Our latest thoughts & news

Our staff and members contribute to the growing discussion on modernising democracy. Discover some of our recent contributions here.

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Lessons from the first Citizens' Assembly in Newham

Facilitating the first stage of what will become a permanent citizens’ assembly in the London Borough of Newham.

Change of role for Anthony Zacharzewski

After 8 years as Director-General, Demsoc's founder announced today that he would be handing over organizational and delivery responsibilities to a new Director-General, to focus on his work as President.

End of the Conference on the Future of Europe, beginning of a Europe for all?

As official evaluator of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Demsoc asked Ward Den Dooven, project Officer at Demsoc and Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute to share his views on the process.

Shaped by People – making active citizenship a shared strategic priority in Kirklees

Local democracy isn’t just about formal institutions; it’s about people’s ability to change things where they live. So Kirklees Council decided to make this ambition one of their shared strategic priorities, in partnership with local people and organisations. We sat down for a conversation with Diane Sims, Engagement and Communications Lead for Democracy and Place Based Working at Kirklees Council, to talk about how they’ve made this a reality, and what they’ve learnt along the way.

Centring Lived Experience - Theory & Practice

How do organisations centre voices on the receiving end of injustice and inequality? How does it feel to put theory into practice in this work, and what does that tell us about how new ways of governance and organising need to work to do good?

Power at Work: Transparency

Power at Work: Unlearning

In this third part in the Power at Work blog series we look at the process of permissioning and unlearning that helps people see and use the power they already have.

Loving Life in Musselburgh: Community led initiative to improve health and wellbeing

Read this if you are interested in… Using a whole systems approach to tackle health and social issues such as obesity in your local area? What a whole systems approach really means! Using participatory and co-design methods to give citizens power to change what happens on their doorstep? Using online tools to make it easy for people to get involved in local decision making and mapping out their priorities.

Power at Work: Accountability, Honesty & Challenge