SFCIC News

News of our projects, new reports, case studies and blogs

Kendal Citizens Jury on Climate Change

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What should Kendal do about climate change? That was the challenge tackled by a diverse group of local residents of Kendal during the summer and autumn of 2020. Commissioned by Kendal Town Council and facilitated by Shared Future, we believe the Kendal Climate Change Jury was unique in being both the first fully online Climate Change Jury in the UK and also by the way it mobilised citizens through a crowdfunding campaign.

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Reasons to be Cheerful Podcast: Participatory Budgeting

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The Reasons to be Cheerful podcast, hosted by Ed Miliband MP and Geoff Lloyd featured Participatory Budgeting. Ed and Geoff were talking about a BIG idea that’s transforming how towns, cities and even schools are run across the world. Participatory budgeting (PB) involves letting citizens decide how public money is spent.

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Erasmus+ Youth PB Accelerator Project

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We believe that young people should have a voice in shaping their future through participatory democracy. One of our current projects is a joint project funded by Erasmus+, working with colleagues in Poland, Spain and Northern Ireland, to develop a ‘toolkit’ to encourage best practice and the inclusion of Young People in local participatory budgeting(PB) processes.

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Louise O’Kane and Jez Hall interviewed for German Participatory Budgeting website

Journalist Stephanie Grimm speaks with Louise O’Kane of Community Places and Jez Hall of Shared Future CIC on behalf of the Buergerhaushalt website, on the past present and future for Participatory Budgeting in the UK. Would you like to know more about the important role of voting, the involvement of young people who are far removed from politics and the effects of austerity policy? Then take a full look at the interview.

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Our guide to Climate Assemblies and Juries

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With funding from the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN), an ESRC supported network that brings together the research community and decision-makers in the public, private and third sectors, Shared Future CIC has published a guide for local authorities and other bodies. The guide aims to support local authorities and other bodies thinking of commissioning a citizens’ assembly or jury. It considers how such processes might address the climate emergency, what is involved and approaches to design and delivery.

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Build Back Better? Participation in public budgets tackles two pandemics

#BLM Defund the Police

There are two viruses affecting our world. The Covid19 pandemic and racism. One natural, one manmade. Both affecting some more than others. People centred approaches are at the heart of building back better. Public bodies can support and enable resilient communities and tackle social injustice by putting public money at the disposal of citizens; to better serve their needs, and to rebuild trust in our government and between people.

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Report on Online Webinars about Participatory Budgeting and Young People

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Shared Future CIC facilitated three online PB Youth Accelerator workshop sessions on 21st-22nd April 2020. The first a knowledge exchange workshop, with invited participants from Scotland based Participatory Budgeting programmes, to explore in greater depth the unique features of their work. The second, an online ‘Open Space’ considered how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting democratic participation and youth empowerment, and the third explored Legislative Theatre, a creative way to develop a more deliberative democracy. Find out more.

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