Archive for 2008
echo – a tool for public agencies
echo is a tool for public agencies to use to consider how open they are to community influence, in relation to their potential to respond to that influence. We have been talking to different agencies about it and it seems to make sense to them, so we are currently in the process of testing it out.
For a brief lowdown – download the 2-page summary and, if you want more information, you can download a copy of the original research report.
We recently ran a ‘rapid briefing’ session in the East Midlands where officers identified a variety of uses for echo:
- It is an easy toolkit, could be useful across the County to help consistency and to talk to the non-converted
- It could help with the Community Engagement Strategy development thought process
- It could provide us with a baseline of where we are – and an action plan
- It made me think differently – more deeply into what outcomes could be
- It turns the intangible into the tangible
- I can see how we could usefully apply this to help the organisation move forward in terms of equality and diversity
- There has to be recognition of good practice in the organisation, echo can help us to locate this and learn from it
- Within an LSP context it is important – funding reductions will make it hard for the LA to respond so we are going to have to work more in partnership
changes offers short (3 hour) sessions to introduce echo and facilitate discussion about how it might be useful to agencies and partnerships: contact us for fees and availability
DiCE: planning & evaluation framework
changes is pleased to introduce DiCE – download the 2-page summary here!
Researched for over 10 years, DiCE has been developed by community development specialists, to enable organisations to carry out effective community empowerment, putting the values and principles of community development into action.
DiCE can help you work with communities:
- Increasing skills, knowledge and confidence
- Promoting equality and inclusion
- Bringing people together around common issues and concerns
- Building positive relationships across communities and groups and enabling co-operative working
- Encouraging and enabling communities to influence decision making in public services
DiCE can be used for work which focuses on community wellbeing and community empowerment, at policy, programme or project level. It is appropriate to people who work in public and voluntary sectors, in roles such as: Community Engagement, Community Services, Neighbourhood Management…
changes offers 2-day training courses on DiCE – contact us for information
Voice (formerly the Axis of Influence)
We have changed the name! The axis for community networks – once called ‘axis of influence’ – is now called ‘voice’. The reason for the change is that we have developed a second axis – for public sector agencies – called ‘echo’. Voice and echo are BOTH axes of influence so we wanted to give them each their own unique name.
‘Voice’ is a tool which helps community groups and networks to assess and improve the influence they have on agencies and partnerships. The ‘axis’ in ‘voice’ plots existing capacity to influence against how influential the group feels. It can be used to: assess and monitor community influence, prompt discussion and debate within groups and help plan how to become more influential.
“If this was America you’d be paying a fortune for the information and know-how that’s contained here. This model is indispensable for any organisation serious about making an impact” – comment from recent ‘Voice’ facilitator training
changes has developed a Resource Pack to help people to make the best use of voice.
- Part 1 – handy guide is available to download here
- For information about the other sections of the Resource Pack, click to check out the ‘introduction and overview’
voice in print
In its former guise as ‘the axis of influence’, articles about voice have been published in the Community Development Journal and NCVO newsletter.
Contact us to talk to us about commissioning a course for people in your area who work with community groups and networks to learn more about ‘voice’ and how to use it.
Learning, Support & Development
This briefing paper summarises the Women Take Part (WTP) findings in relation to the learning, support and development opportunities available to women
Women's Journeys
This Briefing Paper summarises the WTP findings in relation to a model of women’s journeys to being active, critical citizens
Organisations and Structures
This Briefing Paper summarises the WTP findings in relation to organisations supporting women’s involvement in public life and presents a typology or continuum of organisational steps
Closing the Gap
This Briefing Paper brings together the two models developed in the research to form a framework which illustrates the relationship between women’s development and organisational change (see papers below)
echo – how open to influence are public agencies?
changes recently undertook a piece of research to explore and develop a framework for public agencies to use to consider how open they are to community influence. We have called the framework ‘echo’ to reflect its relationship to our other Axis of Influence: Voice.
echo recognises the restrictions that may be in place for these agencies and so includes an aspect which considers their ‘potential to respond’. Our experience suggests there is huge interest in this and you can download a copy of the research report here.
We recently ran a ‘rapid briefing’ session in the East Midlands where officers identified a variety of uses for echo:
- It is an easy toolkit, could be useful across the County to help consistency and to talk to the non-converted
- It could help with the Community Engagement Strategy development thought process
- It could provide us with a baseline of where we are – and an action plan
- It made me think differently – more deeply into what outcomes could be
- It turns the intangible into the tangible
- I can see how we could usefully apply this to help the organisation move forward in terms of equality and diversity
- There has to be recognition of good practice in the organisation, echo can help us to locate this and learn from it
- Within an LSP context it is important – funding reductions will make it hard for the LA to respond so we are going to have to work more in partnership
changes offers short (3 hour) sessions to introduce echo and facilitate discussion about how it might be useful to agencies and partnerships: contact us for fees and availability
What is Community Empowerment?
In 1996, the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) was contracted by the Department of Health and Social Services (Northern Ireland) to develop a system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of community development practices and principles. This research and subsequent workshops in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and England resulted in a the ABCD (Achieving Better Community Development) framework for practitioners, designed to measure change in: people, the community, local services and policy. It offered measures of change for each of the ‘building blocks of community development’ identified by the research. These building blocks included ‘dimensions of community empowerment’ which have subsequently developed, through practice and application, into the five dimensions specified here.
Further research undertaken by changes as part of the National Empowerment Partnership programme of activity (2008) led to the development of an 8-page handy guide called What is community empowerment, produced jointly with the Community Development Exchange and written specifically for Local Authority Officers.
The guide uses the 5 Community Empowerment Dimensions featured in the DiCE (planning & evaluation) framework to offer and interpretation of community empowerment which is about putting the values of community development into practice.
If you like the guide, you might also be interested in the full DiCE framework, download our news sheet with more information or – contact us for details.
Site search
Blog archive by category
Blog archive by month
- March 2022
- September 2016
- March 2015
- November 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- April 2014
- November 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- December 2011
- August 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- January 2011
- September 2010
- June 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- August 2009
- June 2009
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- April 2008
- July 2007
- November 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- April 2006