Right to be heard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right to be heard (R2BH) is a community-owned organisation that exists to forge alliances between community-based initiatives in order to achieve social justice, through participatory action research, advocacy coalitions and collective direct action. Its members’ first came together to allow participants from processes of participatory democracy– particularly those from communities that have undergone marginalization - to help lead a dynamic organisation. It has already begun to provide opportunities for participants in processes such as citizens’ juries, to work on an equal footing with facilitators of these initiatives in the formation of the new group. R2BH is now working to ensure that it can have the stability and continuity necessary for its work to make a major impact on achieving social justice.

R2BH members have two priorities:

a. To foster alternative principles of participation (often called “public engagement”) from those that currently dominate. Good working practices are showcased and, if necessary, mobilised to convince policy-makers of their value. b. Many participatory process are excellent at consulting the public on specific issues. Seldom, however, does “participation” lead to people-led change. R2BH works to effect change in specific policies already highlighted by individuals involved in participatory processes who have deliberated on issues such as racial discrimination, divisive regeneration schemes, vulnerability to crime and criminalisation, climate change and the direction of new technologies.

Background

Decision-makers – in the private and public sector, as well as most NGOs - are often out of touch with the perspectives of marginalised communities. R2BH is one of the few organisations that allow genuinely participatory initiatives to be planned, delivered and evaluated on terms jointly determined by professional and non-professional participation practitioners. Reports from bodies such as the Power Inquiry, have pointed to the increasing alienation between people and power. A key objective of R2BH would be to bridge this gap via people-led initiatives that would allow the issues of the people who were most alienated to be prioritised.

Participants in citizens’ juries and similar participatory processes, in conjunction with their facilitators, have made important contributions to promoting grassroots democracy in recent years. R2BH provides a unique opportunity to:

1. Influence policy via processes that are people-led, being inclusive of both diverse participants and facilitators;

2. Prioritise people, issues and perspectives typically excluded from conventional consultations, including people from diverse ethnic groups, people with disabilities/impairments, young people, the over 50s, gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people, the homeless and those with below average incomes.

3. Form close working partnerships with other organisations to improve the capacity of our elected representatives, policy-makers and the media to engage with participatory processes, particularly those that involve marginalised groups.

Open membership

People from a variety of participatory process have already come forward as founding members of R2BH. These include people involved in:

a. Tyneside "Do-it-yourself" jury – Twenty five community members from different age groups drew up an agenda to shake up the way the over 50s are treated by the health and social services, particularly relating to the balance between introducing new technologies and improving social care.

b. Blackburn and Darwen jury – Twenty people from diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds came together and prioritised illegal drugs, alcohol and crime as major problems in the area. Jurors overcame many tensions to make a series of recommendations to raise the profile of these issues in their community and beyond.

c. West Yorkshire jury – Twenty-two people from Calderdale, many from British-Pakistani areas and from wards showing significant support for far-right parties, came together as a jury to discuss two issues: one national/international one prescribed by the funding consortium - nanotechnology , and another a local one chosen by the jurors – youth exclusion and policing.

d. Reading jury – the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme funded a jury of twenty five people (a third of whom were under 19 years old and five of whom had disabilities/impairments) drawn from the less prosperous parts of Reading, Berkshire. At the suggestion of the BBC they engaged with the theme of ‘respect’. Issues raised included inter-racial and multi-faith issues, social exclusion, youth gangs, violence against women, local homelessness and international warfare. Uniquely, extracts from the evidence they received, their deliberations, recommendations, first-hand accounts, their interrogation of their council leader and meeting with Home Office minister, Hazel Blears MP, were broadcast or webcast on Today (See link above).

e. GM Jury - Twenty people from two locations – Gateshead, Tyne and Wear and St Albans, Hertfordshire, came together to discuss the potential planting of GM crops in the UK.

f. European Citizens Panel –the UK’s contribution to this international collaboration. It involves using a deliberative participatory process in the North-East of England and Cumbria, which forms part of a ten country exercise in European participatory democracy.

This initial core membership of R2BH consists of around fifty members from the UK who are keen to work in solidarity with each other and others marginalised from power. However, it is actively seeking to include people involved in processes of participatory democracy from locations as diverse as Andhra Pradesh (India), Ceara (Brazil), Zimbabwe and Mali.

Work programme

R2BH’s three immediate priorities are : 1. Two-way capacity building - R2BH is establishing a programme to build the capacity for improved dialogue on deliberative and participatory processes among elected representatives and senior government executives. Working in partnership with other organisations, R2BH is organising opportunities for workshops that allow a genuinely two-way engagement. In contrast to power-point presentations by consultants, these workshops allow members to discuss with decision-makers the practical implications of good practice in citizen deliberation and participation on an equal footing. 2. Activism/lobbying for government action - R2BH is currently working on ways of ensuring decision-makers follow through their existing commitments to act on the results of specific public. 3. Creating a bottom-up planning process for R2BH’s future work - R2BH members have varied life experiences and capacities. Nurturing strong yet non-hierarchical working relationships between such diverse people and communities require time, particularly because our contact with each other is necessarily be intermittent.

With our full commitment to equal opportunities, R2BH makes regular use of internet, text-messaging and teleconferencing to minimise costs, and to ensure that members can participate fully in decision-making processes whatever their disability, access to transport, or family/carer commitments. R2BH also employs community-based interpreters where necessary.