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Climate Interactive developed the Agriculture and Land Policy Simulator (ALPS) to allow users to see the interactions of different policy decisions on a nation's food system. As a national-scale model, country ministries and civil society groups can think about different development pathways to see if those policies could create their desired future.

Directors: This website is run by Jonathan Haidt at NYU-Stern, Matt Motyl at the University of Virginia, and Ravi Iyer at the University of Southern California. We exercise some light editorial oversight, but the content here is provided by a network of contributors who, we can assume, do not all agree with everything that the other contributors have written. We selected the initial contributors for the excellence of their research and the diversity of their perspectives. The content on each page can be assumed to reflect the views of the editor listed at the bottom of that page, unless the content is specifically signed by another contributor. In 2012 we will gradually develop a set of policy recommendations that are supported by the large majority of the contributors.

It is often assumed that the public have to rely on professionals to deliver public services because in the economic jargon there is an information asymmetry: the doctor or teacher knows more than the patient or pupil. Yet the families of these children have fine grained knowledge about what they really need: when they need two carers to support them and when only one will do; what risks to take on a trip out to the zoo and so on. The In Control initiative draws out this latent, tacit knowledge of users that is largely kept dormant and suppressed by the traditional delivery approach to services in which professionals are largely in control, assumed to have all the knowledge and so consumers are largely passive because they are assumed to lack the capability of taking charge of their own care, health, learning or tax.

Across the country, and throughout the world, many large and small groups of individuals and families, in partnership with businesses and governments, are in the process of making a new system - where people know what they are entitled to and can allocate the money that is assigned for their benefit.. This system is called Self-Directed Support, or Consumer-Directed Care. Variations of these terms are used in Education and Health Care. Internationally, this trend towards personalisation of funding is well-advanced. In Australia it is beginning in disability, accident compensation, aged care and soon in technical and vocational education. But Australian governments and institutions have been very slow to pick it up. We aim to pull them into the 21st century.

Series of articles in support of the Self-Directed Services and Personal Budgets project in Australia

Nesta is an independent charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. Nesta doesn't work alone. We rely on the strength of the partnerships we form with other innovators, community organisations, educators and investors too. We're in the very lucky position of gaining greater independence and freedom at a time when many organisations face severe constraints.

At the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), we believe everyone has the power to make a difference in how their community and country thrive. We are a dynamic, non-partisan nonprofit working at the forefront of our nation's civic life. We continuously explore what shapes today's citizenry, define the evolving role of the individual in our democracy, and uncover ways to motivate greater participation.

Serve.gov is designed to help Americans create and find opportunities to serve their communities and our nation.

We believe that governments can make better use of scarce technology dollars by working together to solve common problems. We're helping them share their solutions, knowledge, and best practices. Civic technology experts have recognized the benefits of sharing technology among governments and institutions. However, instances of successful collaboration and sharing are still few and far between, in part because there is no easy, structured way to share knowledge about this software, let alone the software itself. There is no one place to go to look for civic software that cities need, and no roadmap to share what they have. Enter the Civic Commons. As infrastructure for the open government movement, Civic Commons is a community-edited resource to find out what's working, where. Ok, so what is it, really? Civic Commons is an information product, made up of the Marketplace, Engagement Commons, and the Wiki:

United We Serve is a nationwide service initiative that helps meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn. With the knowledge that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools, President Obama is asking us to come together to help lay a new foundation for growth. This initiative aims to both expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own "do-it-yourself" projects.

The Motivate Cape Town Challenge: Make Cape Town a Fantastic Place to Live, Work and Play! The Plan: CHALLENGE 2012! Empower communities to turn their innovative ideas into sustainable projects. 'Communities' are any gatherings of positive and passionate Capetonians. 'Innovative ideas' are the common wisdom and ability to create the solutions we need.'Sustainable' means lasting, positive change for all the people of Cape Town. 'Projects' are any projects that contribute to positive change.

e believe everyone should have the chance to make a difference. That's why we make it easy for good people and good causes to connect. We've connected millions of people with a great place to volunteer and helped tens of thousands of organizations better leverage volunteers to create real impact.

Citizen Network is a global non-profit cooperative movement, formed to create a world where everyone matters - where everyone can be an equal citizen. We work together - locally and globally - to create welcoming communities for everyone and to form a powerful movement for change all around the world.