Matt was invited to join The Impacts of Civic Tech Conference 2025 mainstage for the closing plenary. He and civic tech leaders Maria Vitória Ramos of Fiquem Sabendo (Brazil) and Thanisara GG Ruangdej of WeVis (Thailand) addressed the state of the field in a challenging year.

We discussed:

• a new framing of defending democracy and pro-democracy civic tech
• the pros and cons of usings funders’ preferred terminology to describe our work
• limits of terms like “Global South”
• award programs and other ways to celebrate good work
• proof that what we’re doing is actually working
• the need to update our stories of impact
• TICTeC’s critical role in gathering and rejuvenating the global civic tech community…
• …including in specific conversations triggering specific follow-on actions

Thanks to Alex Parsons for moderating us, and mySociety for convening us.