Self reliant groups from India to Scotland: lessons from south to north

There is a move towards partnership working across the global north and south but there remain questions about how to do it most effectively. This paper reports on the findings from a project that built a partnership between women in Scotland and India in order to transfer knowledge about Indian Self Help Groups. By creating peer to peer relationships that challenged traditional roles of 'teacher' and 'learner', the project was effective in transferring learning from south to north and generating meaningful outcomes for those involved. Despite the contextual differences, the successful transfer of key components of the model, savings, and loans, has led to a sense of empowerment in the Scottish women that is comparable to their Indian counterparts. As the project continues, it will be important that the dialogue between the partners continues, so there is ongoing learning as the Scottish groups expand and develop

Investigating the contribution of community empowerment policies to successful co-production: evidence from Scotland

Although frequently perceived as a ‘woolly’ policy concept and a means to reduce public service delivery costs, co-production can lead to increased quality and efficiency of services. In this paper, we explore the contribution of a community empowerment policy to co-production processes. Analysing empirical findings from a mixed-method, longitudinal study through the lens of Myers et al.’s (2017) Theory of Change, the paper develops a model of a successful co-production process. We show that changes in working practices and shifts in power can create friction between co-producing actors. By critiquing specific policies, we inform future co-production research, policy, and practice

The new merger: combining third sector and market-based approaches to tackling inequalities

In this paper we discuss the challenge posed by growing inequalities, specifically health inequalities, which have grown increasingly wider in recent decades. Rather than arguing for a wholesale return to state intervention to curb the worst excesses of the market, we put forward a less obvious potential solution, arguing for a greater role - and greater recognition - for the 'social economy': the part of the third or non-profit sector concerned with trading in the market rather than relying upon public funds or charitable donations to stay in business. We present three examples of such organisations, drawn from the UK, and discuss how doing business in such a way presents obvious benefits for, but challenges to, existing thinking, particularly in relation to how 'success' should be measured

Participation Requests : Evaluation of Part 3 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

This report presents findings from an evaluation of Part 3 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (the Act). Implemented on 1 April 2017, Part 3 of the Act introduced participation requests, offering an opportunity for increased community engagement between community participation bodies and public service authorities. The Scottish Government is statutorily required to evaluate Part 3 of the Act within three years of its enactment and to report on how participation requests are being implemented by public service authorities, utilised by communities, and what impact they have on community empowerment and reduction of inequalities of outcome. The evaluation should also consider the need for an appeals mechanism. As part of the Scottish Government's commitment to review participation requests, a team at Glasgow Caledonian University was commissioned to undertake research to document and evaluate the processes and outcomes related to participation requests, with a particular focus on how Part 3 of the Act addresses (or reproduces) social and economic inequalities

Participation Requests:A democratic innovation to unlock the door of public services?

Democracies are under pressure and public administrations must evolve to accommodate new forms of public participation. Participation processes may reproduce or disrupt existing power inequalities. Through a multi-method empirical study of "Participation Requests," a new legislative policy tool to open up public services in Scotland, this article addresses an empirical gap on governance-driven democratic innovations (DIs). We use Young's distinction of external and internal inclusion and find Participation Requests replicate the pitfalls of traditional forms of associative democracy. We contend that DIs should be co-produced between institutions and communities to bring a participatory and deliberative corrective to temper bureaucratic logics

Levelling up : a serious attempt to reduce regional inequalities in health?

The Levelling Up white paper,[1] released in February after significant delay, outlines the UK government's much anticipated strategy for tackling regional inequality. The centrepiece of the Conservative's reform agenda, 'levelling up' is presented as a solution to the UK's long-standing, stark geographical inequalities (e.g. see Box 1). Although 'levelling up' is already permeating political and media discourse,[2] the white paper is the first UK government attempt to translate this broad idea into specific policy commitments to address place-based inequalities ('white papers' are government documents that set out proposals for future legislation). It has already been criticised for failing to provide any additional resources, in the context of a cost of living crisis,[3] and for not acknowledging that the Conservative Party has been in power, at UK level, 'for 30 of the last 43 years and is [therefore] responsible for much of the damage' described.[4] Nonetheless, it has been cautiously welcomed by combined authorities in the north of England[5] and some think tanks.[6,7] Here, we present an analysis of: (i) potential opportunities for tackling geographical health inequalities; (ii) tensions and concerns that may inhibit effective policy action; and (iii) blind spots and omissions. We conclude by arguing for a far bolder policy response to the UK’s health inequalities

Co-producing policy relevant research

Co-produced research between policy and academia is of increasing importance, both to ensure meaningful impact and to bridge the perceived gap between academic and policy contexts. Embedding researchers within organisations has been one way to address these challenges as well as develop shared agendas and overcome barriers to using research in policy and practice. This chapter provides an example of developing co-produced research through the use of embedded researchers within a large, multi-disciplinary programme. It offers insight into the motivations and expectations of policy and academic partners' involvement and describes some of the practicalities of establishing and managing these roles. A selection of top tips are included for those who are interested in taking this approach to co-produced research

Social innovation: worklessness, welfare and well-being

The UK Government has recently implemented large-scale public-sector funding cuts and substantial welfare reform. Groups within civil society are being encouraged to fill gaps in service provision, and ‘social innovation’ has been championed as a means of addressing social exclusion, such as that caused by worklessness, a major impediment to citizens being able to access money, power and resources, which are key social determinants of health. The aim of this article is to make the case for innovative ‘upstream’ approaches to addressing health inequalities, and we discuss three prominent social innovations gaining traction: microcredit for enterprise; social enterprise in the form of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs); and Self Reliant Groups (SRGs). We find that while certain social innovations may have the potential to address health inequalities, large-scale research programmes that will yield the quality and range of empirical evidence to demonstrate impact, and, in particular, an understanding of the causal pathways and mechanisms of action, simply do not yet exist

Operationalizing inclusive growth : can malleable ideas survive metricized governance?

Advocates of inclusive growth claim it provides policymakers with a means of combining economic success with social inclusivity, making it highly attractive across a wide range of settings. Here, we explore how three UK policy organizations (a devolved national government, a city region combined authority, and a local council) are pursuing inclusive growth goals. Drawing on 51 semistructured interviews, documentary analysis and policy ethnography, we argue that inclusive growth is a classic "chameleonic idea," strategically imbued with malleable qualities that serve to obscure substantive, unresolved tensions. These characteristics are helpful in achieving alliances, both within policy organizations and between these organizations and their multiple stakeholders. However, these same qualities make inclusive growth challenging to operationalize, especially in governance settings dominated by metrics. The process of representing a malleable idea via a set of metricized indicators involves simplification and stabilization, both of which risk disrupting the fragile coalitions that malleability enables