engage in joint campaigns around public transport or energy access. Cross-sectoral linkage is a powerful way to break down silos, build alliances, create broad-based coalitions and foster collective agency. This kind of networking recognises the complex, overlapping and intersectional nature of injustice, helping to build movements capable of tackling systemic issues together. iii. Geographic linkages: Geographic linkages refer to connections between PoDs across different sites at local, national, and international levels. These connections are crucial for enabling scaling up, replication and the creation of distributed networks that can act collectively and adaptively across space. Local-level linkages: The importance of establishing connections between different areas within the same locality cannot be overstated. These linkages allow PoDs to be scaled up without sacrificing local rootedness. They create networks that are less vulnerable to repression and increase impact by sharing tools, strategies and resources. Over time, such local geographic linkages can underpin democratic renewal from below. Connecting groups within the same city(e.g. residents’ associations, informal sector groups and youth clubs) can foster solidarity and strengthen advocacy around common issues. National-level linkages: It is also important to link PoDs to the national discourse. This involves forming alliances between local democratic pockets across provinces or regions to participate in coordinated national campaigns. Connecting PoDs to national platforms can elevate local voices into legislative or policy spaces at a national level. It also gives local struggles a national character and enables joint campaigns on joint issues that are best tackled at a national level, such as land rights or social protection. This can catalyse broad-based mobilisation and open up new democratic spaces. International linkages: PoDs should also be connected across borders, particularly in sectors such as the informal economy, where cross-border informal traders frequently interact with their counterparts in other countries. The same applies to cross-border communities in most countries, where colonial borders have divided communities that may share identities, languages and livelihoods. These communities often have shared languages, customs, struggles and organising traditions, and they are well placed to establish democratic pockets across borders, based on mutual recognition and collective strength. International linkages enable these PoDs to share tools, learn from each other and inspire one another, building transnational solidarity around shared issues such as the informal economy, climate change and the closing of civic spaces. In terms of policy, international connections also enable engagement with regional and global policy platforms, including regional and multilateral institutions, and allow for influence beyond their own countries. These connections also offer PoDs access to regional platforms, legal instruments and advocacy spaces, thereby creating additional layers of protection and influence when local democratic space comes under pressure. Moreover, recent developments demonstrate how events in one country can inspire similar mobilisation elsewhere. Youth, feminist and informal economy actors often draw strength from each other’s victories and resistance. Democratic change, protest waves, youth-led actions and grassroots women’s organising in one country often have a ripple effect across borders, revealing the connective power of collective action and hope. Supporting without suffocating Throughout all these stages, support for democracy must remain rooted in the realities and priorities of the PoDs. The objective is not to‘scale up’ these pockets to create formal institutions, but rather to nurture their organic growth, enhance their impact and resilience, and connect them to democracy. Democracy supporters must be aware of the context and timing to avoid over-exposure or political risk. The focus should be on long-term support rather than short-term development‘interventionism’. Identifying and supporting the PoDs is a delicate but essential task. It requires democracy actors to be patient and recognise that societal change happens slowly and unpredictably in unexpected places. When these small, hidden spaces are cultivated intentionally and connected with purpose, they can become the seeds of a new democratic culture that is resilient and rooted in local contexts. Let us connect these pockets – but how? Firstly, we can start by looking for these pockets in our communities, NGOs, international organisations, and state­owned development agencies. Secondly, while acknowledging the post-colonial context in which we live, democracy remains universal at its core. Although the term‘democracy’ is of Greek origin and has gained a negative connotation worldwide, individuals and groups everywhere still desire freedom of speech, a say in how their neighbourhood develops, and recognition if they are on the margins of society. Nobody likes to be told how to live by others. This is a universal truth that can help to create a democratic space for the future, and over time, build up resilient PoDs that will grow. This could inform how democratic institutions are rethought, even in places considered democratic, as support for this political system decreases. Yet its core values of freedom, social justice and solidarity remain in high demand amongst citizens. 10 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.