NB: This is based on draft website copy. You may want to update it as that content is iterated…

We try to behave in the way we want to see in the world.

Some people call this embodying your values. For us it means sharing power in ways that restore balance and avoid replicating systemic harms. It means centriing the experience and expertise of people with lived experience of injustice at the hands of technology.

Power at Catalyst

Within each network project we design and make decisions together. This might include:

• Co-budgeting sharing control and responsibility for a project budget
• Consent-based decision making approving ideas that are ‘good enough for now, safe enough to try’
• Feedback loops - processes that enable feedback and learning to permeate the network.

Behind all projects sits the Catalyst CIC, providing governance. It co-designs strategies with the network. Its 4 directors ensure that Catalyst is financially sustainable and compliant.

Centring lived experience

People with lived experience of harm and oppression through technology are at the heart of what we do. They work in our core team and among our network partners. They live in the communities our partners work with. They work across the technology sector.

We centre their experience by:

1. Sharing power throughout a process or project
2. Prioritising relationships: taking the the time to build trust
3. Using participatory means - giving people different ways to take part
4. Building capacity by allowing everyone involved to build new knowledge and skills
5. Reciprocity payments - offering exchange for their time and input

What makes us Catalyst

Our core DNA.

Love‍