In our Annual Review of 2022, we recount some of our work in an extraordinary year.

2022 has been a year like no other. Economic, environmental and political turmoil defined the last 12 months. In our 2021 report we began by saying that political trust was at an all-time low. We couldn’t have conceived that things could get any worse but they did.

We witnessed 3 Prime Ministers in less than 12 months, a war in Ukraine, economic uncertainty following Brexit, escalating national debt, increasing price hikes in the cost of living, followed by the death of the longest serving monarch in our history.

More than ever, we believe everyday citizens of the UK need to have input into how institutions redefine our society, embody our shared values and strengthen our democracy to function better and flourish.

Deliberative and participatory processes remain an excellent way of strengthening the democratic process. They encourage citizen involvement and provide a bridge between ‘the people’ and those with ‘power’, ensuring many voices can be heard.

Our ‘mini publics’ achieve greater individual & collective authority, autonomy and bring local institutions closer to their communities so they can shape local policy and infrastructure together.

Despite the never-ending drip-feed of depressing news in mainstream media, Shared Future, and our peers within this space witness and deliver meaningful and inspiring projects. They give us good reason to remain hopeful and optimistic for our shared futures in the UK and overseas.

With the amazing support of our team of expert associates we ran major projects across all corners of the UK. Some of them are listed in this report.

Given the scale of the climate emergency, our facilitation work in the last 24 months has primarily focused on climate change. However, this is not our only area of specialism. If you’d like a healthy dose of optimism, read on…

Download our 2022 Annual Review