Last Thursday (6), during the second day of World Democracy ForumAt the event held in Strasbourg, France, RenovaBR presented its political leadership training initiative as an example of democratic innovation. Representing the organization, the director of institutional relations, Gabriel Morais, presented the organization's main leadership training program during the panel "Renewing the Civic Mission of Education," and highlighted the school's work in renewing political leaders, empowering them to build a more qualified, diverse public administration committed to strengthening democratic institutions.
Selected from over 470 initiatives worldwide, RenovaBR participated in the 13th edition of the Forum, promoted by the European Parliament, which this year had as its central theme "Democracy at Risk: How Can We Revive it?". The event, which took place between November 5th and 7th, brought together leaders, experts, and organizations dedicated to defending democracy, civic participation, and finding solutions to its contemporary challenges.
The official program began on Wednesday (5), with an institutional opening and a series of panels on topics such as the role of the media and how its transformations affect democracy, the importance of culture and the future of citizen participation in democratic processes.
On Thursday (6), the space was dedicated to the exchange of experiences and the presentation of innovative initiatives from various countries around the world – a moment in which RenovaBR shared its trajectory of non-partisan political training based on education as a tool for renewing and strengthening democracy.
In addition to being featured in the official program, RenovaBR competed for the Democracy Innovation Award, an award given to the forum's most inspiring initiative, based on a vote by the event participants themselves. A total of 21 finalist initiatives competed for the recognition. The winning project was... MyPolis Citizenship Agents, an educational initiative that encourages civic participation through virtual reality games.
Political education as an example of democratic innovation
“In Brazil, more than half of citizens are dissatisfied with democracy and almost half say they don't trust political parties,” Gabriel stated at the beginning of his presentation. The director also highlighted that polarization has reached worrying levels, to the point that six out of ten Brazilians avoid discussing politics in public. For him, this reticence has direct consequences for democratic health. “When people stop feeling represented, they distance themselves. When they distance themselves, unprepared leaders take over, bad decisions multiply, and institutions weaken,” he pointed out.
In his speech, he warned of the dangerous cycle that arises from a lack of trust: low trust leads to low participation; low participation produces poor representation; and poor representation destroys trust even further—fertile ground for the advancement of authoritarian alternatives.
It was in light of this diagnosis that the work carried out by RenovaBR was presented, reinforcing the school's belief in education as a means of making good policy.
Since its creation, the RenovaBR Leadership Training Program has trained more than 3,500 students in 1,100 Brazilian cities, with concrete results: 365 leaders trained by the institution were elected in 2024 to positions such as mayor, deputy mayor, and city councilor.
At the event, other representatives from different foreign organizations, such as Jane Kim, CEO and founder of KindEd from the United States, and Salem Helali, from the Community Legal Pathways for Democratic Resilience (CLPDR) in Afghanistan, presented their respective initiatives for strengthening democracy to the other participants.
The World Democracy Forum continued with another day of programming this Friday (7), dedicated to panels and the results of the awards, as well as sharing experiences and deepening the debate on possible ways to revitalize democracies around the world.
