CAPE is pleased to launch a new 12-month policy fellowship with Newham, taken up by Darren Sharpe, honorary Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Finance and Technology and Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute for Connected Communities (ICC) based at the University of East London (UEL).

Talking about his fellowship, Darren commented –

My motivation for applying for the CAPE Fellowship was the ability it afforded me to build meaningful relationships between academy and the public sector to tackle real world policy challenges. Specifically, the project based in the London Borough of Newham will focus on building participatory democracy, and the co-produced demonstration project will allow the consolidation and exhalation of over a decade of work focused on widening political engagement and participant in disadvantaged and marginalised communities who voices’ need to be amplified in order to strengthen and restore trust in a weakened democratic process. This should lead to more inclusive, vibrant and resilient communities.

Darren Sharpe, honorary Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Finance and Technology and Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute for Connected Communities (ICC) based at the University of East London (UEL)

Giving people the chance to have their say forms part of a radical overhaul of democracy in Newham, designed to involve residents in decisions and build trust in the Council and make it a happier and healthier place to live. Newham Council has pledged to make the borough a beacon of participatory democracy.

Since 2018, the Council has pioneered ways to put residents at the heart of everything it does, launching a Democracy Commission, developing the largest community engagement programme in the country through its Community Assemblies, participatory budgeting in each of our neighbourhoods, a national leader in health & youth participation, as well as the UK’s first permanent Citizen’s Assembly.

Through this fellowship, Newham Council wants to explore even better ways to involve citizens in policy design and delivery in order to embed open policy making in the ways the organisation work. It wants to work with its anchor institutions, who also play a major role in people’s lives, on how it embeds participative democracy across the borough.

Head of Policy Design, Scrutiny & Partnerships, Newham Council, Noel Hatch commented –

We look forward to welcome Darren Sharpe as our new CAPE Policy Fellow who will be focusing on how we embed participation into policy making. The fellowship will

– Help people develop their skills in involving residents in policy making

– Work with anchor institutions to strengthen involving residents

– Run a demonstrator project that tests innovative ways to transform how we do participative policy design

– Create spaces for councils to share & collaborate how to better embed participation into policy making

Noel Hatch, Head of Policy Design, Scrutiny & Partnerships, Newham Council

We look forward to sharing learning from the fellowship as it gets underway. If you are interested in finding out more contact UCL CAPE Coordinator Kayleigh Renberg-Fawcett, [email protected]