Participation for all

Submitted by Veronique.Jochum on Mon, 28/09/2009 - 09:37

Key to both a healthy democracy and a thriving civil society are engaged citizens.

There has been much emphasis over recent years on citizen egagement and numerous intiatives at the local level to engage communities in local decision-making processes. However, there are real concerns that the structures and processes in place exclude many and create dependency on a limited number of key representatives.

How can participation become more inclusive? What can others learn from your experience?

Submitted by Veronique.Jochum on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 14:42.

I came across this interesting community project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) which looks at participation in a very innovation way that has the potential of being more inclusive.

The project used an approach called 'Community Philosophy' to promote conversations and develop positive relationships between different groups of people within a community. More information can be obtained in a report recently published by JRF. The report:

"draws on the examination and analysis that was part of the project's day-to-day activity;
captures the reflections of the project director and participants in the project;
describes the theory behind the project, along with its activities (in the form of a series of practice-based examples); and
derives lessons of use to people who work in the community, especially youth and community workers, and those with responsibility for community involvement and organisational governance."

Submitted by Amelia on Fri, 05/02/2010 - 17:13.

I spotted this the other month http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7831705 Bristol City Council are trying to utilise new technologies to provide new ways for people to participate more in local democracy. They are trying to encourage people to raise issues and start online debate through an e-petition, online citizens panels and a consultation finder. It would be interesting to hear how it's working in practice.

Submitted by Eddie Cowling on Tue, 15/06/2010 - 17:12.

Here's an interesting new publication, Involve's 'Talking for a Change' provides new thinking for policy makers about how citizen engagement and dialogue can inform and strengthen more traditional forms of decision-making. In doing so it highlights how active engagement of citizens can revitalise our democracy and help tackle some of the biggest issues facing democracies in the 21st century including climate change and the ageing society. A ‘typology of issues’ is illustrated and the authors make a case for why the most complex, distributed and large scale issues require a radical new approach.

Take a look here http://www.involve.org.uk/talking-for-a-change/

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Participation for all

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