West Howe Community Enterprises

West Howe Community Enterprises was set up by residents in West Howe, Bournemouth to improve communications about the area and make it a better place to live. There's an active group of volunteers who've set up a charity shop called Inspiring Change, amongst many other things. The Empowerment Good Practice programme is enabling the Zebra Collective to work with the group to help them develop and achieve their plans. Last week I facilitated a workshop which enabled the group to clearly define how they will work together as a team. They knew they'd got it right when one participant pointed out that "..if everyone in the world did this, there'd be no more problems!".

Big Society: figleaf for cuts or opportunity for empowerment?

I found myself in a sunny, but chilly Bristol yesterday (Thursday 25 November) along with my colleagues from CDX (Community Development Exchange) Nick Beddow, Emma Lees & Tan Rauf, running the last of our regional events, called "Big Society: figleaf for cuts or opportunity for empowerment?".

Attendees at the CDX event in Bristol, 25 Nov 2010

The event took place at the Pavilion meeting rooms which, whilst a bit tricky to find, was a great venue and the location, right next to the river, was fabulous - especially on a sunny Autumnal day like yesterday. We welcomed delegates from a variety of backgrounds: from local groups, universities, local councils etc, so discussions promised to be interesting from the off.

Emma Lees, CDX’s Development Officer – Policy, kicked things off by giving an update on the current political landscape, explaining some of the thinking behind the Big Society and some of the policies already in place, followed by Nick Beddow, CDX CEO, giving his insight and hosting storytime: Gloomins style – which is a method he has used to raise concerns around Big Society & community organising using a lighthearted children’s-type story. This is where the day got really interesting, as next up on the agenda was Discussion time – firstly identifying threats, then the opportunities, offered by the Big Society.

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Evaluating Empowerment

As the evaluators of the South West Empowering Communities Programme for 2010-11, we would like to use the blog to introduce ourselves. We have been commissioned to carry out an evaluation which will answer the following questions:

• What has been the impact of Empowering Communities - on communities themselves, on public authorities and on the interaction between them?
• What has been learned about empowerment?
• What might be done in the future to maximise impact?

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Government ‘upside down’. What does it mean for empowerment?

The department that funds the regional empowerment partnerships is being ‘turned upside-down’, according to a Deputy Director at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) who came to speak to our national meeting last week. So are its staff, by the sound of it, 40% of whom will be going in a restructuring which will end in 2012.

The restructuring will leave DCLG (note: no more CLG – the ‘D’ is back) with two policy directorates, Neighbourhoods, which will deal with housing and related issues, and Localism, into which responsibility for ‘enabling Big Society’ will fall. That Big Society work will concentrate on three areas: community rights, race equality and integration, and evidence - ‘informing Big Society’.

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Community Sector's Views on The Big Society: Write up of Community Development Picnic now available

South West Foundation have now posted the write up of the Big Community Development Picnic on their website. This can be downloaded from the Foundation's home page: www.southwestfoundation.org.uk
The write up reflects the views of 120 people who attended events in Shipham in Somerset and at the excellent new meetings room at Disability Cornwall in Hayle.

Big Society Video Presentations Now Online

You can now view video recordings of the presentations featured at the Big Society Conference held on 4 November 2010 at Somerset Cricket Ground, Taunton. The Conference explored what ‘Big Society’ is, what it means for public authorities and community groups in the South West, and what we should be doing about it and featured a number of guest speakers from projects that are empowering people to have a say in decisions that affect them.

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New Empowerment Case Studies Published

Four new case studies have recently been published to the Creating Excellence website, each highlighting how empowerment can work at a local level for different communities across the south west region.

• Neighbourhood meetings improve dialogue between police and the community in Gloucestershire and equip local residents with chairing skills
  Find out more about Fijian born Osea Mala Mala Nitabua, a retired schoolteacher living in St Pauls, Cheltenham who now chairs his local Neighbourhood Coordination Group meetings - thanks to a successful project funded by the Targeted Support for Empowerment and Participation Improvement Programme. This project is part of a Gloucestershire County Council initiative to work with the police and voluntary and community organisations to help empower local residents, particularly from hard to reach groups, through these neighbourhood meetings. The meetings, set up by Gloucestershire Constabulary as part of their neighbourhood policing agenda, provide a forum for the police to liaise with the council and the communities they serve.
  

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Empowerment Good Practice Programme

I've just written up a report on the Group Facilitation Methods course we delivered for South Gloucester Safer and Stronger team, as part of the Empowering Communities Empowerment Good Practice programme for local authorities. The course covered two core facilitation methods which address the challenge of enabling everyone to participate fully whilst managing all contributions, so that everyone is heard. More here.

Live blog from the Big Society conference

This is a ‘live blog’ from today’s Big Society conference. Presentation and case studies from the day have been added to the Creating Excellence website here, with videos and more still to come . . .
 

Nearly 200 people gathered today for the Big Society Conference in Somerset Cricket Ground for discussions about what ‘Big Society’ is, what it means for public authorities and community groups in the South West, and what we should be doing about it. The diverse group of attendees including local councillors, council officers and voluntary organisations staff and volunteers were the lucky ones as the event was heavily oversubscribed, with two people interested in every place available.

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The Big Society Conference

On Thursday 200 people will gather in Taunton to discuss how to make Big Society work in the South West. We are using this website to provide a space for discussion from delegates at the conference and those unable to attend to take the conversation forward about what needs to happen to ensure people are genuinely empowered and collectively we can tackle social problems affecting us.

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