Building London’s Participation Infrastructure
In order for every Londoner to feel they have a say in their lives and their communities, we need to build a participation infrastructure across the city. This doesn’t begin and end with participatory grantmaking or participatory budgeting; we need to build the skills, infrastructure and mechanics for money to but put into the hands of citizens. We are laying the groundwork for participation to grow throughout London, collaborating with fellow funders, policymakers, and business leaders to amplify participation across the city so that all Londoners have control over how money is spent in their boroughs.
Our Approach
In April 2024, we conducted desk research to gather data on participation mechanisms in London where citizens controlled spending decisions in their boroughs. We utilised existing data from online sources and direct correspondence with organisations, focusing on Participatory Grantmaking, Participatory Budgeting, and Citizen Assemblies. Our data collection included:
Reviewing local government websites to identify boroughs engaged in Participatory Budgeting and Citizen Assemblies.
Tracking Place-Based Giving Scheme development through individual scheme websites.
Utilising reports from organisations like The Social Innovation Partnership for insights into participatory approaches.
Additionally, we documented existing place-based infrastructure fostering citizen participation:
Big Local Areas, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, empower residents in 27 London areas with over £1 million each, making a significant local impact.
London's Giving Members, consisting of 22 Place-Based Giving Schemes that mobilise communities to access resources in their borough for positive change.
This research provides insights into citizen decision-making across London. While the data highlights geographic distribution of decision-makers, it may not always align directly with investment distribution. Nonetheless, most participatory approaches are directing resources back into boroughs, benefiting local neighbourhoods.
Key Findings
Areas shaded in the darkest orange indicate the highest concentration of participatory activities, with the lightest orange having the lowest levels of participation. We can identify the following factors:
Participatory Grantmaking tends to be most active in areas where Place-Based Giving Schemes are established, with 9 Giving Schemes utilising a participatory model to distribute funding.
Notably, boroughs like Camden, Newham and Walthamstow, which have local authorities who run Citizen Assemblies and Participatory Budgeting approaches, exhibit higher levels of participation.
Conversely, areas with minimal citizen-led decision-making including those lacking citizen assemblies approaches and those without PBGS, tend to demonstrate lower levels of participation.
Outer London boroughs generally exhibit lower participation rates compared to inner city boroughs, 3 boroughs have no participatory infrastructure: Havering, Redbridge and Hillingdon.
Opportunities in boroughs like Croydon, Brent, and Wandsworth who lack Giving Schemes but have citizen assemblies, presenting a significant opportunity to establish such schemes and enhance community involvement.
Similarly, the Big Local Areas characterised by engaged residents already involved in decision-making with allocated funding, represent a prime opportunity to further establish participatory practices or infrastructure where it is currently absent or lacking, such as Bexley, Bromley, Sutton, Richmond, Ealing, Enfield.
Considerations
For this initial research, we haven’t included the data of other funders, such as the National Survivor User Network and BBC Children in Need, who have employed participatory strategies to direct funding into London, as these decisions may not always be made by London citizens themselves.
We understand that this list is not comprehensive, and this research is ever-evolving rather than static. Therefore, this research map is open-source and collaborative, and we are committed to ongoing development and refinement. If there is additional data you think should be included in the participation map, please email your data to danielle@camdengiving.org.uk.
You can view and download the spreadsheet with the research findings here and add anything that’s missing.
Civic Strength: Democratic Engagement
We also thought it was important to include the Democratic Engagement dataset from the Civic Strength Index to understand Londoners perception of their ability to influence decisions locally, against the levels of citizen participation across different boroughs. This data focusses on citizens responses to Institutional Trust, Accessible Democratic Engagement and Civic Responsibility.
High levels of democratic engagement exists where citizens feel able to meaningfully engage in the issues that matter to them and feel supported to take action that is meaningfully received, whether by local government, local services or fellow citizens. We will use the data to establish the areas with low levels of perceived democratic power against the areas highlighted that are in need of investment, such as Bromley, Sutton and Hillingdon, to build up a supportive participation infrastructure in these places as a priority.
Collaborate with us
If you hold power over how money is spent across the city and want to be part of a collaborative effort to make London even more participatory, by bridging gaps in investment and putting the power of decision-making into the hands of Londoners, get in touch with natasha@camdengiving.org.uk