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Dan Monafu works at the intersection of public policy innovation, civic technology, and critical thinking platforms. He has founded or co-founded a number of initiatives that work to better the community, from the local to the national level, including: Soup Ottawa, Ottawa (de)tours, Ottawa Civic Tech – and some groups that don’t have Ottawa in their title: the Trawler, Privi, and Live Here, most recently.
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Dan Monafu is an Ottawa-based community builder, serial small business owner, and federal public servant.
At the local community level, Dan has started a number of initiatives, including: Soup Ottawa, a participatory micro-grant event held seasonally which, over a half decade, has brought together more than 2,500 people to fund worthwhile community-benefit projects; Ottawa (de)tours, which used the walking tour model to invite Canadians to critically think about complex issues shaping Canada; and Ottawa Civic Tech, a community group of individuals working to strengthen civics and who think policy, technology and inspiration can solve tough problems and make communities better. Dan also serves on a number of Board of Director roles, including with Matthew House Ottawa and CSArt Ottawa.
In the federal government, Dan has worked on system-level public sector innovation initiatives for over a decade. Highlights have included leading the Government of Canada’s experimentation community, and modernizing the government’s ability to use novel tools by expanding departments’ ability to use outcome-based funding models, microgrants, or prizes and challenges. Dan is currently A/Director, Policy in the Canadian Digital Service.
An active speaker on experimentation, the new philanthropy, as well as not shying away from admitting failure, his work has been featured nationally and internationally in newsprint, radio or TV.
In 2018, Dan was included in Apolitical’s 100 future leaders: the world’s most influential young people in government. Fluent in three languages, including Canada’s official languages, Dan holds a Master of Arts degree from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA). He and his wife Megan have two young boys.
For more details, see Linkedin.