Conference
workshops

Building capacity for PB: what’s worked well and what support is needed

In this workshop you will hear from PB Scotland about the resources available from Scotland beyond to support good PB practice, and from PB Partners about the capacity building work they have been doing with national agencies and local authorities across the country. 

You will learn about the national PB Champion’s programme and hear direct from some of the champions about their experiences so far. You will have the chance to discuss what is working well, and what else might be needed to ensure we have the capacity and the skills we need to make sure PB in Scotland is properly democratic.

Building for Mainstreaming: hitting the 1%

CoSLA and Scottish Government have announced their joint commitment to make 1% of local authority budgets subject to PB by 2021, which will amount to over £100M. What are the implications of this for how we ‘do PB’ in Scotland? How do we move from small grants to mainstream, and can we do both? Hear from CoSLA about the new framework agreement, and from a local authority on their experiences of mainstreaming public budgets so far, to help prompt discussion on what mainstreaming means for public agencies, community organisations and citizens.

Building on the European experience: lessons from Paris and Portugal

In 2016 a group of practitioners from Glasgow and Fife, along with colleagues from What Works Scotland, visited Paris to find out how they manage the largest scale PB process in Europe. In this workshop you will find out what they learned and how it has helped their thinking about running big scale PB processes here in Scotland.  Participants will be invited to discuss what is working well for them, or what issues they are grappling with - sharing and learning from other’s experiences. Here you will also get a sneak preview of the Portugal experience, courtesy of Nelson Dias, our keynote speaker in the afternoon!

Building on Community Choices: learning lessons and joining the dots

Now in its second year, Community Choices funding totalling £4.7 million has supported public authorities and community organisations to help over 39,000 people have a say on spending in their local area. £1.5 million of this support has gone direct to community organisations to design and implement PB processes from the ground up. How can we continue to build citizen led processes in Scotland, and ensure PB is ‘not just about the money’! In this workshop you will hear from the Church of Scotland about their small grants model, and find out from Leith Links Community Council about how they have grown their capacity to deliver not only their own PB processes, but part of the local authority’s small grant process too!

Building for Digital: Demsoc

Digital tools and platforms can help you involve more and different people in your PB. But how? Unlock the mystery of digital engagement and involvement for PB with a guided tour of a model digital PB process in this workshop.

The Democratic Society (Demsoc) works for more and better democracy, where people and institutions have the desire, opportunity and confidence to participate together.

They work to create opportunities for people to become involved in the decisions that affect their lives and for them to have the skills to do this effectively.