Edward Andersson: "Where next for engagement?"

Where next for Engagement? –Localism and Austerity

Edward Andersson, InvolveWebinar 17 February 2012

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What we will talk about • Engagement in the present • Current challenges • Engagement in the future• Some examples• Recommendations

Creative Councils:

• NESTA Challenge Prize supporting 17 Councils

• Focus on radical innovations to solve problems

• Tackling issues such as ageing society, sustainable

growth and increasing demand on services

• 2 year programme

• Tools and lessons will be shared with other councils

Community Engagement Webinars

• Part of Creative Councils support • Online webinars focussing on different

aspects of local community engagement• Every two weeks on a Friday Lunchtime• Runs February to April• Free and open to anyone to attend• Recordings of past webinars will be posted

online

• Registered Charity (nr. 1130568)• Focus: Public and stakeholder engagement• Works with: Central & local government.

Health organisations, NGOs and International Organisations•www.involve.org.uk

About

Engagement today

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Drivers for Engagement

• Structures out of date• Public expectations different• Legitimacy harder to acquire• Co-produced problems

What do you think engagement today is like?

3 problems with Engagement

1. Narrow band of people/methods2. Late in day3. Institutionally focused

Empowerment vs Big Society?

Community Empowerment‘’the giving of confidence, skills and power to communities to shape and influence what public bodies do for or with them.”

(Source: An Action Plan for Community Empowerment, 2007)

Big Society “Central government need to focus on doing the things that only government can do (…) – at the most local, most individual level – people [should] both identify and solve problems in the way that they wish to solve them”.

Dame Helen Ghosh

Trends in engagement1. Fewer resources2. Increased conflict 3. From decision making to delivery

Dealing with conflict 1. Cuts2. Litigation3. Intra-community conflict

Current EngagementLots of activity (but limited

methods):–Written consultation–Public meeting–Satisfaction surveys–Questionnaires

Understanding Engagement

OutcomeWhat

Process / Structure

How

PeopleWho

ContextWhere

PurposeWhy

Process/ Structure

How

The Future

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The perils of foresight:

"The flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanicians in from one million to 10 million years.“

New York Times, October 1903

What about technology?

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Sending message across Atlantic

Year Time taken1812 3 weeks1865 11 days1866 1 minuteToday 0.1 second

Cost to reproduce a book

Year Means Cost 1011 Scribe ~ $17,000

1511 Printing press

~$57

2011 Electronic copy

~$0.01

http://cybertiggyr.com/new-age-copyright/index.html

“The world is poised on the cusp of an economic and cultural shift as dramatic as that of the Industrial Revolution.”

Steven Levy

“The Internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity.”

Clifford Stoll

Armchair Involvement Master Class

Principles for online engagement http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/armchair_no_comment/principles.html

1. Technology alone is not answer2. Understand your participants3. If you build it, they might not come! 4. Look beyond your sector 5. Evaluate and share learning

Crowd Sourcing

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Armchair Involvement Master Class

Crowd SourcingWhite Paper definition: The act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

Image by OliverWilke

Why Crowd Source?1. Tapping into the wisdom of the crowds2. Accessing information that is highly

distributed3. Understanding the preferences of the

crowd4. Policy innovation, or uncovering new

ideas that are hidden in the crowd

Beyond the Barrier...

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“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

?

Current EngagementLots of activity (but limited

methods):–Written consultation–Public meeting–Satisfaction surveys–Questionnaires

Radical Engagement• Starts with lived experience of citizens.• Builds citizen problem-solving capacity.• Designed with long-term impact in mind.• Uses right incentives –including fun. • Makes most of behavioural sciences• Personalises engagement opportunities.

ExamplesImagine Croydon

Let’s Do It Estonia

Our Budget, our economy

Manila Flood map

Citizens Initiative review

Imagine Croydon

My Estonia

‘Our Budget Our Economy’

Manila Flood Maphttp://www.nababaha.com/report/view.php

Citizens’ Initiative Review

Examples PrinciplesImagine Croydon Fun/Informal

Let’s Do It EstoniaDecentralized

Our Budget, our economy Deliberative

Manila Flood map Networked

Citizens Initiative review Institutional

Old and new focusOld focus• What’s in it for

government?• Short term• Siloed by

organization

New focus• What’s in it for

the citizen? • Longer term• Focus on

relationships

Recommendations• Build the business case http://bit.ly/r5svOJ

• Audit your practice• Partner with others http://bit.ly/xiR2Tg

• Evaluate and share http://bit.ly/zIm8Y9

• Start with people

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Winston Churchill

Choose the next topics

The topics of the next webinars will be decided by you.

Fill out the survey:

http://svy.mk/AEmivE

QUESTIONS?

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involveRoyal London House 22-25 Finsbury Square London EC2A 1DXt: 0 20 7920 6470e: edward@involve.org.uktwitter: ed_andersson