Communitarian empowerment is about enabling diverse communities to cultivate mutual respect and cooperate at all levels to advance their wellbeing. Some people feel that it is an idealistic aspiration that can have little impact in practice. I would suggest that practical impact is precisely what can be achieved – on a substantial scale.
Let’s take a look at the civil renewal strategy implemented by the UK Labour Government in the 2000s, and the wide-ranging benefits it brought about. The strategy had three core components. First, it promoted wider deployment of good practices in improving state-citizens relationship. This involved setting up the network of Civic Pioneers, investing in the Community Development Foundation, and convening the Councillors Commission, to ensure practical advice and key research findings are widely available, which helped to increase the use of the most effective techniques for community participation, and give citizens more informed control over the decisions that affected them.
Secondly, the strategy channelled support to targeted groups to develop collaborative arrangements on the ground. Actions covered providing help for local authorities and community groups to learn more about using techniques such as participatory budgeting to enable citizens to deliberate together in setting priorities for the use of public funds; setting up Guide Neighbourhoods whereby residents from different parts of the country could learn from neighbourhood groups with a good track record in shaping and improving the public services in their respective localities; creating the Asset Transfer Unit to help communities take over public buildings when they could add greater value in meeting local needs; and advancing Take Part projects which led to diverse citizens and groups bringing their influence to bear on civic matters.
Finally, the strategy ensured there was sustained momentum to learn about and apply empowerment approaches in the development of government policies across the board. Young people were proactively sought to become involved in shaping integrated children services, employment training, and social inclusion initiatives. Older people and people with disabilities were invited to serve as advisors on government policy development groups, so that they could highlight problems that might otherwise be overlooked, and share ideas on workable solutions. The Communities for Health programme was launched to enable local people to set health promotion priorities. Local authorities were given incentives to engage people more widely and effectively in neighbourhood and parish plans, spatial planning framework, and Home Zones (for residential street design). Support was given to engaging local people in ‘myth busting’ campaigns to tackle racism and misinformation. Furthermore, neighbourhood policing was rolled out with a strong focus on seeking community views; while Community Justice Centres were set up with locally based judges who regularly met with the people in the area to discuss their concerns and what might be done differently.
The net impact of the strategy transformed numerous communities, many in the most deprived areas, and raised trust in public services and satisfaction with the local quality of life. After a decade, greater participation went hand in hand with increased confidence in communities’ ability to work with government partners to improve people’s lives. More would have been achieved, but a change of government in 2010 put an end to the civil renewal activities, and sadly, disappointment and alienation began to surface again. Yet we know that if and when the political will is there again, communities can be empowered to thrive once more.
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NB. This essay is based on my experience as the Head of Civil Renewal in the UK Government during the 2000s.
1 comment:
Communities can be empowered to thrive once more, regardless of the political will, for possibly the same reason that ended the civil renewal activities in 2010, to wit the absence of a de facto, universally transparent decision-making methodology whereby the best choice is always made (motivation) on any issue, no matter how many people may be involved nor how diverse their views (unity and commitment). Moreover, with universal transparency (public accountability) community trust can be built, sustained and self-fulfilling. Transparency as an all-pervading, yet benign force becomes a powerful governor, irrespective of politics. Indeed, it is non-partisan and by focusing on the issue, it is also discrimination-blind. Such a methodology is now ready and been proclaimed by Professors of Decision Theory as “ingeniously simple”.
Informed Choice – ic! is an App in beta-test form which can be applied to any subject/issue (ubiquity), for any number of participants (both active and passive) and always makes the best choice. Briefly, it builds on the basic anatomy of any decision (criteria, weightings and options) in two ways:
1. First with a universal ‘language’ for decision-makers (active participants) to express their views which, in turn, are readily understood by those in whose name decisions are made (passive participants), and
2. Secondly with an innovative algorithm which departs from all conventional thinking, it always identifies the best choice.
Forever freely available, like www, it eschews all commercial influences, i.e. no adverts, subs, comms, donations or sponsorships to ensure it is beyond reproach. It is egalitarian; all participants are treated equally so the capricious “will of the people” can be more accurately gauged.
Finally, by properly empowering the citizen, perhaps we should now “Question the Power”, not “the Powerful”?
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