Community Empowerment

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, the Empowerment White Paper and Policing Green Paper, coupled with the clear move  towards 'place shaping', engagement and giving people greater control over local priorities, bring new challenges, structures, opportunities and tensions.   Our approach recognises that both officers and members need to learn to manage the shift of "power, influence and responsibility away from existing centres of power and into the hands of communities and citizens".  A local authority approach to the duty to inform, consult and involve needs a clear and shared understanding if officers are to help empower councillors to empower communities.  Our support includes:

• Community empowerment healthchecks;
• Political and managerial leadership development;
• Community consultation and engagement approaches & techniques;
• Personalisation;
• Community capacity building and participative democracy;
• Participatory budgeting.