Getting people to work together and actively engage in their locality is a critical part of participative democracy.

In the 90’s I was asked to focus on the town of Holmfirth in West Yorkshire to consider how individuals and local organisations could work together to service and support each other.

As the project developed I was interviewed by a local reporter.

I was asked what initiatives would we establish and what projects are likely to work. “We don’t know until we try. We’ll use action research, suck it and see.”

“So,” said the reporter, “it’s as if you’ll throw a series of custard pies and see which ones will stick?” .

I like the analogy.

That’s about it. Spending time on research is too slow, it’s best to dive in there, changing and adapting as you go along.

Footnote.

Background

Representative democracy is our current system but wherever possible we should be participative, helping people be active participants and not passive recipients of the decisions others make on their behalf.

Voting is necessary but what does it mean on a day to day basis? it might involve single issue campaigns, volunteering to serve, joining measures the council’s introduce to garner your opinion.

The council/local authority/corporation called Kirklees Metrolotian Council I worked for, in West Yorkshire, brought in great innovations.

As well as reaching out to engage we tried to support people to have the confidence and competencies to take their part.

That was over thirty years ago and such experiments are struggling as the government role is decimated.