What  if we gave ordinary citizens the power to decide how public money is spent? Graça Fonseca did just that. With her pioneering vision, she built the world’s first national participatory budget, helped transform a crisis-era Lisbon into Europe’s entrepreneurial city of the year, and served as Portugal’s Minister of Culture through COVID. Now she’s asking an even bigger question: who gets to imagine the future?

In this episode, Ben sits down with Graça Fonseca to trace a throughline from her years in Lisbon’s city government through her time in national office to her current role as Chief Imagination Officer at the Futura Foundation – a Lisbon-based fellowship for young women working on global challenges. Graça’s story is grounded in remarkably concrete examples: a Post-it wall on the Design Museum in downtown Lisbon that turned passersby into urban planners, a playground proposed through a participatory budget that showed a grandmother she could reshape her own neighborhood, a first startup incubator that was literally voted into existence by citizens.

What we’re discussing is a philosophy of leadership rooted in trust, care, and a stubborn refusal to get trapped in the present. Graça argues that the most dangerous thing a leader can do – in government or in business – is become so consumed by daily urgencies that they lose the capacity to imagine what comes after. She makes the case for a “minister of the future”, someone unburdened by the status quo and whose job is simply to ask: when this crisis ends, what will people find?

Resources & References

Futura Foundation — Lisbon-based foundation and fellowship for women under 35 working on global challenges; co-founded by Graça Fonseca and Ruth Shaber

Future Tense – Futura Foundation podcast

Patti Smith, “People Have the Power” (1988) — Song referenced by Graça; written by Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith

European Commission Citizens’ Assemblies — Graça served on the knowledge committee for the intergenerational fairness panel

Sweden’s Minister for Strategy and Future Issues — Kristina Persson, appointed by PM Stefan Löfven; referenced by Graça as precedent

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 — Referenced by Graça; Wales was the first country to legislate to protect future generations' interests

Connect with Graça Fonseca

Website: https://www.futurafoundation.org/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fonsecagraca/

Bio:

Graça Fonseca is the Chief Imagination Officer and Co-Founder of Futura Foundation. A social scientist and expert in governance, public policy, social innovation, and participatory democracy, she served as Portugal’s Minister of Culture from 2018–22. During her tenure as Secretary of State for Administrative Modernization from 2015–18, she pioneered the world’s first national-level participatory budget. As Lisbon City Councilor (2009–15), Graça spearheaded the city’s transformation into a leading entrepreneurial hub, developing the Economy and Entrepreneurship Strategy that led to Lisbon being named 2015’s “European Entrepreneurial City of the Year.” She also pioneered the Lisbon Participatory Budget, giving citizens direct decision-making power over municipal investments. In 2023, Fonseca was distinguished as a “Democratic Innovator of the 21st Century” by the Apolitical Foundation for her contributions to participatory democracy and citizen-centered policy development. She teaches and serves as advisor to several national and international organizations focused on arts, democracy, climate, and ensuring a better world for future generations. Graça finds deep purpose in designing the future by bringing people together to work through participatory processes.

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