Innovation in democracy

In November 2018, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) worked with Policy Lab to run three workshops for local authorities on the Innovation in Democracy Programme.

This was on of the first project I every led at the Lab in an area really close to my heart, participatory democracy. What was interesting about this project was it was not delivering citizen assemblies but supporting local authorities to both understand what this relatively new approach to participatory policy making was and develop their bids. Working closely with the policy team I designed a workshop plan and resources and managed the delivery of evidence pack and the sessions themselves. 

We toured the country to ensure LA's could attend the sessions and be in the best possible position to apply as there was a limited window to go through the process and allocate funding.These workshops introduced the programme, worked through the opportunities and challenges in attendees’ local authorities, and helped attendees with their Expression of Interest (EoI) form.

The materials from these workshops are available on Gov.uk including my favourite tool - Headline of the Future.