Involve News

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Article by Involve's Thea Shahrokh in March issue of The International Association of Facilitators newsletter

Click here to view the recent March edition of The International Association of Facilitators Newsletter - which contains and article entitled 'World Wide Views: Citizen Deliberation in a Globalised World' in which Involve's Thea Shahrokh explores the rapidly evolving world of global citizen deliberation.

Contextualising participation: the dynamics of power

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Contextualising participation: the dynamics of power

By Zaki Nahaboo

The Pathways through Participation project explores how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation over the course of their lives. The team have recently produced a literature review exploring the literature on public participation from a range of practical and theoretical insights.

Understanding how the dynamics of civic participation are inflected by the dynamics of power is one of the numerous underlying themes of Understanding participation: A literature review. The literature review draws attention to the structural and contextual factors which promote or inhibit public participation, without sidelining how participation operates on the ground, so to speak (i.e. the activities and actors involved), and why it permeates certain individual lives. This is of particular relevance for the Pathways project as it forms an astute theoretical framework for guiding explorations into individuals' motivations and trajectories through public participation. However, understanding participation in this manner also extends much further.

In the review power becomes one of the central ‘shaping forces' for understanding participation, yet it is often cited as a nebulous, contested concept - defying practical value. What the literature review demonstrates is that the concept of power as developed by Lukes and Gaventa can be situated so as to develop a nuanced understanding of participation. This understanding accounts for visible power inequalities, agenda setting etc but also contributes to demonstrating how dimensions of power can better inform our practical understanding of participation and research approach.

Thus in chapter 5, the literature review rightly situates social networks, space and place and power relations as central guides for understanding public participation. This has implications for how the project and those in the field seek to gain an understanding of public engagement activities and participation demographics. Through this the review subtly asks the rhetorical question: how can we understand choices about ethical consumerism, campaigning, forms of associational life and demographics of people who participate, without understanding how structural factors have facilitated such choices?

Demos' recent publication The Power Gap is one example of how researching power can successfully contribute to a deeper understanding of the effectiveness and presence/absence of civic engagement. The literature review shows a similar approach to making power measurable. However, the review provides a holistic framework in which to understand how determinants of individuals' and social groups' participation involves numerous overlapping factors, with power as that which pervades all yet also constitutes an indicator in its own right.

As this project develops through the fieldwork, it will be interesting to note how and why people participate while bearing in mind the impact of the power relations, associational networks and space and place, as highlighted through the literature review. The use of mapping sessions ("power maps" and "activity maps") in the case study areas are already successful examples of how the connection between theory and practice is developing and a picture of participation is forming.

CfPS 2010: Accountability works! sustaining outcomes in changing times

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

CfPS 2010: Accountability works! sustaining outcomes in changing times 30 June - 1 July 2010 The Brewery, London

Now in its 8th year, CfPS 2010 will focus on accountability and transparency in public services. It will cover the important issues of the day: regaining public trust, tackling health inequalities and addressing how to sustain outcomes from accountability in hard financial times.

We will also be celebrating the work of non-executives who promote accountability and transparency in public services at our Good Scrutiny Awards ceremony being held during the conference.

CfPS encourages you to submit an entry now and share best practice with colleagues. Closing date: 31st March 2010.

For further details and to register your place please click here

8th Annual Community Consultation conference: Hard choices, engagement and localism

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

8th Annual Community Consultation conference: Hard choices, engagement and localism

The conference will examine the implications of "Total Place" and the new movements of localism for consultations. Outlining how separate public bodies can consult together, the day will offer fresh perspectives on difficult choices in a sometimes hostile climate.

We are pleased to announce that Edward Andersson, Deputy Director/Head of Practice from Involve will be speaking at the 8th Annual Community Consultation conference.

All Involve members receive a 15% discount! Quote 'Involve' when registering.

Visit the website for full details: http://www.neilstewartassociates.com/sa263

or contact Laura Brownlee on 020 7324 4372, e-mail laura.brownlee@neilstewartassociates.co.uk

Looking Beyond Copenhagen

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Looking Beyond Copenhagen

Download report here

By Zaki Nahaboo

The influential WWViews International Policy Report presented a consensus on the need to act now to prevent further climate change. Beneath the data gathered for this report we find individual countries contribution. Involve ran the UK WorldWideViews event with Kettering as the town chosen to be part of this unprecedented consultation event.

If the appropriated slogan of the environmental agenda has been ‘think global, act local', then we can look on the Kettering debate as what this maxim would entail when deliberated upon by a cross section of UK citizenry. ‘Looking Beyond Copenhagen' highlights the sample's desire for multi-lateral agreements and raising fossil fuel prices, while also the ‘tragedy of the commons' problem and threat of immediate costs. The positive and negative findings which emerged from the Kettering debate should not be seen as two sides of the same coin. The recommendations show how concern about making short-term sacrifices as well as powerlessness (i.e. "What difference can I make?") can be mitigated through connecting government with the people via education and engagement, incentives and accountability, and the power of communal action.

Click here to read Nick Rand and Simon Burall's 'Looking Beyond Copenhagen: Understanding citizens' view on climate change'.

Great news: We’re all living longer. So let’s talk about it.

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Great news: We're all living longer. So let's talk about it...

By Emily Fennell

Here at Involve we are starting to turn our attention to the issue of our ageing society as a subject for public engagement. Last month I took part in an open space event on the implications of our ever-lengthening lives (Extending life at both Ends, a Health Challenge Event hosted by Edinburgh Napier University). This event brought home to me the urgency for more public engagement around the tricky policy issues relating to an ageing society.

As most of us are aware, the UK and western world is getting proportionally older. Health, care and welfare services will be a necessity for more of us and for a longer time period. The increased cost associated with ageing coupled with a reduced ratio of younger to older members of the population means that governments have to navigate a thorny path of difficult trade-offs and compromises. It is vital that citizens are engaged with from the outset in to ensure there is general awareness of the issues and consensus for the decisions. In order for us to make a meaningful contribution and fully understand the implications of our extended lives we need to be engaged in the debate today, we should really have been engaged yesterday.

At this open space event I initiated two sessions around the role of public engagement in dealing with these issues. Delegates in my groups came from a wide variety of perspectives, from government, third sector, interested members of the public and academics. A key theme to come out of the conversations was the need for the public conversation to almost start at "square one". They stressed the necessity to engage with people from the outset in a discussion around our changing ideals. They also spoke about the need for building consensus about the standard of care we should expect for the price the state is willing/able to pay, and need for dialogue about what individual and collective responsibilities should look like.

The people I spoke to felt that before spending and policy decisions are made we all need to be involved in a discussion about our modern day values, the value we place on state care as opposed to care in the home, the value we place on our working lives and our retirement, and the value of having friends, neighbours and community links that can support us when the state cannot. Delegates also discussed the need to talk about responsibility, in terms of ageing, what should be the responsibility of the state, our families, our surrounding community, or indeed what planning for our older age should be made by our younger selves?

Delegates also told me that a whole conversation needs to be had about our perception and value of ageing itself. Such discussions should aim to result in an improved consciousness about ageing as part of the life cycle, and to move away from seeing older people as dependents. We need policy makers, citizens and interest groups to come together to discuss our changing notions of "old".

Involve are working on facilitating conversations around these issues and attempting to engage citizens in the negotiation of complex policy decisions relating to the ageing society. For example, we worked with the states of Jersey, whose population is older than that of the mainland. In Jersey we ran participatory workshops, an online survey and a written consultation on how we might tackle issues associated with an ageing population. These activities supported a discussion around compromises and encouraged participants to consider the options as part of the wider whole and recognise the tradeoffs involved. Having communicated the challenges and opportunities to a large proportion of the population, the engagement resulted in a changed political climate from which the States of Jersey could begin to make policy decisions. It gave the government a much clearer understanding of which options the public would support, which they would accept, and which they would oppose.

Engaging With Impact

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Engaging with Impact is a report by MASS LBP that focuses on the value of community engagement. Specifically, it deals with the challenge of evaluating engagement and proposes a series of recommendations and indicators that can be used to assess performance and develop a culture of engagement that will help to rewrite the relationship between administrators and the public.

The report proposes a series of indicators that can be used to assess performance and develop a culture of engagement across Ontario's public health system.

The Report contains a chapter entitled 'The English Experience: Evaluating Patient and Public Engagement' written by Involves' Edward Andersson and Emily Fennell.

The report can be found at http://www.masslbp.com/download/engaging.pdf

President Obama endorses public participation

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

President Obama endorses public participation...

By Edward Andersson - Deputy Director

One of the first documents signed by US President Barack Obama after his inauguration announced the creation of an Open Government Directive to help the US Administration create an ‘unprecedented level of openness in government’.

One of the pillars of this initiative is a commitment to public participation in government. President Obama writes:

“Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.”

For the full memorandum click here.

World Citizens Demand Action at COP15

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

World Citizens Demand Action at COP15

By Thea Shahrokh - Researcher

Please download the WWViews International Policy Report Here

Results from the first-ever global citizens' consultation on climate change are clear: Citizens from all parts of the world mandate their politicians to take fast and strong action at COP15.

The results are remarkably consistent across national income groups and geographical regions. The participating citizens voted on alternative answers to 12 predefined questions and produced a large number of recommendations phrased in their own wordings. Synthesizing these results, we can deduce nine clear Policy Recommendations from the citizens.

The recommendations are:

1. Make a deal at COP15

2. Keep the temperature increase below 2 degrees

3. Annex 1 countries should reduce emissions with 25-40 % or more by 2020

4. Fast-growing economies should also reduce emissions by 2020

5. Low-income developing countries should limit emissions

6. Give high priority to an international financial mechanism

7. Punish non-complying countries

8. Make technology available to everyone

9. Strengthen or supplement international institutions

WWViews results can be studied in detail at www.wwviews.org

From Rio to Kettering: ready to save the planet?

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

From Rio to Kettering: ready to save the planet?

By Thea Shahrokh - Researcher

The World Wide Views on Climate Change global conference and Kettering's involvement is continuing to give the public a voice in the build up to the decisions being made at the COP15 summit. Channel 4 News brought four citizens of Kettering together with four from Rio who attended the WWViews global conference to debate who should be doing what for whom to battle the spiralling effects of our warming world.

Participants agreed that the COP15 summit is crucial to combatting Climate Change. The discussion did however raise the contrasting barriers that the two countries face. It was highlighted that there is not the same ‘environmental awareness' in Brazil as there is in the UK at present. In addition the difficulties the incredibly poor of Brazil have in making a difference was touched on; where population control is much more extreme an issue, and where green farming seems like a distant ideal.

Consensus came when the participants discussed the fact that individual effort can effect change and how continued education on the subject will be a key contributor to behaviour change.

To read the article and watch the video clip, please click here