08/11/2025
Voices from the Field – Civic Tech Innovators Advancing Participatory Governance
In May 2025, UNDP in Asia and the Pacific in partnership with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Open Government Partnership, Accountability Lab, and CurveUp, launched the Regional Civic Tech Innovation Challenge on Governance. The Challenge aimed to surface and scale youth-led digital solutions that strengthen civic engagement, public accountability, and participatory governance across the region.
From over 250 applications, 15 finalists were selected to advance to the Demo Day held virtually on 23 October 2025, where they showcased innovations that reimagine how governments and citizens interact, from participatory policymaking platforms and public finance transparency tools, to community-driven data systems.
As a follow-up to the Challenge, this session brings three of the top innovators together to share their experiences, lessons, and visions for the future of governance in the Asia-Pacific region, and foster dialogue between innovators and UNDP colleagues on opportunities to integrate civic tech solutions into regional and country-level governance and digital transformation initiatives.
List of the Speakers:
• Prince Chaudhary, CEO of SpeakUp Nepal 🇳🇵
• Chandmani-Erdene Tsend-Ayush, Founder & CEO of Voyager Transparency (Mongolia) 🇲🇳
• Cristina "Ken" De Paz, CEO & Co-Founder of MABINI (Philippines) 🇵🇭
• Moderator: Diana Torres, Regional Governance Advisor, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub
Together, these innovators are shaping a more transparent, participatory, and tech-enabled future for governance across Asia-Pacific.
MABINI was deeply honored to represent the Philippines and share its story alongside fellow innovators Prince Chaudhary of SpeakUp Nepal and Chandmani-Erdene Tsend-Ayush of Voyager Transparency (Mongolia), moderated by Diana Torres, UNDP Regional Governance Advisor.
During the exchange, MABINI emphasized the following key insights:
💡 Technology has evolved — from being a mere tool to becoming a bridge that reconnects people and governments, fostering transparency and trust.
🔗 Blockchain governance presents a new paradigm for civic participation — emphasizing accountability and transparency over speculation and hype.
⚖️ Legislating specific technologies is not the solution to corruption. Instead, technology itself can combat corruption through traceability, citizen oversight, and data integrity.
🤝 Civic-tech communities such as BetterGov.PH demonstrate how blockchain governance can be implemented at zero cost to government, using tokenless architectures that remove financial and technical barriers to adoption.
🪙 Non-speculative tokens and tokenless systems shift focus from profit to utility, transparency, and inclusion, driving long-term sustainability.
🧠 Experiential learning is crucial — allowing citizens and local leaders to experience blockchain and AI-powered governance solutions firsthand builds trust, understanding, and adoption.
🏗️ Infrastructure development plays a key role in accelerating digital transformation, especially in underserved and rural communities, ensuring equitable access to innovation.
🎮 Gamified citizen and validator engagement within a tokenless ecosystem can foster participation, accountability, and intrinsic motivation to co-create transparent governance.
🗂️ Public data are Digital Public Goods that belong to the people. Through open governance and blockchain, citizens can reclaim ownership, monitor their data, and ensure it remains immutable, secure, and publicly beneficial — all at zero minting cost.
This dialogue reaffirmed MABINI’s commitment to advancing participatory, transparent, and technology-driven governance where civic innovation becomes the bridge between citizens and institutions, empowering people not just to engage, but to co-govern 🌐
