SOLACE - Act Local, Think Local Workshop Series

Act Local, Think Local     

In the next 12 months there will be a General Election and all of the major parties are already proposing further reforms that promise to devolve more power to local communities. But what will this look like in reality and how can these potential reforms build on existing best practice within local government? And what will be the impact of major constraints on public spending on these aspirations?
 
Act Local, Think Local is a workshop aimed at elected members and senior officers within local government and other LSP partner agencies, including the voluntary/community sector. It will explore the practical ways in which members and local residents can be engaged and incentivised in order to enhance community empowerment and thereby improve performance and customer satisfaction. We will draw on best practice and recent research in order to promote practical action that improves community engagement. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of how best to ensure that elected members and local communities are able directly to initiate change and commit resources. We will consider, in some detail, the contributions  that Participatory Budgeting can make in developing transparent, cost effective solutions to local needs.
 
The workshop offers you the following development opportunities:

• An improved understanding of the ways in which local governance arrangements can contribute to incentivising community engagement
• An understanding of how best to design and facilitate Participatory Budgeting exercises
• Sharing your experiences as to how best to build engagement into the mainstream of service delivery, and to involve particularly ‘hard to reach’ communities.

Facilitator: Andy Wiggans was formerly the Director of Community Services and an Executive Director in a Greater Manchester Metropolitan Borough Council. He has over 30 years community development experience as a senior manager, practitioner and researcher in a wide variety of statutory and non statutory settings at local, regional and national levels. As a Senior Associate of SOLACE Enterprises Andy leads our work on community engagement, linked with key national bodies at the forefront of this field. He acts in a voluntary capacity as the Chair of Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, one of the largest of its kind in the country.

Facilitator: Phil Teece is the Participatory Budgeting Unit’s Programme Manager. The Unit, which is a project of Church Action on Poverty, is the principal delivery agency for the support and development of PB in the UK. Phil has spent most of his career in central government, where he has held a numb er of senior level operations and project management positions. He is a member of the Association for Project Management and was a local councillor in the 1980s. Phil has filled a number of community based roles and has been an Oxfam campaigner for many years and often speaks to schools about international development issues on their behalf. 

Who Should Attend

SOLACE is the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and their workshops are aimed at Chief Executives and Senior Officers in Local Authorities.

Costs

Members: £200

Non-members: £275

Please contact SOLACE for more information and to book.