At a a recent learning event, Sandra Ross from the Community Learning and Development spoke about her experiences in Aberdeenshire Council working through participatory budgeting and mini publics to address issues around free schools meals.

Dialogue and deliberation were key parts of these processes, with three mini publics being run in the Aberdeenshire area.

Participants were paid £50 day and session were designed to ensure people could attend from a range of backgrounds / needs.

The event in Fraserburgh focused on child poverty - a big issue in the local community, where 12 people were asked too contribute their views. Through this process participants developed ideas around the the issue of school meals and food poverty.

Through contributions from speakers and deliberative discussion, it emerged that some children might go home Friday and not get a full meal until the following Monday. One change that came from the mini public process was having schoolsmeals available earlier in the day, so young people didn’t have to wait until lunchtime, as well as developing breakfast clubs with local businesses.

The key learning from Sandra was…