Time to Build the Future

In the old South Wales Valleys there were two models of citizen engagement. a. A Lady Bountiful model of engagement b. A socialist model of engagement

Post War Public Services in the UK were modelled on a gift/Lady Bountiful model of service design and delivery, and a divide was drawn between service providers (professionals that know best) and service users (citizens in communities)

The ‘gift’ service provider model Community Government Professional Agency Person in Need Contribution via taxation Funding for services Assessment and support Consumer Client Customer Beneficiary Service User

The Old Conversation Service Provider In Control The Professionals know Best

“The Old Conversation” Service Provider in Control (one way conversation) Example: Environment (Gellideg Forest) Tenant (Service User) Discontent

Service Provider In Control Example: Housing and Regeneration Choice: Demolition or Renewal Not listening to the Voice of the Citizen

Decanted to the Projects: The Great new Housing Estates

Outcome: 10 years later

‘But Great News’ We have money to improve the physical infrastructure How much are you going to spend to improve the social infrastructure? ‘Nothing’

Is This Wise?

Millions of pounds later…

This model – the old conversation – is not sustainable

Choosing a Citizen Engagement Model for Building Social Capital in the 21 st Century

The new mutual conversation between service providers and citizens for rebuilding communities needs to be built by reintroducing a socialist model of engagement based on: a. Membership b. Mutuality c. Active Citizenship d. Knowledge is Power The New Conversation

Case Study Building Active Communities Through Membership and Mutuality They have pioneered a new relationship between themselves as a service provider, and citizens living in communities.

1. Membership People are invited by service providers to join in and take part in a new conversation on the basis that everyone has a contribution to make which is valuable to their community, irrespective of disability, gender, race or religion.

2. Mutuality: Thanking People for their Work For each hour a citizen gives to building civil society, they receive one time credit. Time credits are used to access social, educational and cultural events.

3. Active Citizenship

4.Knowledge is power Taking learning outside the classroom and into the community was a strong feature of a South Wales life long learning culture pre The old learning agencies (Institutes and Educational Settlement Trusts) understood the power of collective knowledge as a pre cursor for collective engagement.

Active Learning Studios In the same way that one thinks of a film studio as a place where you learn about film and produce film we should think of “high street” learning studios in the same way. Examples: Food Studio Sculpture Studio Hair Studio Making Learning Real: Devolving learning to a community level

Examples: Learning Studios provide opportunities for: a)Training b) Production c) = an active learning culture d) A ‘can-do’ culture

Sculpture Studio

Restoring Memory to a Landscape

Food Studio

Black River Arts Youth Project

Garw Valley Carnival & Rural Fair

What has Changed? 830 members 40 new groups Reduced anti-social behaviour Improved community cohesion BURA Award winner for 2009 – community inspired regeneration

Less exchanges in a community = Lack of trust Social isolation Lack of respect for others Higher crime rates… What have we learnt?

More exchanges in a community = Increased trust Strong social networks Greater respect for others Lower crime rates

Engaging the Many not the Few BURA Award winner for 2009 – community inspired regeneration Lee Gregory author of The Benefit of Time Banks for Local Economies (University of Cardiff, School for Social Sciences, 2009) concludes that ‘Wales already has a global model of best practice for regeneration tucked away in the Garw Valley’.

Raiders of The Lost Ark When the red Tories visited the valleys and studied the history of mutualism, they realised something we had forgotten - that the best of our past was based on collective action for the common good. In an American context Studs Terkal referred to this forgetfulness as the United States of Amnesia

Instead of suffering from collective amnesia on both sides of the Atlantic we need to wake up and reinvent the best of our collective past. “For us empowerment meant the use of collective action designed to transform social reality and so lift all of us together”