Pusula / Ππούσουλας

About us

What is Pusula / Ππούσουλας?

Pusula / Ππούσουλας is a digital civic engagement platform that connects people with each other and public decision makers for a better Cyprus. Pusula / Ππούσουλας aims to empower people to interact, share ideas and decide jointly on how to solve societal problems at the neighborhood, village, city or island-wide level. Pusula / Ππούσουλας can also be used for supporting the reconciliation process and peacebuilding efforts in Cyprus.

Our aim is to increase transparency and trust across all communities on the island as well as between people and the public decision makers by fostering meaningful interaction and collaborations within the societies. Pusula / Ππούσουλας (“compass” in the Cypriot dialects) builds on CONSUL, an open-source software used by 130 institutions and 90 million people globally. By providing an online space for sharing ideas and voting for the best ones, Pusula / Ππούσουλας allows people to offer their solutions to every-day problems.

Pusula/Ππούσουλας Platform was developed through funding from the European Union* and a technical collaboration between CONSUL; the Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD) of the World Bank; and the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SeeD).
 

*Pusula / Ππούσουλας was developed as part of the Economic Analysis Programme for Growth and Sustainable Development which was funded through the European Union’s aid regulation “Council Regulation (EC) No. 389/2006”.

 

  Why is Pusula / Ππούσουλας different than other online media platforms?


 

  • Transparency: Everything shared on the Platform is publicly accessible. This allows public decision makers and other stakeholders (such as investors, NGOs, activists among others) to see the people’s priorities and solutions.
  • Geography and language: The Platform offers automatic language translation in English, Greek and Turkish. People can, therefore, share their ideas in their native language and communicate instantly without any language barriers and regardless of their physical location.
  • Committed to supporting ideas in becoming reality: Pusula / Ππούσουλας commits to support the implementation of the most popular idea(s) in each campaign. The type of support may vary from capacity building to grant allocation for implementation, depending on the specifications of each campaign). 
  • Scale: Upon submitting their ideas on the Platform, users can share them on their social media networks, reaching to wider audiences beyond Pusula / Ππούσουλας.

 

 How does Pusula / Ππούσουλας contribute to social change? 

 

 

Things to keep in mind:

  • Our team is solely an intermediary to ensure a transparent idea generating process through the Pusula / Ππούσουλας Platform.
  • Neither the ideator of the winning idea, nor our team is directly involved in the implementation process.
  • Pusula / Ππούσουλας does not offer grants / prizes / funding to individuals or organizations; it provides a solid opportunity to get ideas implemented, going above and beyond individual benefits.
  • By sharing your ideas, you will have the opportunity to improve daily life for everyone in Cyprus (including yours!) and you will be acknowledged for your great idea(s).

 

Who are we?

Pusula/Ππούσουλας Platform was developed through funding from the European Union* and a technical collaboration between CONSUL; the Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD) of the World Bank; and the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SeeD).

The Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SeeD) works with international development organisations, governments and civil society leaders to design and implement evidence-based strategies for sustaining peace. SeeD’s work contributes to the global debate on peace and development and their results help partners to promote the Sustainable Development Goals for building peaceful societies, empowering women and youth and improving citizens’ connectedness in urban spaces. Learn more about us.

 

Our Team:

Yiannis Laouris

Marina Neophytou

Sila Tufekcioglu