Named alongside Barack Obama and a Google founder as one of the most innovative people in democracy, Tiago Peixoto is at the forefront of finding ways to make citizens’ voices shape what government actually does. Originally from Brazil, he now works in more than a dozen countries for the World Bank.
His work encompasses three things: participatory budgeting, such as in Brazil, where millions vote every year on how to allocate state funds; participatory policymaking, where citizens are involved from the first moment government thinks about how to tackle a problem; and engaged services, such as FixMyStreet-style websites or text-message feedback, where people can comment immediately on the quality of the services government has provided.