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Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy (CAPaD)

CAPaD is an ACT-based community organisation founded in 2015, focused on making elected representatives more accountable and democratic participation more meaningful for Canberra residents. It is independently funded — not by political parties, government, or corporations — and run by a voluntary committee.

What they do

  • Kitchen Table Conversations — community self-managed deliberative conversations as an entry point to civic participation
  • Genuine Engagement Tool (GET) — a framework for communities to assess government engagement processes
  • Candidate accountability forums — ahead of ACT elections, CAPaD develops community-derived assessment questions and runs deliberative forums to help voters evaluate candidates on integrity, community focus, and engagement
  • Submissions — to the ACT Parliament, ACT Budget consultations, and federal election inquiries
  • Newsletter — Awakening Democracy (ongoing since at least 2024)

For the October 2024 ACT election, CAPaD ran three deliberative forums using six community-derived candidate assessment questions focused on integrity, resistance to vested interests, and engagement with marginalised communities.