Principles of participation

Nurturing an environment where each person feels seen and heard, with an acknowledgment of their experience, contributes to a work flow that welcomes shared learning, intersectional conversations, mutual support, and creative collaboration.  
 Here are our principles and valued practices of participation:  
 
 Creating a welcoming, safer and more accessible space for all participants. 
 Acknowledging and valuing different histories, diverse identities, lived experiences and the knowledge that everyone offers as well as brings into the shared space. 
 Recognising that consent, privacy and confidentiality are non-negotiable and unconditional as a baseline of trust. 
 Handling disagreement constructively and non-violently. 
 Having zero tolerance for disrespect, harassment and violence in any form. 
 Embedding the politics and practice of self and collective care. 
 Being collaborative, open and participatory in your approach. 
 Being mindful of language, access layers and context diversity; being supportive of self-expression to the autonomy, extent and pace of each person. 
 Self-reflecting and recognising the spectre of power and different (or lack of) participation privileges in terms of situational capacities and structural inequality – including context, access, race, class, language, gender, different accessibility needs, public speaking and participation skills, or any other status. 
 Being willing to de-center your perspective and always listening to each other with an open mind and heart. 
 Extending compassion and kindness to everyone we are sharing the space with. 
 Attributing and giving credit to previous projects, sources, contributions and the investment from everyone in the shared space. 
 Adjusting the participation pace to your needs. Reach out if you need support at any point.