So Say Scotland ‘A Scotland where Everyone has A Say!’
So Say Scotland: In Short ......................................................................................................... 2 Our Vision is.......................................................................................................................... 2 Our initial Aims are ............................................................................................................... 2 Associates: ........................................................................................................................... 2 Guiding Principles: ................................................................................................................ 2 Working Practice: ................................................................................................................. 2 Work Plan October 2012 – October 2013 ...................................................................................3 Outline: .................................................................................................................................3 2) Resources for Developing the Network ..............................................................................3 7) Resources for Large Scale Citizens Assembly .....................................................................3 Current Core Team ................................................................................................................3 Current Advocates .................................................................................................................3 Current Expert Panel..............................................................................................................3 Large Scale Assembly: In Short................................................................................................. 4 Topic .................................................................................................................................... 4 Strategy................................................................................................................................ 4 Design .................................................................................................................................. 4 Delivery ................................................................................................................................ 4 Promote ............................................................................................................................... 4 What do we mean by ‘participative and deliberative’ democracy? .............................................5 In Short..................................................................................................................................5 Things Like ............................................................................................................................5 So Say History: In Short .............................................................................................................5
So Say Scotland: In Short! V1.1 Author Susan Pettie Agreed 25/10/2012 1/5
So Say Scotland: In Short Our Vision is
Scotland as ‘A Hub of Democratic Innovation’
A Scotland where distributing control, sharing responsibility & liberating potential is the norm, mobilising a culture of active, engaged, collaborative citizens. Mission: Support and promote participative and deliberative democracy throughout Scotland. Our initial Aims are 1) To gather together a network of people and organisations that believe in and practice participative and deliberative democracy throughout Scotland, including reaching out to the wider public. 2) To illustrate and demonstrate democratic innovation through a) Publishing ‘Notes on Process’ blog providing analysis of the tools and methods of participation and deliberation currently in use b) Holding ‘Large Scale Citizen Assemblies’ using innovative and robust methods including random sampling of participants and facilitation that focuses on the quality of dialogue, such as Visioning Forums and Citizen Juries. Associates: • Core Team: Sign up to the constitution of the unincorporated association and work to take this project from initiation to implementation. • Advocate: Individuals and organisation that provide resource support to the project. • Expert Panel: Provide expertise to the Core Team in their development of the network, blog and assemblies. • Network: Sign up to the vision/mission/aims of the project, spread the word, and spot potential connections. A pool to draw on for contributions to the blog and facilitators for the assemblies. • Constituents: Sign up to the open letter and the newsletter. Guiding Principles: Collaboration, Dialogue, Diversity, Working to Strengths, Consent Working Practice: Organic Growth, Solution Focused, Dispersed Leadership, Responsibility, Accountability, Acknowledgement So Say Scotland is a politically neutral, broad minded, nonprofit and currently voluntary project. So Say Scotland: In Short! V1.1 Author Susan Pettie Agreed 25/10/2012 2/5
Work Plan October 2012 – October 2013 Outline: 1) Gather more Core Team members, Advocates and Expert panel 2) Secure resources for developing the Network 3) Build and Publish Basic Website 4) Initiate and Manage Social Media including Facebook & twitter with editorial policy 5) Publish Note on Process Blog 6) Publish and Promote Open Letter: campaign to reach wider constituents 7) Secure resource for first Large Scale Citizens Assembly 8) Design, Deliver and Promote Large Scale Citizens Assembly 9) Disseminate findings from the Citizens Assembly 2) Resources for Developing the Network - Organisational: Coordination, Mailing List, Postage, Registration - Operational: Meeting Space & Refreshments, Travel expenses, Online Project Management, - Website: URL, Server Space, Design, Build, Security, Content - Promotion: Design, Print, PR 7) Resources for Large Scale Citizens Assembly - Design: Coordination, Meeting Space & Refreshments, Random Sampling Process, Facilitators Find & Train, - Delivery: Venue for 500+, Refreshments, Travel Expenses, Data Input, Computing Support, Enlivenment, - Promotion: Design, Print, PR Current Core Team Susan Pettie, Initiator. Stephen Elstub, Lecturer Politics. Oliver Escobar, PPN Coordinator. Olafur Breidfjord, Designer. Willie Fleming, Webtech. Paula Jezierska, PR/Comms. Ella Taylor‐ Smith, E Participation. Peter Cruickshank, Web Security. Mark Langdon, Resourcing. Rob Wherrett, Management Consultant. Current Advocates Public Policy Network (Edinburgh University): Meeting Space, refreshment & promotion. Electoral Reform Society Scotland: Willie Sullivan Future of Scotland: Francis Stuart Reid Foundation: Robin McAlpine, publishing Notes on Progress reports Current Expert Panel Perry Walker, NEF Fellow Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson, Anthill Iceland So Say Scotland: In Short! V1.1 Author Susan Pettie Agreed 25/10/2012 3/5
Large Scale Assembly: In Short Topic Through discussion, and informed by the experience in Iceland, a desire has been identified to have an initial assembly which considers the values of the people of Scotland and how those values are expressed in policy, a Visioning Forum. An Assembly of 500+ people for one day would be sufficient to illustrate and demonstrate this particular democratic innovation. – Our desire is also to hold a subsequent assembly to contribute to the national dialogue on the independence referendum, a Citizen Jury in 2014 ‐. Strategy It is essential that the process is held to exacting detail and that the resultant data is widely mobilised. It is believed that it is of best effect to bring together a broad range of collaborating Advocates, who share a common desire to see the assembly succeed, to achieve both the quality of process and dissemination of data. Design Drawing on the expertise of the Core Team, the Advocates and the Expert Panel to decide on the form and content of the day. Secure Coordination Staff. Mobilising the collaborating Advocates to carry out the time consuming and essential process of random sampling to secure participants. Find and train Facilitators. Design computing support. Delivery Mobilise the Core Team, the Advocates and the Expert Panel to oversee the day. Secure Event Management Staff. Secure venue, with av, and catering. Secure resource for travel expenses for participants. Secure computing support. Secure Data Entry staff. Secure Enlivenment activities. Secure PR for the event. Promote Immediate analysis and by the next morning dissemination of the data through the collaborating Advocates networks and routes to public. Mobilising the data to inform further discussion on the topic. Publish a ‘Notes on Process’ report covering the event. Focus on the immediate three‐month period post the day to embed the data and the report in the grassroots and the mainstream. Open source the process for other interested constituents to use. So Say Scotland: In Short! V1.1 Author Susan Pettie Agreed 25/10/2012 4/5
What do we mean by ‘participative and deliberative’ democracy? In Short Participative and deliberative democracy is a compliment to and an evolution of representative democracy: anywhere a citizen gets closer to the decision making process and does that in collaboration with others. Every process and tool has different elements of participation and deliberation, understanding this is also essential to effective use of the process and tools. Deliberation can be defined as ‘an exchange of reasons aimed at transforming the preference of others’. Things Like Open Space, World Café, Wisdom Councils, Referendums, Cooperatives/Employee Ownership, Community Land Buy Out, Citizen Assemblies/Juries/Panels & Deliberative Polling, Participatory Budgeting, Pupils Councils, DEMOCS, Co‐production.
So Say History: In Short
Susan Pettie was inspired by the voluntary efforts of the ‘Anthill’ in Iceland in the wake of the economic crash. In 2009 after the new Parliament, demanded by the people was formed, they thought about taking democracy back to basics and starting with the opinions of the people. Over 5 months they organised a largely voluntary and gifted citizens assembly with 1500 random sampled participants and 300 invited participants from networks and organised groups. Their day long enquiry in November 2009, focused on what values were important to Iceland post the crash, and what kind of things the people would like to see being done in the country as part of the new future they were imagining. They then open sourced their process and other groupings in the country used it. They also held their new MP’s to account with the ‘word of the people’, the subsequent decision by the Parliament to review the constitution is one of the most widely known results that their Assembly process contributed to. In November 2010 Susan sat in on the second National Assembly that created the broad outline for the constitutional review. It was an inspiring and profound experience. What if one of the richest people in Scotland sat across the table with one of the poorest and shared their visions for the future? By February 2011 contact had been made with the ‘We the Citizen’s’ organisation in Ireland who ran a participative and deliberative process on the issues facing their country in the wake of their own financial crash. It was clear these types of democratic innovations were worthwhile and delivered results. Shortly afterwards Dr Stephen Elstub, Oliver Escobar, and Olafur Breidfjord were enlisted to the idea of building a network and hosting large‐scale citizens assemblies in Scotland. October 2011 the first So Say Scotland presentation was made at an event of the Citizen Participation Group part of Edinburgh University’s Public Policy Network. In May 2012 the first public call for more people to get involved to make the project happen was made. So Say Scotland: In Short! V1.1 Author Susan Pettie Agreed 25/10/2012 5/5