Engaging for the Long Term:

–Successful Strategies and Examples

Edward Andersson

Deputy Director Involve

IIEP International Joint Workshop, Helsinki Nov 2011

• Find a card that represents an insight or a learning you’ve had so far.

• Share it with someone you don’t know

• Discuss for 2 minutes each

Involve • London based NGO

• Specialises in Public Engagement

• Three programmes:

– Research,

– Practice,

– International

“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.

In practice there is.”

Yogi Berra

What we’re doing

• Reflections on impacts of:

– Migration

– Democracy

– Technology

• Practical examples of good participation

• Encouraging long term participation

• And lots of participation...

Migration

“We asked for workers. We got people instead.”

Max Frisch

UK population 2002

‘White’ 92.1%

7.9%

‘Black & Minority Ethnic’

‘Foreign Born population’

8.3%

130

Languages spoken in London Borough of Lambeth

English as 1st language in school

Tower Hamlets 24.1%

93.0%

Havering

Annual population turnover in 9 London Boroughs

10%

This means that the equivalent of half the current population has moved in and out in the last five years

Income Poverty Rates 2007

Bangladeshis

65%

Indians

White British

25%

20%

British Chinese are...

More likely than ‘average Britons’ to:

• gain five or more A*-C GCSE grades

• complete school

• possess a university degree

• have a job in the ‘professions’

British Chinese are also...

• Group with highest proportion with no qualifications (20%)

• Twice as likely to be unemployed (10%) compared to white Britons (5%).

• Highest rate of working-age economic inactivity of all males at 37%, twice the rate for white British men.

• Around 30 percent of British Chinese are not on the electoral register, compared to 6% of whites and 17% for all ethnic minorities.

Impacts of Migration

• Constantly moving target

• Death of one size fits all

• Enhanced need for segmentation

"Few of their Children in the Country learn English (…) The Signs in our Streets have Inscriptions in both Languages (…) I suppose in a few Years (Interpreters) will also be necessary in the Assembly (…) they will soon so outnumber us, that all the advantages we have, will not in my Opinion be able to preserve our Language, and even our Government will become precarious."

Benjamin Franklin,

1753

Democracy

Number of democracies

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Free

Free

Enthusiasm

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009

Turnout in European Parliament Elections

Trust

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

1983 1993 1997 2003 2007 2011

Politicans

UK political parties

0

500 000

1 000 000

1 500 000

2 000 000

2 500 000

3 000 000

3 500 000

1951 1965 1975 1984 1993 2000 2008

Conservative Labour

Impacts on democracy

• Structures out of date

• Mismatch demand/supply

• Public expectations different

• Legitimacy harder to acquire

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

Robert M. Hutchins

Technology

“Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003”

Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Sending message across Atlantic

Year Time taken

1812 3 weeks

1865 11 days

1866 1 minute

Today 0.1 second

Cost to reproduce a book

Year Means Cost

1011 Scribe

~ $17,000

1511 Printing press

~$57

2011 Electronic copy

~$0.01

“The world is poised on the cusp of an economic and cultural shift as dramatic as that of the Industrial Revolution.”

Steven Levy

“The Internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity.”

Clifford Stoll

Impacts of technology

• Loss of control

• Risk of being swamped

• Business models challenged

Your turn!

What will we need to do differently?

Due to:

1. Migration

2. Democracy

3. Technology

Work at flipcharts

Twitter Questions

• Use the twitter hashtag to ask questions

• If you’re not on twitter you can still take part!

What works?

Principles for online engagement http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/armchair_no_comment/principles.html

1. Technology alone is not the answer

2. Understand your participants first

3. If you build it, they might not come!

4. Look beyond your sector for inspiration

5. Evaluate and share your learning

Understanding Engagement: Making it all add up

Outcome

What

Process /

Structure

How

People

Who

Context

Where Purpose

Why

Process/

Structure

How

Three basic recruitment choices:

• Open access process

• Selective process -Interest based

• Selective process –Demographically based

Whom to involve

Spectrum of engagement

Collaborate

Co-Producing

Consulting

Informing Pow

er/I

nfl

uen

ce

of

par

tici

pan

ts

Informing

Tool Web link

Blog http://wordpress.org/

Micro blogging (twitter)

http://twitter.com/

RSS http://www.whatisrss.com/

Podcasts http://gpodder.org/

Phone app http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/phone_applications.html

AlphaGov

Looking Local

Consulting Tool Web link

Text messaging

http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/text_messaging.html

Social Networking

www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/armchair_no_comment/social_networking.html www.facebook.com

Surveys and quizzes www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/online_surveys_and_quizzes.html www.surveymonkey.com

Phone apps www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/phone_applications.html

Fixmystreet

Collaboration

Armchair Involvement Master Class

Tool Web link

Online collaborative spaces

http://www.huddle.net/

Mash-ups http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/mash-ups.html

User generated online content

http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/user_generated_online_content.html

Wiki http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/mash-ups.html

Long term...

What good is excellent data on your residents if they hate you?

Pic

ture

CC

: xa

nd

ert

Radical engagement:

Structures

->

Relationships

What works? • Map community members and Personalise

invitation

• Allow people to make small commitments to begin with

• Confront stereotypes of civic activism (“NIMBY”, “Usual Suspect”)

• Provide immediate follow up actions for people to take

http://pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk/

The factors that shape

participation

Individual motivations

and resources

Relationships and

social networks

Groups and

organisations

Local environment and

place

Wider societal and

global influences

Why participation starts

An emotional reaction

A personal life event

An external influence

Practical resources

Learnt resources

Felt resources

Groups and organisations

Local environment and place

Helping others

Developing relationships

Exercising values & beliefs

Having influence

For personal benefit

Being part of something

Why participation

continues or stops

Friendships

Life event

Relationships

Time Health

Enjoyment

Impact

Energy

Visual

Auditory

Kinaesthetic

Senses

Only ask:

• If you want to know the answer

• About things that people know something about

Imag

e: la

ugh

lin (C

reat

ive

Co

mm

on

s)

Questions & Answers

"The greatest thing about the internet is that you can quote something and just totally make up the source."

Benjamin Franklin

Sticky dot voting

• What is the biggest barrier to successful Immigrant Inclusion through eParticipation?

• One vote per person...

involve Royal London House

22-25 Finsbury Square

London EC2A 1DX

t: +44 (0) 20 7 920 6472

e: edward@involve.org.uk