As set out in the White Paper, "Communities in Control, real people, real power", the Government wishes to generate a vibrant local democracy, giving real control over local decisions and services to wider pool of citizens. At the heart of this, we need to promote and help facilitate good empowerment practice within local government.
The department supports the promotion and delivery of community empowerment regionally. We are working through the Government Offices along with the National Empowerment Partnership, the Regional Empowerment Partnerships and a Network of 18 Empowering local authorities. An overview of these networks is given below.
This framework of support is key in overseeing and assisting local authorities' progress towards:
*85 LAAs have adopted the national indicator 4 as a priority for improvement in their local area with a further 14 choosing it as a local indicator.
National Empowerment Partnership: National statutory and community sector organisations and networks led by the Community Development Foundation and launched on 17 September 2008 to improve the quality, co-ordination and evidence of empowerment at local level across England. This includes support for local and regional empowerment activity. This will focus on peer learning, identifying and sharing best practice, networking activists and champions for mutual support, and promoting culture change in local authorities and other public bodies. Further information on the National Empowerment Partnership is available from the Community Development Foundation site (external link).
Regional Empowerment Partnerships: We are supporting Regional Empowerment Partnerships in each of the 9 English regions, to bring together all the main public and third sector bodies with a primary interest in empowerment to promote improvement in community engagement and empowerment practice.
Network of Empowering Authorities: 18 local authorities selected to showcase community empowerment through examples of excellent practice, promoting peer learning, and provide a mechanism for authorities to influence the national debate on ways to improve practice.
People and Participation.net site: The peopleandparticipation.net site (external link) provides an interactive tool to those who work to provide empowerment opportunities, both nationally and locally, to help them select appropriate participatory methods for their specific circumstances. The site contains a library of information and case studies, helping to promote the exchange of information on engagement activities. The site is funded by Communities and Local Government in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and the Sustainable Development Commission.
A variety of resources can be found at the Together We Can site (external link).
The Autumn 2008 Issue of WeCan! Newsletter includes an article on the Network of Empowering authorities.
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