We are dedicated to the support of democratic institutions and processes, bringing considerable experience in political party and civic development. We can provide the technical assistance that nascent political parties and civil society organisations need to ensure their sustainability.

Below is a list of projects we have worked on in this area. They are presented in more detail further down the page.

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust: election support
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
Communication Workers’ Union (CWU): opinion polling
Croydon Council: neighbourhood partnerships
North Cumbria Mental Health Trust: governor training
Cumbria Primary Care Trust :
GMB: GMB listens campaign
Kirklees Primary Care Trust :
Lewisham Council: young citizens’ panel
Lewisham Council: young mayor
Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: public perceptions
Middlesborough Council: young mayor
New Cross Gate NDC: increasing participation
Newham Council: community forum development
Northumbria Healthecare NHS Trust: governor training
North Yorkshire County Council: democracy wall
Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
Royal Berkshire Hospitals NHS Trust: election support
Sheffield Primary Care Trust :
Shoreditch Trust NDC: young director elections
South Kilburn NDC: youth board
Wakefield Council: democracy wall
Wakefield Council: fastforward

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
In conjunction with the NHS University’s patient and community engagement (PACE) team, we delivered bespoke training for governors of Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The session enabled them to bond as a group; to set themselves clear objectives, both as individuals and as a team; to explore ways in which they wanted to take their work forward and engage meaningfully with the membership that elected them; and to educate trust staff about how they could support governors in carrying out their roles.

Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust: election support
We are working with the trust to ensure that it identifies candidates for its governor elections. We then support the candidates during the election process, which we ensure is publicised widely.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
We delivered two training sessions for governors of Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The sessions enabled them to bond as a group; to set themselves clear objectives, both as individuals and as a team; to explore ways in which they wanted to take their work forward and engage meaningfully with the membership that elected them; and to educate trust staff about how they could support governors in carrying out their roles.

Communication Workers’ Union (CWU): opinion polling
We have carried out opinion polling on industrial issues amongst members of the CWU.

Croydon Council: neighbourhood partnerships
We conducted an intensive round of consultation with the borough’s ten neighbourhood partnerships about the level and nature of service provision from the council and the vision for the local strategic partnership. We devised a rapid feedback system that succeeded in reassuring the partnerships that their views were being taken seriously by the council.

GMB: GMB listens campaign
In 2005, we designed and delivered a major campaign for the GMB’s London and Southern regions, which aimed to increase GMB members’ participation in the general election. We achieved this by giving members the means of communicating their concerns directly to their MPs in selected constituencies. This was a large scale exercise which required careful planning and coordination.

Lewisham Council: young citizens’ panel
We have worked with the London Borough of Lewisham to support its Young Citizens Panel of 300 11-18 year olds living or being educated in the borough. This involved consulting with young people at the onset to gauge support for a young person’s panel; recruiting members to the panel; maintaining the panel and communicating with panel members. We have also conducted quantitative research with panel members on behalf of Lewisham’s partner agencies (including the police and primary care trust).

Lewisham Council: young mayor
We worked with Lewisham to launch a Young Mayor scheme. This involved working with young people to create, design and implement the scheme, as a means of engaging them in democratic processes.

Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: public perceptions
We have conducted research on behalf of the Trust, to assess the attitudes of it public membership towards its democratic processes.

Middlesborough Council: young mayor
We first devised and implemented the idea of a directly-elected Young Mayor in Middlesborough in 2002. This scheme was subsequently shortlisted in the innovation category of the 2002 Local Government Chronicle best practice awards.

New Cross Gate NDC: increasing participation
We worked with New Cross NDC (New Deal for Communities) to increase public participation in their decision making process, with particular emphasis on reaching socially excluded groups.

Newham Council: community forum development
We have worked for Newham Council on a range of projects designed to improve the profile and effectiveness of the borough’s community forums. We have designed and executed engagement activities from street surveys to exercises in visioning. We have also worked with community forums to define and enhance their neighbourhood action plans.

Northumbria Healthecare NHS Trust: governor training
We have worked with the Trust to provide bespoke training for their governors, as well as delivering a session for their operational staff on what NHS Foundation Trust status will mean for the organisation. The session explored the different roles of members, governors and non-executive directors, and considered the motivations for and barriers to member participation. Participants were then able to put their learning into practice by communicating their knowledge to their staff teams.

North Cumbria Mental Health Trust: governor training
We are working with the trust on identifying public, service user and carer governor candidates for their forthcoming election; training these canddiates; and supporting their election and membership development in the first year.

North Yorkshire County Council: democracy wall
We worked with the council to engage young people across the county during Local Democracy Week. This included facilitating a series of outreach sessions to consider ways in which the council could better engage with them. Their ideas were written on 'bricks' which were later used to create our innovative Democracy Wall outside county hall.

Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: governor training
We delivered a bespoke training session for both existing and newly elected governors of Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The session enabled them to bond as a group; to set themselves objectives; to explore ways in which they wanted to take their work forward; and to educate Trust staff about how they could support governors in carrying out their roles.

Royal Berkshire Hospitals NHS Trust: election support
We have assisted the trust in identifying governor candidates, ensuring a successful by-election in one difficult-to-reach constituency, and raising election awareness amongst members.

Sheffield PCT – Achieving balanced health

“We worked with the PCT to undertake a programme of consultation with ‘seldom heard’ members of the public to support the PCT’s strategic consultation with the people of Sheffield on the future of health care services in the city. A key feature of our work was a ‘Deliberative Consultation’

Shoreditch Trust NDC: young director elections
We have worked with Shoreditch Trust NDC (New Deal for Communities) to assist in the running of the trust’s first directly elected youth representatives to the Shoreditch Trust board.

South Kilburn NDC: youth board
We have worked with South Kilburn NDC (New Deal for Communities) to promote and support the development of the youth board and other bodies that oversee budgets for improving young people’s lives locally. This included training and supporting members of a young person’s select committee.

Wakefield Council: democracy wall
During Local Democracy Week 2005, we used our innovative Democracy Wall to engage with young people in youth groups across Wakefield. Over 100 young people wrote on the wall to describe the one thing that council could do in the coming financial year to improve the quality of their lives.

Wakefield Council: fastforward
We helped Wakefield Council devise and implement their community strategy visioning exercise, and relaunched the community strategy as FastForward 2028. This process involved encouraging young people to film responses, and was praised by the Audit Commission.

Click here to read this case study.

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