Systems thinking: Reimagining public services to tackle inequality

This What Works Scotland event focused on helping people understand how institutions in society may perpetuate inequality but how systems thinking can give them a way to create a strategy that can change that in their local area.

Here Nick Bland, co-director of What Works Scotland, explains more about purpose of the event and what participants learned.

Community-led Approaches to Reducing Poverty

What Works Scotland Co-Director, Ken Gibb reflects on the recent What Works Scotland event in Clydebank Town Hall – a workshop of about 40 people from the public and voluntary sectors, plus a few academics and councillors.  

The focus was on reviewing the evidence and practice concerning specifically community-led approaches to reducing poverty.

Scotland and international experiences of scaling-up participatory budgeting

The Scottish Government has recently reiterated its support for participatory budgeting with a blog post by the Minister for Local Government and Housing which confirms a national support programme for local authorities and communities

An international conference on participatory budgeting will be taking place in Edinburgh on 20th and 21st October 2016.

So we thought this was a good time to ask Giovanni Allegretti, who talked about international experiences of participatory budgeting at a What Works Scotland event in June, to share his reflections on ‘scaling-up’ participatory budgeting and how Scotland can learn from, and contribute to, the international expansion of participatory democracy.