Governments, in order to foster genuine capacity development and wealth generation at the local level, and to ensure their ‘legislative legitimacy’ in the eyes of their citizens and the wider world, need to openly respond and support the needs of the whole population they serve. Citizens need to believe that they themselves can influence local decisions. Burgeoning national schemes led by governments of every hue and backed by multilateral donors and other trans-national agencies, are seeking to facilitate greater civic participation and political involvement at the local level. This is at the heart of programmes and projects focused on community driven development.
The UK Government’s recent White Paper ‘Communities in control: real people, real power’ seeks to:
‘Give real control over local decisions and services to a wider pool of active citizens… to shift power, influence and responsibility away from existing centres of power into the hands of communities and individual citizens. This is because we believe that they can take difficult decisions and solve complex problems for themselves. The state’s role should be to set national priorities and minimum standards, while providing support and a fair distribution of resources’. RIPA International’s benchmarking study workshop aims to support trans-national initiatives in community engagement and empowerment.
Through a highly practical, network-focused event that will offer both key insights into contemporary initiatives here in the UK, together with facilitative development planning for representatives of local authorities and organisations, participants will be supported in seeking to develop greater civic participation and community empowerment within their own region or municipality.