JOIN US
Does the democratic issue excite you? Do you want to work on a concrete shift towards a democratic culture that places its trust in its citizens, that dares to believe in real deliberation, representation and participation of all Brussels residents, Bruxellois.es and Brusselaars? And get to work with a great team of volunteers?
Agora.Brussels was active during the 2019-2024 legislature but did not stand in the 2024 elections. Below, we nevertheless share some information about the movement's organisation.
Agora was a citizens' political movement that runs on energy of a lot of different sources! The movement was launched in 2018 by a handful of volunteers and got seven employees and around thirty volunteers in 2024. Inspired by the idea of sociocracy, Agora is organised into working groups, each with legitimacy to act on its topic, using places and tools to help share information and, where necessary, make joint decisions.
You could have volunteered in different ways, and with different levels of commitment, at your own speed and tempo:
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Help out from time to time with specific tasks on a short-term basis:
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when we are selecting citizen participants by lot, you can help by distributing letters in Brussels
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welcome assembly participants on the day of the assembly.
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help translate texts for the assembly or parliamentary team, or help interpret and translate on the day of the assembly itself...
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Volunteer on a permanent basis in one of the working groups and dive deeper into a specific aspect of the project. If you want to participate regularly in meetings, and you can commit to one or more tasks on a medium- or long-term basis, for example:
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diving deeper into a specific aspect
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organise events and activities to promote the well-being of volunteers by joining the 'Source' working group
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organise an event about participatory democracy together with Agora and partner organisations from the network.
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If you would have considered joining us, you would have been invited to a welcome moment to learn about the basics of the Agora project and the practical organisation. There also was a buddy system to support new volunteers and provide a more personal (and informal) follow-up.
To get a general idea of what Agora is about, check out 'Hey Agora!', our guide which gives a basic introduction to this project (in French and Dutch). We will happily answer any questions about this document during our meeting.
It's important to know that, as a volunteer, you have no direct impact on the choice of topics or decisions made within the assembly, nor on our elected member of parliament. Our work as volunteers focuses on developing and promoting this form of democracy - and making the magic of participation happen through the contributions of the participants who are selected by lot!