Scoping the Region: North East Good Practice around National Indicator 4
Social Regeneration Consultants (SRC) was commissioned jointly by the North East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP) and the North East Neighbourhood Resource Centre to carry out a scoping study of community engagement and empowerment in the region.
The study involved a review of community engagement and empowerment activity in all 25 local authorities (including a more detailed consideration of 11), along with 48 partner agencies (from a range of sectors and programmes, including community and voluntary, health, police, housing, fire and rescue, neighbourhood management, new deal for communities and housing market renewal). The emphasis of the study was on the local authorities, although the sample of other sectors and service areas was important to provide contrast and comparability; a number of them are pursuing comprehensive and sophisticated programmes of engagement and empowerment which can usefully inform the approaches being taken by councils. It should be noted that several of the authorities consulted will not exist following local government re-organisation, nevertheless it was deemed vital to capture their experiences, lessons and good practice which could make an important contribution to further development of the empowerment and engagement agendas.
The main objectives of the study were to:
- identify what is happening in the region on community engagement and empowerment that can be shared and / or inform pilot projects to test out approaches
- highlight any potential for regional approaches to support and develop engagement and empowerment
- identify whether the delivery of National Indicator 4, to 'increase the percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their neighbourhood', can be improved
- finally, look at whether performance can be better measured.
Sharing the findings
A dissemination event was held at the Newcastle Assembly Rooms on 6th May 2009 where over 60 delegates from across the region had the chance to hear the findings of the research and help us to agree next the steps.
You can download the PowerPoint presentation given at the event here.