lessons from the surf open forum programme edward harkins networking initiatives manager scottish...
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Lessons from the SURF Open Forum Programme
Edward HarkinsNetworking Initiatives ManagerScottish Urban Regeneration Forum
Sharing experience : shaping practice
Friday 2nd May 2008
Teacher Building, Glasgow
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
SURF Open Forums• An independent cross-sector forum facility
• Enduring success verified by evaluations in 2005 and 2008:
Growing numbers and range of participants
Increased range of topics covered
Participants’ ratings of usefulness and relevance
• A safe, neutral venue for informed debate
• A channel to inform policy through practice and experience
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Partnership Working• There is a deeply embedded and broad
consensus that partnership working is the way forward
• Less of a consensus about how good we are at working together and operating in partnership
• We all need to keep driving the partnership message
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Area vs General Approach• In 2001 the UK Government committed itself to ensuring that
no-one is seriously disadvantaged by their neighbourhood
• There may be a weakening of the consensus around the need to concentrate resources on the most disadvantaged areas
• A recent concern is the extent to which regeneration activity merely displaces, or excludes, the poor and disadvantaged
• This is as opposed to making the lives of disadvantaged residents measurably better in sustainable ways
• This challenge should be at the centre of thinking
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Making an Impact• Many regeneration practitioners struggle to make an impact
on policy and other decision makers
• Those who believe they may be making an impact find it impossible to find out or measure
• Community and Voluntary Organisations need to become more skilled and knowledgeable in presenting ‘their case’
• Campaigning and lobbying may not be enough
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Reaching the Unengaged• There are many examples of excellent practice in
regeneration
• The imperative is for dissemination and encouragement of take-up of this practice• A significant other lesson is that the ‘unengaged’ are often senior decision makers who ‘just do not come to the (Community Planning) table’
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Cross-Sector Engagement• Cross sector engagement between the public sector and the
private sector can be improved
• The public sector and the private sector are well experienced and competent in engaging within their sectors
• They are less good at engaging across the sectors
• The public sector must clearly articulate what it wants from engagement and speak with a consistent voice
• In return, it can be difficult for the public sector to engage the private in activities which lack immediate tender prospects
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Long-Term Value• Regeneration is essential to securing long-term and
sustainable value for public investment
• As a cross-sector, holistic and sustainable approach, regeneration offers the best prospect of securing maximum return from huge public investment
• An un-integrated focus on single components of Scottish social, cultural and economic life will almost certainly fail to secure such value
• Evaluation is being increasingly practiced, but what for?
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Trust and Transparency• Supporting the idea of trust among partners has been treated
a bit like ‘apple pie and motherhood’
• ‘Trust’ is in fact a critical and concrete driver in the effectiveness of regeneration partnerships
• The extent to which trust is important, and the extent to which lack of trust is damaging, is becoming more apparent
• Work by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2007 identified the criticality of trust.
• The issue can be easily extended across social & economic life
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Need for Longer Timescales• There is a need for longer timescales and deeper local
presence by government agencies
• Community regeneration needs to emerge alongside community development, both need resources & perseverance
• Strong support for ‘good old basic community development’ with skilled workers attached to community organisations
• The changing role of elected councillors is a potentially promising area of civic renewal
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Where are we on Engagement?
• Community organisations are still viewed as troublesome by some, which can lead to their being sidelined and excluded
• Well-established community level organisations can provide a rich source of ‘expert’ local knowledge and experience
• They provide platforms for individuals to grow in confidence
• Community organisations have been accused of unequal representation – but against a background of struggling for existence
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
What about Empowerment?• Almost all public sector interface with communities tends to
lie at the information giving or consultation level
• A debate continues around whether communities want full empowerment or just better services (verifiable evidence?)
• Recent CoSLA/Scottish Government statement on community empowerment emphasises centrality of local councillor
• Is empowerment only about public services and only about local public services?
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Sharing experience : shaping practice
Other Learning Areas (1)• Green issues
• Design of the built environment
• The role of arts and culture in regeneration
• Third Sector organisations and public service delivery
• Social Enterprises, Development Trusts, Community Interest Companies
• New funding mechanisms and streams
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Other Learning Areas (2)• Greater and better use of the social housing sector for wider
regeneration
• Lifelong learning
• Economic development or regeneration, versus community regeneration
• Government agency and regeneration funding changes
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www.scotregen.co.uk(previous Open Forum Outcomes Papers are
available in ‘Knowledge Centre’ section)
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0141 585 6850 (Wed-Fri)
Sharing experience : shaping practice
SURF Website