they need as individuals and communities and step in to their agency.

WE LOWER BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION

While civil society is orders of magnitude more accessible than institutionalized politics or private business, there are still barriers for many people to participate fully. Often this has to do with a general sense of not belonging in society, loosing faith in democratic systems or not feeling entitled to voice ones needs. We try to address these barriers and more by providing low-threshold offerings, that are designed to foster a sense of belonging, a sense of ownership over public space and the capacity to be in dialogue with people from different backgrounds. With these offerings we are cultivating capacity. The goal is not to activate people right away. We are increasing the chances that more people will feel empowered and get active when future events touch their life reality.

WE SUPPORT CIVIC PLAYERS

The challenges are not over once someone decided to get active or an group has formed around a current issue. Collaborating in non-formal groups, organizing sustainably, strategising to attain shared goals and taking action to build power are not skills anyone learns in high-school. And while activist communities have been learning about these things for decades and centuries, it is surprising how often new groups are trying to reinvent the wheel. Even in long established groups it is a common phenomenon that people get activated in a moment of excitement, dive deep in to an aspect of the common effort, learn a lot in the process but end up being overwhelmed and exhausted, having to drop out of their engagement and taking with them all that they’ve learnt. The next person to fill their spot has to start over and so there is an invisible limit to how effective any group can get when this pattern keeps playing out. We try to address these and other challenges active initiatives and individuals face in their work through offering trainings, accompanying groups in their visioning, strategy and reflection processes, supporting conflict transformation and sharing our experience with organizing for a long term perspective. 

THE VALUES THAT INFORM OUR WORK

• Caring for each other and others
• People and their relationships before projects
• Playfulness and creativity
• Community + togetherness
• Mistakes as opportunities to learn
• Partnership and compassion
• Acceptance of diversity of life choices/styles, without evaluation
• Open doors and Possibilities
• Shared Responsibility
• Empowered Agency
• Healthy Environment
• Movement + Body Care
• Engaging disagreement with curiosity
• Less doing, more being