Who's Listening to the Big Society?

We have recently published a report about the voice and influence of voluntary and community organisations across the South West. It looks at voluntary sector forums and assemblies, and how far they include marginalised groups such as asylum seekers and refugees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities. You can access the report, case studies and recommendations at www.southwestforum.org.uk/whoslistening.

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If it can’t be measured, it doesn’t count

Crying “But we know it works!” doesn’t cut it with bean counters, as community development workers and empowerment enthusiasts know well.  So it’s great to see another shot at turning confidence, engagement, participation and better decisions into brass.  This time the magic words and spreadsheet come from Involve and Consumer Focus, under the name Making the case for public engagement - How to demonstrate the value of consumer input.

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What we know and what works - update

Over 70 people gathered to discuss the past and future of empowerment in the region at this sell-out event on 29th June at the Albemarle Centre, Taunton. Visit the Creating Excellence website for speakers presentations, list of delegates and more.
The afternoon session got people talking about their successes and achievements, hopes and aspirations and generated a long list of resources, contacts and offers (Word file).

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Learning lessons - and remembering them!

Most of us have expostulated at some time or another about the facet of British organisational culture which means that when someone new takes over the running of something, they have a tendency to disregard what went before. Lessons learned from programmes and initiatives are forgotten or rejected as 'old hat', products of projects - tool-kits, courses, evaluations and so on - lay gathering dust on real or virtual shelves. Everyone starts again from scratch.

We have been evaluating South West Empowering Communities during 2010-11 and are impressed with its innovative approach to counteracting the 'not invented here' tendency.

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What we know and what’s next – join the debate

On 29th June community empowerment practitioners and activists will gather to review what has been learnt about successful community empowerment over the last few years, and discuss where to go from here. The conference will explore how to meet the current challenges posed by government reorganisation and funding shortages, and ensure that people, particularly marginalised and equality groups, are empowered to make a difference to their lives. We're starting the debate here...
 

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Localism – What does that mean?

It’s something I’d rather not be asked by someone with a questioning mind.  Should it be a relief that the Government is in the same boat?  Or, to wrap it up in the more formal language of the newly published Report on Localism from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, there’s a ‘lack of clarity about the nature of localism . . . The Government should be explicit about the choices it has made about what type of localism it wants to pursue.’  Putting it another way ‘the actions the Government has set out so far, both in the Localism Bill and in the programmes of individual departments, give an overall impression of inconsistency and incoherence.’

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A new era for neighbourhood planning?

The government has just announced some areas which are to pilot new Neighbourhood Plans, and I'm interested to see how this new approach will follow on from earlier community plans. See the Department for Communities and Local Government for the pilot areas, which include North Somerset (Backwell), South Gloucestershire (Hanham) Torbay (Brixham) and West Dorset (Sherborne) in the South West.

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