How to organize a collaboration of thousand citizens? (case on principle 6)

“This was a world first. Never before has this scale of exercise in deliberative democracy been entirely organised by citizens”

Cato Leonard, Glassroots.com

The G1000 is an initiative of the Foundation for Future Generations, a public foundation in Belgium with more than 10 years of experience in the field of citizens’ participation. More than a year ago, the citizens of Belgium elected the people they wanted to be governed by, but after a year of waiting there was still no government, so some citizens decided to be hands on and find solutions. Months of thinking followed, before they finally figured out a concrete model for giving new impetus to the process of eliminating the stalemate that has plagued Belgium for many years. 

Bond Beter Leefmilieu developed an ethical framework for the collaboration with companies (case on principle 6)

The not-for-profit organization “Bond Beter Leefmilieu” (Federation for a Better Environment) is the umbrella organisation for more than 140 nature associations and environmental organisations in Flanders: from Greenpeace and WWF Flanders, via Nature Point (“Natuurpunt”) to dozens of regional and local associations. The nature and environmental movement is a rapidly growing sector in terms of members (350,000 in 2012) and professionals.

But the ecological organizations in Flanders face uncertain financial times. The governmental grants diminished year by year. That is why we need to work on our independence of state subsidies, especially of the Flemish district. One of our options is to gain additional and/or new income through sponsorship or collaboration with commercial partners. This income could be both financial support or kinds (products, communication, voluntary workers, logistics or other services).  A stronger collaboration with companies, so we realised, asks for a clear ethical framework.