Our staff and members contribute to the growing discussion on modernising democracy. Discover some of our recent contributions here.
Maintaining food, protection, homes for wildlife, and improved air quality is our gift to future generations. These acts of preservation are apt metaphors when thinking about the impact our actions have on the climate around us.
Deliberative approaches can enable participants to go deeper in considering choices than using proposal submissions, idea generation or voting alone. They bring together a diverse group of people to learn about an issue, share and hear different perspectives, discuss options, consider trade-offs, and ultimately reach informed and considered decisions about priorities for spending. They bring additional benefits by building community knowledge, confidence and connection to decision-making. This guide is aimed at people involved in the design and delivery of participatory budgeting processes in Scotland, though its content is relevant for people working anywhere. It is intended to be multi-scale - you could be working for a local authority to mainstream PB or supporting a community group in Scotland with small grants. Whatever your context, we hope that it will provide inspiration on what’s possible.
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Join us for Scotland's Open Government idea generation public workshops (5 topics around climate, data & digital, financial transparency, democracy & participation and health & social care), which will be fed into Scotland’s Open Government National Action Plan. These will be held at the end of July 2021. Application form: https://bit.ly/3hscXAi
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Read our report findings from the Scotland Democracy Lab event held on 30th April around trust in government throughout the pandemic and the role of the media.
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We spoke to Donna Anderson, Participation and Democracy Officer and Youth Work Lead for North Ayrshire Council about the youth-led PB processes happening in North Ayrshire.
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How are public libraries and their communities solving big challenges in Europe? #TheEuropeChallenge launched on 9th May 2021 at 14.30-15.30 CEST! During this live event we introduced the Europe Challenge, and discussed how this new initiative works towards big and small solutions to the most pressing issues of our times. What is the Europe Challenge? Watch a short animation to find out here: https://youtu.be/zynuru0-mKo
Read moreOn 30th April 2021 we ran an online workshop through Zoom about democracy in Scotland through the lens of present challenges including decision making throughout the pandemic. Although the workshop has now concluded there is a public online discussion space for you to contribute your ideas and thoughts to these topics: https://pace-democracy-lab-scotland.yrpri.org/community/3210
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