Sharing power and participatory decision making

Objectives:

Accountability to SHIFT stakeholder groups: Have major decisions about the resources SHIFT has access to be informed by the diversity of perspectives that make up the SHIFT community
Stewardship informed by a diversity of perspectives: Have the mission, vision and values of SHIFT be collectively held by a diverse group to reduce structural blind spots in how we understand our work and choose to move forward to actualise our vision
Shared power as a tool for community engagement: Use the invitation to be meaningfully involved in decision-making as an engagement tool to build a community of people who feel engaged in and committed to realising SHIFT’s mission and vision.

SHIFT as a “socially transformative initiative” itself: Experiment with and contribute to collective learning about how different decision-making systems and shared power structures can contribute to systemic social change.

Recruited, through open calls and a selection process, an 11-member Steering Committee (SC) with the mandate to steward SHIFT’s vision, mission, values, and ways of working.

SC composed of a diversity of perspectives relevant to their mandate, including non-voting representatives of the Provost’s office and the donor

Fostered a strong sense of ownership and engagement across SC resulting in rich discussions and a deeper understanding of our definition of social transformation

Engaged decision-making processes and discussion formats that enabled different voices to be heard and divergent opinions to be addressed

Double the number of SHIFT community members participating in decision-making
Involve SHIFT community members in decision-making where it is most meaningful to have a diversity of perspectives
Create multiple locations of decision-making, so that more SHIFT community members can participate in governance
Create 4 program-specific hubs (around the following work areas: Funding, In-kind Support and Partnerships, Events, Evaluation)
Re-focus the work of the Steering Committee on strategic priorities and future orientations

Read more about SHIFT's governance model!