Empowerment Bulletin- March/April 09

London Empowerment Partnership
March/April 2009

Empowerment Bulletin


Welcome to the March/April edition of the London Empowerment Partnership e-bulletin


Upcoming Events Community Assets Matter 2 day workshop 24 and 31 March 09 10am-3.30pm Cost: free Open to local infrastructure organisations, development workers and Community Anchors Organised jointly by Community Matters and Capacitybuilders, this event aims to provide support to frontline organisations involved in asset management and asset transfer. Read more here... Engaging your communities 25 March 09 10am-3.30pm Cost: Statutory sector £200; Voluntary organisations £100 Open to all Organised by Social Action for Health, this event will focus on ways in which participants can engage with typically excluded groups, encourage engagement from grass-roots groups and work in a non-tokenistic way. Read more here... Asset Transfer Round Table 25 March 09 12.30pm-5pm Cost: free Open to all This seminar will provide participants from a local authority or community background with additional information about asset transfer and highlight existing examples of asset transfers happening in London. The round table is organised by Development Trusts Association. Read more here... Engaging Hard-to-Reach groups 26 March 09 9.30am-4.30pm Cost: Charity and voluntary groups £224.25 (inc VAT); Public and private £339.25 (inc VAT) Open to charities, public sector and corporate organisations Organised by MediaTrust, this event will focus on ways in which statutory, private and third sector groups can use a range of media-including broadcast, print and community and digital- to engage with typically excluded and hard-to-reach communities. Read more here... Public Engagement in Fighting Crime 26 March 09 9am-10am Cost: free Open to all Organised by Involve as part of the organisation's ongoing seminar series, this seminar will focus on ways to engage the public in fighting crime. Read more here... Planning for sustainable communities: Getting the most out of the big 4! 26 March 09 2pm-5.30pm Cost: free Open to all This event aims to help clarify the planning system and is intended to improve coordination between planners and the voluntary and community sector. It will explore topics such as Local Area Agreements, Local Development Frameworks, Sustainable Community Strategies, and Planning Obligations. Read more here... Power in Local Communities: Sharing, Growing and Knowing 30 March 09 1pm-5pm Cost: free Open community development workers and practitioners, as well as managers, policy workers and academics This event, organised by Community Development Network London (CDNL), will provide an opportunity for participants to hear about human rights in community development, learn about strategies that work and share practice with other community development workers in the region. Please contact Natalie at London Civic Forum for more information. Participatory Budgeting in Neighbourhood Management 31 March 09 10am-4pm Cost: Public sector £350; Central government and agencies £445; Private sector £545; Charities £195 (prices not inclusive of VAT) Open to all, but of particular benefit to neighbourhood management teams, Councillors, performance managers, neighbourhood renewal teams and others. The Participatory Budgeting Unit and LGiU have organised this event to bring together expert speakers and practitioners to get to the heart of issues affecting the regeneration of communities across the country. Read more here... Power to the people? Ideas for a local future 31 March 09 6pm-8pm Cost: free Open to Councillors, Chief Executives, Government departments with local democracy portfolios and think tanks working on local democracy The Local Government Association have organised this evening debate to discuss the three main parties' views on 'localism', exploring what is meant by the term and trying to identify any common ground. Read more here... Councillors in Control? A Short Course in Community Empowerment 1 April 2009 10.00am-3.00pm Cost: free Open to all councillors Organised by London Civic Forum, the London Empowerment Partnership, IDeA and Capital Ambition, this event will provide councillors with an opportunity to explore their role in the community empowerment agenda. Read more here... Involve and InHealth Associates Health Practitioner Lunch 7 April 09 12.30pm-2pm Cost: Free Open to all This session will look at how public and third sector organisations can be involved in commissioning decisions in health. The session will have a practical focus, looking at how to actually get people involved in commissioning. Read more here... Empowering and Engaging Communities: New Iniativies to Reinforce Democracy and Reshape Public Services 21 April 09 10am-2pm Cost: £225 per delegate Open to practitioners, local policy makers and civil servants This Westminster Briefing will provide delegates with an opportunity to debate key issues around the community empowerment agenda, to include the 'duty to promote democracy' and the 'duty to involve'. Read more here... Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women Councillors Taskforce 24 April 09 10am-2pm Cost: free Open to all This event provides an opportunity for women-particularly those that are under represented as councillors- to find out more about how to get involved and participate in public life. Read more here... Empowering Communities- Sharing the lessons and challenging the sector 30 April 09 10am-3.30pm Cost: free Open to community engagement teams, strategy and partnership managers, neighbourhood teams, sustainable community teams and councillors This is a national conference hosted by the London boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham on behalf of the Network of Empowering Authorities, and supported by IDeA and the London Empowerment Partnership. This event is a unique opportunity to hear from the Secretary of State about the Duty to Involve and learn how to become an 'Empowering Authority'. Please contact Natalie at London Civic Forum for more information.

News & Updates

Government announces plans for more young mayors

Communities and Local Government Secretary, Hazel Blears, recently announced plans to provide an additional £2 million of funding towards young mayor programmes across the country. These elected young mayors provide a voice for young people in the community and enable young people to become more involved in democratic processes.

There are currently 12 young mayors in local authorities across the UK, and the government intends to introduce a further 20 young mayors over the next few years. In London, young mayors have been elected in the boroughs of Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Lambeth.

Supporting the recruitment of young mayors is one way in which the government intends to promote community empowerment activities and initiatives, as set out in the Communities in Control: real people, real power White Paper. Hazel Blears stated that ‘young mayors are a way of giving real power to young people. Not only can they inspire a new generation to see politics as a powerful way of getting your voice heard but they also give young people the means to have a genuine influence over the neighbourhoods where they live’ (Hazel Blears, 2009).

Read more here...

Project encourages Muslim women to seek public office

The Muslim Women’s Advisory Group has launched the “Play Your Part-Make Your Mark’ project to help support and encourage Muslim women to seek public office and get involved in public life. The project helps women develop skills which enable them to have the confidence to seek high profile positions. As a member of the Muslim Women’s Advisory Group stated, ‘Muslim women, like other women, have a wide variety of skills that are under-utilised...This project aims to encourage, highlight and celebrate the contribution that Muslim women are making to Britain. We aim to nurture the skills, talents and confidence of women on the programme and make progressive change by enhancing their networks within, and appointing mentors from, mainstream civic and political life in order to ensure that MPs, councillors, magistrates, school governors and public appointments are secured’ (Reedah Al-Saie, 2009).

The National Muslim Women’s Advisory Group consists of 19 women from across the UK. It was formed in November 2007 and formally launched by Gordon Brown in January 2008.

Read more here...

Asset Transfer Unit launches new website

Following the launch of the Asset Transfer Unit (ATU) in January 2009, ATU have now launch a new website at www.atu.org.uk. The site provides information about the Unit as well as contact information for those wishing to find out more about community asset transfer programmes.

The Asset Transfer Unit was originally introduced in the Communities in Control: real people, real power White Paper published in July 2008 as one way in which the government sought to transfer power and ownership to local citizens. In the White Paper, the government sites asset transfer as a way of ‘increasing the number of people helping to run or own local services and assets, and to transfer more of these assets into community ownership’ (Communities and Local Government, 2008).

Visit ATU's website here...

Read more about the ATU here...

Conservative Green Paper encourages devolution and empowerment

The Conservative party recently launched a major green paper, ‘Control Shift: Returning power to local communities’, which outlines the party’s commitment to giving power back to local communities. The green paper builds on the ideas of decentralisation, devolution and empowerment, and includes a range of proposals aimed at devolving power from regional government to local communities. Amongst these proposals are recommendations to transfer regional planning and housing powers to local communities and requirements on councils to become more transparent when it comes to publishing information on public expenditures.

In a recent article, Conservative leader David Cameron stated that ‘the Conservative party wants nothing less than radical decentralisation to reach every corner of the country. The policies...are a decisive step towards that goal. There are plans to give local people a much greater say over the issues that affect their lives; plans to give local councils much more responsibility and power; and plans to actually reshape the way political power is structured in this country’ (David Cameron, 2009).

Read more here...

Softening the blow: organisations work to find ways of beating the recession

With the recession on everyone’s mind, statutory agencies and voluntary and community sector organisations have produced a range of tools and guidance to help businesses and organisations manage the economic downturn.

Local councils now find themselves in the position of being forced to implement cut-backs and cost-saving measures without sacrificing the support and services they provide to local residents. IDeA have produced a number of resources to help local authorities consider the impact of the recession and respond appropriately. These include a Recession Checklist and 'A Brief Guide to the Recession'. Most recently, IDeA have published 'No Council of Despair', a resource for local councils, councillors and officers which helps them fulfil their leadership responsibilities and develop a long-term strategic plan despite the negative impact of the recession. Together with the Local Government Association (LGA), IDeA have also published a series of case studies highlighting examples of local authorities across the country who have managed to implement money-saving techniques to help businesses and local residents deal with the recession.

Similarly, the LGA have recently published 'Backing Communities: Local Solutions', a joint report with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) highlighting the work that local authorities are doing in partnership with voluntary and community sector organisations to help local people deal with the recession. In addition to highlighting best practice, this report also provides practical recommendations to local councils on how they can further support the voluntary and community sector in their work to help local residents through the recession.

Finally, the government recently published 'Real Help for Communities', an action plan which outlines plans to provide further funding to volunteers and charities and social enterprises to help deliver additional help and support during the economic recession. This ‘action plan for the third sector’ provides measures to help capitalise on the skills and expertise provided by the third sector to local people struggling through difficult economic times. Specific measures outlined in ‘Real Help for Communities’ include a volunteer brokerage scheme which provides an additional 40, 000 volunteering and skill development opportunities and a £0.5 million investment in the School for Social Entrepreneurs to double the number of people it trains.

Read more about the resources available from IDeA here...

Read more about 'Real Help for Communities' here...

London boroughs receive Beacon Awards

A number of London boroughs were amongst those awarded Beacon status during an awards ceremony in early March 2009. Amongst the winners were:

· LB Southwark, LB Hounslow and LB Waltham Forest (in partnership with the Waltham Forest Metropolitan Police Service) for achievements under the ‘Cohesive and Resilient Communities’ theme

· LB Greenwich for achievements under the ‘Homes for the Future’ theme

· LB Bexley for achievements under the ‘ Cutting red tape: delivering real economic and social benefit through better regulation’ theme

· LB Greenwich and LB Hackney for achievements under the ‘Olympic and Paralympics legacy: using the opportunity of hosting the Games to encourage communities to be more active’ theme.

· LB Camden and LB Tower Hamlets for achievements under the ‘Positive engagement of older people to support and promote greater independence and well-being in later life’ theme

· LB Tower Hamlets for achievements under the ‘Preventing and tackling child poverty’ theme

· LB Hackney for achievements under the ‘Strategic Commissioning’ theme

· LB Enfield for achievements under the ‘Supporting independent living for disabled adults’ theme

· LB Croydon for achievements under the ‘Raising economic prosperity through partnerships’ theme

· LB Havering for achievements under the ‘After dark: managing the night-time economy’ theme

Read more here... or go to the 'Did you know?' box below to find out more about the Beacon Awards.

Speaker's Corner

Community empowerment risks leaving the community
behind

Community empowerment is a very slippery term – what does it mean
really? In practice most people have long since made up their minds
about it and moved on to one of two positions, either writing it off as a
fleeting buzzword that council’s are licensed to do to people for a year
in the lead up to a new government or position two, of focusing on getting
paid to do a piece of work fitted to the catch all of empowerment.

The pragmatic option is worthwhile but ‘getting on with doing useful stuff’
can be usefully guided by two further things – one is using empowerment
to nurture and invest in grass roots infrastructure as opposed to trying 
to do things to it from the outside and in so doing reorient the power
inequalities that bedevil delivery and democracy and secondly take a 
look at what is not so great about empowerment as it is usually presented 
to communities.

Empowerment is someone else’s word

Conversations with voluntary and community groups have almost
universally shown that they do not connect with the word 
‘empowerment’.  It has a patronizing feel.  It can easily alienate.  
Many believe you can never give power to someone in the first place.  
Something about human nature makes empowerment counterintuitive.

The Voluntary & Community Sector had ‘Empowerment 
Networks’ and government closed many of them down

Then there is the recent experience of Community Empowerment
Networks.  Not so long ago the Voluntary & Community Sector 
had their own resource as a stake into the Local Strategic 
Partnership.  Around about 2005 central government then gave 
the funding to local councils who could choose whether to support 
empowerment networks or close them down and build their own 
capacity to do ‘empowerment’.  Guess what they often chose to do.  
As a sector why would you want to believe ‘them’ again?  Some of 
those local authorities then became ‘empowering local authorities’ 
to underline the point that empowerment does not filter
down to the Voluntary &  Community Sector but all too often stops 
at the town hall.

Community Empowerment = New Deal for Local Authorities

There is an ambiguity if not an outright contradiction about 
community empowerment in that  it suggests at the very least 
an equal role with the ‘community’ as a distinct civil sphere but 
then gets cut back to simply being a vehicle to get local people 
to influence service delivery. The USP (unique selling point) of 
empowerment is often described as being solely about 
delivering services but why start there!  Why can’t we reclaim 
the space and the language and talk about deeper social concerns, 
a more embedded democracy and how we live our lives.  
Why does empowerment get truncated into a conversation 
about whether for example people are empowered to want their 
front doors painted red or yellow  this year?  Services are 
fundamental but you kind of get the feeling they’ll pretty 
much happen regardless of what local people feedback about them.

Local Government needs real power not ‘empowerment’

In the recent Local Government White Paper (2006) community 
empowerment has been described as the main role of local authorities 
yet structurally their electoral mandate is not respected, it is 
Westminster and Parliament that is sovereign.  The 1986-7 Local 
Government Act actually said that local government has quoted 
‘no right to exist’ unquote and nothing to date has changed 
the fact that no real power has been passed down to the Town Hall.  
As a third sector until local council’s are given more respect including 
the ability to raise more of their own incomes and with
councilors seen to be on a closer par to MPs we will never see 
power passed onto local communities because the battle for the scraps 
will be too fierce.  Council’s will feel obliged to remind the sector that 
it is not representative and needs to focus on changeup programmes 
to build its capacity and it all feels rather more corporate than community 
in outlook.

Community empowerment has undermined community 
development

As CDNL (Community Development Network London) we’ve been 
fortunate in drawing on the London Empowerment Partnership for 
a resource to pull workers, activists and residents together to engage 
around these issues.  We’re lucky to be able to think and act critically 
but across the country community empowerment has seen a dilution
of the community development profession.  There are more CD workers
in statutory organizations than ever before but as CDX (Community 
Development Exchange) has noted, those new posts are not
really about community development, they are generic, stretched across a 
range of organizational as opposed to community demands.  For years community 
development as been working with communities, why did government 
feel the need to create its own terminology?  Possibly because 
community development asks these kind of questions in the first place.

Community empowerment has no notion of ‘power’

One of the strangest things about community empowerment is how it exists 
without reference to the concept of power.  It collapses into engagement 
and services but fails to talk about the realities and inequalities of the real 
world.  Even the very process of empowerment is at odds with itself.  Who 
set up the empowerment agenda in the first place?  Was it an open 
conversation with local people that built up a relationship of equals, sharing 
ideas or power or did it come pre packaged from on high?

Addressing the issues, striking a balance

Inevitably with these things there is a compromise about something
that is top down and what is bottom up.  The six points listed here 
are not absolute but at best partial truths.  However what they point
 to is that empowerment is contested.  My test would be to try and 
picture yourself sitting in a tenant hall with local residents on wet 
weekday evening explaining away what this is all about and ask yourself 
genuinely why would they care?  If it is something that didn’t come from 
that group or that person, didn’t use their language and chime with their
experiences, (which are frankly unlikely to be about benign statutory 
agencies giving power away) – if you struggle to see yourself communicating 
with your locally engaged residents, who are after all,  the kind of people 
who hold communities together, then think about what would work.

Our suggestion would be that we need to return to community development 
basics, starting with building an agenda from local people and that we use 
far more of the empowerment money to go direct to local communities.  Whether 
as community chests, forums, centres – so that we can grow the conditions 
that support people at the very local level to take control of their lives on 
their own terms.  We should assume that local people can and will empower 
themselves on their own terms and also that they have as much right 
to make mistakes as the professionals have in the past.  And if that 
sounds a pipe dream then at least we can shift the focus a lot closer
to the grass roots as a means of increasing our chances of success and building 
trust and being relevant.

-Written by Matthew Scott on behalf of the Community Development Network London (CDNL). Visit the 'Events' section on the right to find out more information about CDNL's upcoming event 'Power in Local Communities: Sharing, Growing and Knowing' on 30 March 2009.

Have your say...

In your area...

Local Consultation- HACKNEY
Consultation on the Draft Interim Dalston Area Action Plan (phase 1)- Masterplan and the Hackney Central Area Action Plan

Closes: 20 April 2009, although comments will be recieved until 15 May 09

Open to all Hackney residents

LB Hackney is seeking input from residents on the Dalston Area Action Plan and the Central Area Action Plan. Comments received will help shape the future of both of these communities in Hackney.

Read more here... and here...

Local Consultation- HARROW
Consultation on the Harrow Climate Change Strategy

Closes: 15 May 2009

Open to all Harrow residents.

LB Harrow is seeking input from residents on its new Climate Change Strategy. This strategy attempts to pull together the various strands of work already underway in the borough into one coherant strategy.

Read more here...

Tackling Race Inequalities- Discussion Document

Closes: 18 May 2009

The government is seeking views and comments on its priorities for future work and strategies to tackle race inequalities. As stated recently by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, 'as we consider where to concentrate our resources and what our priorities should be, we want to draw on the expertise and insight out there in our communities: in charities, voluntary organisations, community groups, local authorities, businesses, schools, universities and more.'

Read more here... or download the discussion document here

Eco-towns consultation deadline extended

Closes: 30 April 2009

The public consultation on the proposed standards for eco-towns and prospective locations has been extended through the end of April, enabling those interested to comment on the draft Planning Policy Statement and Sustainability Appriasal of eco-towns to do so for a further few weeks.

Read more here...

Did you know?

The Beacon Scheme awards authorities across the country for providing excellent services, while also providing opportunities to share best practice. Beacon status is awarded to those authorities 'that demonstrate a clear vision, excellent services and a willingness to innovate within a particular scheme' (www.beacons.idea.gov.uk).

To date, there have been 10 rounds of beacon awards. During round 6, three London boroughs were selected as Beacon champions within the theme of 'Getting closer to communities': Croydon, Haringey and Tower Hamlets. This theme focused on highlighting those authorites which actively promote 'a dynamic relationship between authorities and communities', thereby supporting and strenghtening the role of communities and local citizens in influencing local decisions and shaping public services.
For more information about the 'Getting closer to communities' them or the Beacon Scheme, please click here. Alternatively, you can contact Beacon authorities directly using the following contact informatoin:

London Borough of Croydon- 020 8686 4433
London Borough of Haringey- 020 8489 4533
London Borough of Tower Hamlets- 020 7364 4041

Contact Us

We Need You!

Deirdre McGrath
Head of Civic Engagement
tel: 020 8709 9770
email: deirdre@londoncivicforum.org.uk

Hannah Peaker
London Empowerment Partnership Co-ordinator
tel: 020 8709 9775
email: hannah@londoncivicforum.org.uk

Natalie Murr
Civic Engagemnet Team Project Support Officer
tel: 020 8709 9772
email: natalie@londoncivicforum.org.uk

The London Empowerment Partnership is eager to ensure that information about community empowerment and engagement is shared and discussed as widely as possible. If you would like to publicise the work of your organisation or advertise an event or training opportunity, please email Natalie at natalie@londoncivicforum.org.uk.

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