What Works Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) are carrying out participatory research with community councillors, support officers and key local and national stakeholders to identify how community councils can have greater relevance and explore what opportunities exist for them to make a difference in the areas they represent.
What Do Citizens Want?
Research report that reveals the profound effect of formal and informal relationships on people’s wellbeing as seen through the experiences of users of housing services. Produced by the Carnegie UK Trust with support from What Works Scotland.
WWS contributes to participatory and deliberative democracy workshop
What Works Scotland co-director Dr Oliver Escobar is to speak at a workshop on the institutionalisation of participatory and deliberative democracy organised by The Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster in London.
Mini-publics: examples and resources
Examples of mini-publics which what Works Scotland has been involved with, and reflections on what we have learnt from these experiments.
Sharing our findings from new approach to police-community engagement
What Works Scotland is sharing its findings from a trial of a ‘mini-public’ process to enable communities and public services to interact more meaningfully. What Works Scotland joined forces with police, fire and council services in the North East of Scotland to experiment with a citizens’ jury .
WWS evidence about mini-publics used in parliamentary reform report
The Report on the Scottish Parliament, published this week by the Commission on Parliamentary Reform, includes ideas for democratic innovation based on research and evidence from What Works Scotland.
New project on how communities receive offenders ‘coming home’ after punishment
What Works Scotland Co-director Oliver Escobar is contributing his expertise in participative and deliberative democracy to a new project that is challenging views of offender rehabilitation. The collaborative action research project is called Coming Home.
Book launch – The People’s Verdict: Adding Informed Citizen Voices to Public Decision-Making
Claudia Chwalisz will present the key findings in The People’s Verdict, a study of 50 long-form deliberative processes, where randomly selected citizens have played key roles in decision-making.The session will include opportunities for participants to discuss the book’s findings and the role that Scotland can play in advancing democratic innovation.
Learning from a theatre group that provides food with dignity – research published
Research findings about a dignified food provision programme operated by Centrestage, a community arts and theatre organisation, started as a result of the organisation’s commitment to fostering individual and community wellbeing. What Works Scotland research report highlights the key lessons from the Centrestage example that are valuable for developing future public services.
Fun, Food, Folk: The Centrestage approach to dignified food provision
This research report is focused on Centrestage’s distinct food provision programme in some of the most deprived areas of North and East Ayrshire; Written by Briege Nugent and Oliver Escobar it describes how Centrestage achieves impact, empowers individuals and communities, and draws lessons to inform policy and practice.