Partners

SocLab Foundation, Białystok / Poland

Foundation SocLab is a team of sociologists, animators, facilitators, researchers, evaluators, trainers. It is an organisation involved in high quality non- formal education and trainings, cooperates with many stakeholders – public administration, educational institutions, schools, non-governmental organizations in the country. The Foundation’s mission is to increase the involvement of citizens in the public life, to support them to become aware and active citizens, especially in their local communities. The mission is implemented by activities related to science (dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences, doing social researches), participation (supporting processes of public consultations, encouraging various groups of residents to joint decision-making processes), design and implementation of social innovations with a particular emphasis on new technologies (transferring knowledge about new technologies, increasing the digital literacy of members of excluded groups in the society, creating new solutions for engaging people in policy making processes).

Since 2013 the Foundation has carried out projects in order to support social and civil activity of Poles and provide them with the knowledge and skills through trainings, counseling and social animation. The main part of the Foundation’s program are multifold activities in the field of civic participation, in particular dedicated to residents, community leaders, office workers, youth, NGO representatives, elderly people as well as groups at risk of social exclusion. The activities include, among others, trainings for different social groups, research activities, study visits, publishing educational publications, setting up and operating the web portal for the public consultations, organizing debates and conferences, conducting public consultations and participatory budget, dissemination activities.

Field of Dialogue Foundation, Warsaw / Poland

Fundacja Pole Dialogu (The Field of Dialogue Foundation) was established in 2011 to support the citizen participation in public life and to create tools to facilitate dialogue. It is formed by the group of sociologists, anthropologists, lawyers and activists who work together on conducting classes and training, carrying out social research, supporting dialogue and animating cooperation between institutions and citizens. Big part of the Field of Dialogue program are social innovations tools that allow to facilitate the dialogue on different topics on various scales, such as participatory games, citizens assemblies, national discussions. Nowadays a big part of its work is education processes, such as educational programs about local NGOs, climate change and animating school neighborhoods. More recently Field of Dialogue has been working on engaging the young people in the participatory processes using the PB. In 2019 it facilitated organizing “School PB” in eight schools in Warsaw and in 2018 it coordinated educational project “Education about PB in schools” which aimed at engaging youth in Warsaw’s districts PB. Each program resulted in a PB project coordinated by and for young people.

Shared Future CIC, Manchester / The UK

Shared Future CIC (SFCIC) is a flexible, innovative, values led and mission driven not-for-profit which seeks to provide opportunities for everyone to have their voice heard within the development of public policy. Citizen empowerment, effective public services and democratic accountability are central to our mission. SFCIC works to move those we engage with towards greater individual and collective authority and autonomy, by supporting their ability to act wisely, confidently and in community with others. We have 6 Directors and a pool of Associates based throughout the UK, whose skills and experience enable us to offer a wide range of services. Registered as a community interest company, alongside high quality deliberative inquiries and community-led research projects we believe we are the most experienced organisation in the field of Participatory Budgeting in the UK, with a track record going back 20 years. Part of that work has included maintaining the UKPBNetwork website.

Shared Future collaborates widely and undertakes projects around leadership development, community engagement, social enterprise and community-led design. We regularly advise and support community-based organisations looking to increase their reach and impact within marginalised communities and so give local citizens a voice. Our work on citizen participation is therefore wider than just Participatory Budgeting. Our clients include local authorities, housing providers, NHS commissioners and other statutory organisations. One example of our work was with the Scottish Government, which contributed to a massive growth in the number of Participatory Budgeting programmes operating in Scotland. We maintain strong academic contacts with organisations such as the Centre for the Study of Democracy, based at the University of Westminster. We have, for another example, supported the work of the international Participedia programme; an online knowledge base for Participatory Democracy worldwide.

Community Places, Belfast/the UK

Community Places is a not for profit voluntary organisation established in 1984. It works with disadvantaged community groups and individuals in relation to three key areas of expertise: spatial planning, community engagement and we support communities to participate in community planning (service planning). It works with groups across the region of Northen Ireland and supports their proactive participation in the planning, development and improvement of their communities (physical, social, cultural, environmental and spatial).

Our work is underpinned by our commitment to inclusion, targeting need, equality and equity. Community Places coordinate and manage a Participatory Budgeting Works Project www.participatorybudgetingworks.org to raise awareness of and create an enabling environment for PB an innovative democratic engagement tool. Community Places has long experience of designing and undertaking engagement processes; facilitating engagement and providing training and resources for community engagement. It has developed toolkits, learning manuals, skills frameworks and participatory card games to promote and support community engagement in place shaping processes and to share good practice.

Medialab Universidad de Granada, Granada / Spain

Medialab UGR – Laboratory for the Research of Culture and Digital Society is a lab created in 2015 within the Vice- Rectorate for Research and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Granada. Medialab is a meeting place for the analysis, research, and dissemination of the possibilities that digital technologies create in the culture and the society in general. It develops its activities in different University spaces around the city, as well as in other places that do not belong to the institution. This distributed concept mirrors the way the Lab develops projects in the internet and connects different nodes of knowledge. It maintains fluid relationships with other institutions at a local, regional and national level, for example, city hall, county council or regional government.

Medialab bases its activity on the following values: openness, active citizens, creativity, experimentation, flexibility, social innovation, knowledge transfer (quadruple helix model), entrepreneur attitude, and activism in favor of open knowledge and open internet. It is focused on three main themes: Digital Society, Digital Humanities, and Digital Science. Medialab has extensive experience in the development of digital social innovation projects and in connecting diverse stakeholders through citizen innovation and citizen engagement actions.In the field of citizen participation, Medialab has developed various projects within the University itself and with the public in collaboration with local and regional authorities. Among the various projects we highlight:

  • Facultad Cero, a participatory process to innovate in higher education (http://facultadcero.org/)
  • LabIN Granada (https://labingranada.org/), a digital platform for citizen participation and innovation in Granada.
  • Forum Albaicín and Sacromonte about Sustainable Tourism (https://labingranada.org/foroalbaicinsacromonte)
  • Laboratorio 717 – Laboratorio de Participacion e Innovación Democrática de Andalucía (Participation and Democratic Innovation Laboratory of Andalusia)
  • Cooperanda, a digital platform and a participatory process on international cooperation for the development in Andalusia