Fostering democratic innovation for a fair, just, and inclusive society

People shaping their individual lives and the communities they are part of is what democracy is all about.

Trust Democracy is here to strengthen democracy in New Zealand through research, education and demonstrating different ways of making democracy work as it should.

Latest News

Film fundraiser for Democracy Experiment in Porirua
5.45-8.00pm, Monday 27 January, Lighthouse Cuba
Whither Open Government in New Zealand?
At a U3A Wellington City session on 25 October 2024, Keitha Booth, a Trust Democracy …

Researching

We are creating opportunities for everyday people to share their perspectives on the state of New Zealand’s democracy and how it could be improved in research based on public dialogue and deliberation.

Educating

Ideas, experience and meaning matter. We organise events and processes for people to learn about, use and reflect on democratic ideas and practices, and how they might make democracy work better.

Demonstrating

A good way to share the potential of democratic innovations is to show them in practice. We look for opportunities to demonstrate innovations in our work and by working with other organisations.

Public dialogue about democracy


We want to promote, initiate and participate in ongoing public dialogue about the state of democracy in New Zealand. This is how we will learn about how people understand and value democracy and what they believe could be done to improve it.

We want to promote, initiate and participate in practical experiments and initiatives to test different ways of making our democracy work as it should.

While based in New Zealand, we would like to support similar work in the Pacific.