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1. Future of Participation
7-13 July 2023
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2. People Powered Places
Amelie Pollet

3. NEWHAM’S PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
PROGRAMME
• One of the largest participatory budgeting programme in the
UK.
• Launched in 2018 and previously known as Community
Assemblies, it has become a beacon of best practice in
participatory democracy.
• It started with £25k per area. Since 2021, the budget allocated
increased to £100k per area per year, for a total of £1.6m
between 2021-2023. For 2023 – 2025, another £1.6m allocated
with £200k per area over the two years.
• Since 2018, more than 200 projects funded that have had
transformative impact on the borough, including by improving
engagement between the Council and residents.

4. THE APPROACH
• Local approach:
- Newham is divided in 8 Community Neighbourhoods and each has
their own budget, participation events, council officers and working
group (co-production model).
- Events are held in libraries and community centres and Community
Neighbourhood teams work from libraries.
• Diverse forms of engagement (no one size fits all):
- Regular and open-to-all engagement through local participation
events organised at key stages of the process, focused on
deliberation.
- Focused, long term engagement of working group members with
reward & recognition.
- Online engagement through Newham’s participation platform
Newham Co-create.
 Inclusivity & accessibility through outreach campaigns, hybrid events,
BSL interpretation at all events, regular renewal of working group
members.

5. 2023-2025: TWO -YEAR CYCLE

6. LESSONS LEARNT
• How to scale a participatory budgeting programme:
- Reaching out beyond the ‘usual suspects’.
- Building back momentum after 4 years of community assemblies.
- Making it work for both residents and council services: being realistic
with timelines, increasing cross-services collaboration, keeping
councillors involved.
- Evidencing the impact of the budget allocated as well as the impact
of participation: work in progress.
• How to increase accessibility and inclusion:
- The power of communications and rebrand.
- Outreach to diverse communities – the role of Community
Neighbourhood team, libraries and working groups.
- Support clinics at key stages of the programme.
- Co-designing key aspects of the programme.
- Capacity and budget needed to make it work for everyone.

7. We Walworth
Rebecca Towers

8. We Walworth
Using mass engagement to surface
new leaders and their ideas which
cross sector teams turn into collective
visions for the future

9. The Model

10. 1) Mass Engagement
Goal to reach 80% of the
neighbourhood - an ambitious and
activating target, through:
Neighbourhood Welcome Events
Activation Workshops
1:1 conversations

11. 2) Working Groups
Cross sector groups work together
to develop collective visions to
tackle local issues, through:
Further engagement
‘Creation sessions’
Ward Forums

12. 3) Stewardship
Leave a lasting legacy and build a
stronger and more resilient
neighbourhood, through:
Developing our new leaders
Increased social capital and
connectivity
New ways of working and
collaborating influence policy
setting process

13. Find out more:
www.wewalworth.org.uk
Contact us:
hello@wewalworth.org.uk

14. Let’s Talk Islington
Sydney Alexander

15. Creating Community Power through Let’s Talk Islington Engagement and Participation
Background
The purpose of Let’s Talk Islington was to delve deeper into lived experiences of inequality, broaden our perspectives
and think more critically about how we might deliver on our ambitions to create a more equal future.
There were four component parts to Let’s Talk Islington:
Community voice
and lived
experiences
Quantitative picture
Inequality Task Force
Best practice
and innovation

16. A variety of creative and participatory approaches were utilised for group work with targeted groups. The cohorts were chosen for 3 main reasons:
(1) representing a ‘seldom heard’ group about whom we had scarce local data and understanding (LGBTQ+ people, private renters, overcrowded
tenants), (2) groups with complex needs whose day-to-day lives we wanted to better understand (young people with SEN), and (3) groups most
likely to be living in poverty in Islington (young people and older people).
A total of 5 projects began between April and September 2022.
Puppetry with SEN (Special
Educational Needs) teenagers at
The Bridge School: Little Angel
Theatre (LAT), LBI staff, and The
Bridge staff facilitated 5 workshops
with 10 young people aged 11-16.
LBI staff facilitated audio-recorded
conversations with the young
people about their daily lives in
and aspirations for Islington, while
LAT staff helped the young people
create their own puppets. The
young people used the puppets to
‘act out’ their audio; the final result
was recorded and created into a
short film.
Anthropology For
Kids: An academic
from Cambridge
University, in
collaboration with LTI
staff, led a series of
lunchtime classes on
anthropological
methods for year 6
students in two of
Islington’s most
deprived primary
schools – Montem
and Drayton Park.
The students self-
selected to
participate.
Storytelling with
Elders: London Met
University led storytelling
interviews with 12 older
people (+55s) from
working-class
backgrounds, recruited
through an older
people’s lunch-club in
Hornsey (Islington).
Older people were
interviewed using a
personal memento,
sharing their story of life
in Islington, and then had
their portraits taken with
their personal
mementoes.
Place-based
engagement around
overcrowded and
privately-rented
housing: LBI Public
Health led a participatory
mapping workshop and
walking interviews with
self-identified people
who lived in overcrowded
conditions and/or are
private tenants in
Islington. Participants
were recruited through
open recruitment in
community spaces.
LGBTQ+ Videovoice: In
partnership with LTI,
London Met University
and local filmmakers,
utilising videovoice
methodology (a form of
Community Action
Research), taught 10
LGBTQ+ people
documentary-filmmaking
techniques. The cohort
then created short films
about being LGBTQ+ in
Islington. Participants
applied and were
selected through open
recruitment.
Creating Community Power through Let’s Talk Islington Engagement and Participation
Methods

17. From April – May 2022, over 5 workshops, we worked with a local theatre company and SEN secondary school to
explore life in the borough through the creation and use of puppets for a short film.
Our Approach
1. Approached local theatre company and SEN
secondary school to generate ideas and test
suitability
2. Led pre-project workshop on inequality with the
students (aged 11 – 16)
3. Recorded relaxed free-flowing interviews in pairs
4. Students learned about puppetry art and created
puppets, using puppets to mime over their voices
5. Students loved expressing themselves through
puppets and experience the “film set” – both an
engagement process and opportunity for the
students to broaden their horizons and skills.
Creating Community Power through Let’s Talk Islington Engagement and Participation
Spotlight on: SEN young people and puppetry

18.  Videovoice is a visual research methodology and
community advocacy tool that puts cameras into a
community’s hands in order to document, reflect
upon and communicate salient issues.
 Emphasises community participation throughout
including the design, analysis, and action on the
results.
 Community Action Research is a body of research
methodologies which emphasise research of and by
a community; the community define and carry out
research themselves to gather evidence and make
recommendations for change.
In April and May 2022, in partnership with London MET, our team commissioned queer academics and filmmakers to
teach a cohort of 13 local LGBTQ+ people documentary filmmaking techniques over 5 workshops. We provided
all equipment which could be used for future use. These techniques were then used by participants – or the ‘co-
researchers’ – to create their own films creatively articulating their experience.
Creating Community Power through Let’s Talk Islington Engagement and Participation
Spotlight on: LGBTQ+ videovoice

19. What impact did these participatory methods
have on how we developed our 2030 plan?
• We invested heavily in qualitative approaches that
builds trust and provide for mutual exchange in
the form of knowledge, skills or new experiences
• A more holistic, inclusive and authentic picture of
our borough, including experiences of residents who
are more likely to be living in poverty (young people,
older people), for whom we have less local evidence
(LGBTQ+ residents, overcrowded tenants) and
those with complex needs
• Specific recommendations from often
marginalised or undervoiced groups lost in the mass
survey

20. Let’s reverse our thinking!
Policy making
Budget
making
Place making

21. Public Collaboration Lab
Professor Adam Thorpe at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts)

22. Through collaborative:
• Teaching & Learning
• Knowledge Exchange
• Research
AHRC funded project, 2015-2017
Partner and project funded 2017 – present
Supporting citizen engagement and
Participation in:
• Policy & service innovation (council-led)
• Social innovation & enterprise (citizen-led)
/PUBLIC COLLABORATION LAB

23. /MAKE @ STORY GARDEN
MAKE @ Story Garden, Somers Town, London, 2019-2024

24. /PUBLIC STUDIO
CRICK INSTITUTE
STORY GARDEN
OAKSHOTT COURT
WALKER HOUSE
CUMBERLAND MARKET
EUSTON STATION
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T H A N K
YOU
EUSTON STATION
EUSTON STATION
SOMERSTOWN HISTORY CLUB
a p l a c e for
u
s
Somers Town
History Club
Community
Library
TrashCAN
Workbench
MAKE @
Story Garden
Euston
Canvas
Parklet
CRICK
INSTITUTE
CRICK
INSTITUTE
Public Studio, Euston, London, 2021
KE portfolio
projects in
Somers Town &
Regents Park
Estate

25. /T FACTOR
Supporting
Citizen-led
Meanwhile
in Euston
Funded by EU Horizon 2020

26. /T FACTOR
Outcome
mapping x
Theory of
change

27. /T FACTOR
Portfolio
approach
HS2
GLA
FN2030
GLA
FN2030
HEIF
Public
studio
HEIF
Climate
studio
KBT
GLA
FN2030
CSM
MACCC
CSM
MAID
CSM
MAID
LCC
MASD
LCC
MASD
LCC
MASD
KE
HEIF
TEACHING
CSM
MACCC

28. /INFRASTRUCTURING
CO-CREATING ENABLING
CONDITIONS FOR
COLLABORATION AND SOCIAL
INNOVATION -
INFRASTRUCTURING THROUGH
PROJECTS –
BUILDING CAPACITY THROUGH
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
Relational - activities that create
shared trust and value between
participants
Operational - activities that
develop and build capacity,
knowledge and know how of
participants
Strategic - activities that break
institutional silos, align agendas
and combine resources towards
collective impact
Relational
Operational
Strategic
System

29. /REFLECTIONS
Be strategic – understand when and where in wider processes the work is located
what happened before – what happens next
Reciprocate – future beneficiary not enough
Make visible – the work of others (ownership and attribution)
Materialise – ensure tangible outputs that are useful to participants (jam today)
Negotiate expectations – rather than manage
Pass the baton – rather than start afresh each time
Start small – with less risky/critical projects and contexts whilst you learn together
Stay – before and after and always
Participation (for HE) – means joining in achieving the goals of others
a.thorpe@csm.arts.ac.uk
/Thank You

30. Insights into innovating a whole system approach to doing
participatory policy making with marginalised communities
Dr Darren Sharpe, University of East London and CAPE Fellow at Newham

31. Barriers to participation
31

32. 1. Open Democracy Digital Platforms and co-creating a taxonomy
by Martin and Rob Northumbria Uni
2. Closing the Feedback Loop with marginalised communities
by Imogen, Anita and Hayley Islington Council
3. Resident’s Charter for Newham Council
by Catherine and Melaina Newham Council
4. Community Chest for Social Prescribing in Newham
by Oli Aco projects
5. Innovation Districts & Placemaking. Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan.
by Monica and Jim Pontiac Holonomy Incubator
Demonstrator Projects
32

33. Who are the core people, places
and programmes
How can we best build capacity,
understanding and knowledge across the
workforce
How can we best embed
participation in policy making?
Where are we now and where do we want
to go as a council?
Reflexive monitoring Collective action
Cognitive participation
Coherence
Demonstrator Projects
Policy Lab
33

34. Thank-you for listening
Presented by Dr Darren Sharpe
E: d.sharpe@uel.ac.uk
34

35. Connected Futures:
Youth-led System Change
● Dan Jones
● Youth Futures Foundation
Haringey

36. Connected Futures
• Persistent issue of young people Not in Employment,
Education or Training
• Young people mapped their experiences, highlighting key
failures in the system
• We want to see services and stakeholders oriented around
the young person, so that ...
• Young people get the right help, from the right place, at the
right time to get the jobs that they want
Youth Employment System Map - Youth Futures Foundation.

37. Approach
• 8 partnerships across England – local government,
VCS, education, housing providers, LEPs etc
• 18 months funding with no outcomes attached
• Explore where and why things go wrong for young
people in the local system
• Mobilise stakeholders around shared understanding of
the problem and shared ambition for change
• Young people at the heart of the process

38. Youth Participation
The Recruitables Project - YouTube
Peer
Researchers
Steering Group
Members
Research Participants
• Develop questions
• Interviews & focus groups
• Analysis & sense making
• Agree lines of enquiry
• Analysis & sense making
• Set direction & decisions

39. Youth Participation
• Money
• Reimbursing young people for their time – implications for benefits
• Support
• Training – e.g. research methods, data protection, staying safe ...
• Pastoral and peer support
• Employability support
• Recruitment
• Existing structures – e.g. Blackpool Council Youth Advisors
• Active outreach – especially by VCS partners with youth programmes
• Time!

40. Lessons and insights
• Active engagement by young people "feels" different
• Stories and data
• Diversity and representativeness
• Additional effort and support needed
• Bridging different perspectives remains a challenge
• Different groups, totally different landscapes
• Not all local actors are "place-based"
• Significant support needed for collective sense-making

41. @YF_Foundation
YouthFuturesFoundation
info@youthfuturesfoundation.org
youthfuturesfoundation.org
Youth Futures Foundation
Tintagel House
92 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7TY
Company number: 11814131

42. Let’s put it into practice!
Policy making
Budget
making
Place making

43. Future of Participation
7-13 July 2023
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