Engaging Government: Action Learning Networks FAQ

The project is current being rescoped

Previously

December 14 2005

What is the purpose of the programme? How will we know if it is successful?

The purpose is to pilot ways in which civil servants can share experience and learn from others about public engagement and the nature of the collaborations needed to make engagement work. It will be successful if participants say it worked for them, and we have developed ways to promote more learning networks. There is also a ‘real time’ evaluation programme, run by Involve, that will run in parallel with ALN support and development which will monitor porgess and success aginst this objective.

How are we going to organise into ALNs?

The meeting on December 14 provides the first opportunity for people to find others with shared interests, and to start to form groups. We hope some ‘champions’ for themes and networks will step forward to work with us. We can run another event early in the New Year. In addition we will have a dedicated online system to help people work together.

What will each ALN focus on?

The Together We Can themes provide a good framework within which groups can choose their focus. In addition groups or sub-groups will explore issues of engagement that cross all themes. The key issue is what is useful to the participants.
The Together We Can themes are: Citizens and Democracy; Regeneration and Cohesion; Health and Sustainability; Safety and Justice. We’ll be discussing general engagement issues on December 14 to identify the key topics.
We are proposing to focus each ALN on a theme to provide a concrete issue for people to identify with, but the learning is about skills and methodologies for engagement and participation, rather than about the subject or theme.

How will ALNs operate?

A mixture of self-organising and support. We hope one or two leaders will emerge for each network from the meeting on December 14. We will then work with them and the other group members to organise workshops, informal get-togethers, and online working over the next few months. There is a framework, but no formula, because this is a pilot.

Who is supporting the ALNs?

David Wilcox and Drew Mackie are engagement practitioners who have worked together in the field for over 25 years . Drew specialises in innovative workshop methods and overall engagement processes – so he will focus on events. David has a wide range of experience in engagement, partnerships and network development as well as online systems. He will provide general support and be your online host. Diane Warburton and Richard Wilson of Involve are also engagement practitioners, and will run the evaluation programme.

Who can join?

Any civil servants with an interest in engagement, up to a limit of about 50 for this pilot. We will also provide opportunities for other people who are interested to engage with the programme through events and online.

How long will the programme last?

The current support contract runs until the end of March 2006, although groups can continue beyond that. DCA aim to continue the work of the whole programme into 2006–2007 but this will depend on budget allocations.

How will the programme be managed?

Ian Johnson and Elspeth Rainbow are managing the programme for DCA, with contracts to the support and evaluation teams. We hope to identify a small group of champions from the ALNs who will help shape the programme and the way that it will develop in future. We can also call upon others advisers. The long-term aim is that learning networks will be started by other departments, so we want to develop a self-managing model rather than something driven by DCA.

What learning support will be available?

There’s no shortage of toolkits and other advisory material online – although much of it is focussed on local engagement. The challenge is to find what’s useful for civil servants – and to foster conversations with those who have direct engagement experience. We will provide signposting to content once we have agreed the ALN themes, help organise meetings with practitioners, and develop online support as well. The aim is to tailor learning support to the real challenges ALNs are exploring, rather than provide ‘course materials’.

How will events be run?

Generally that’s up to each group once they get started. We can organise events for the network as a whole, and in addition David and Drew can facilitate workshops. We hope that groups will organise their own get-togethers as well.

What online systems will be available? Do we have to learn to use new tools?

We want to combine ease of use with some opportunities to explore new tools that are becoming part of democratic engagement. The basic tools for ALNs will be an easily editable web site or sites (wikis) for information and engagement content, and a collaboration system using email and web. There’s more about that here http://engaginggov.net/Comms/TrampolineHelp . Anyone wishing to take part will have their own place on the system with a home page, email box, access to work groups and file storage. The good news is that you can stick to normal email from your usual account and still be part of the system. In addition we will run a project blog, and offer participants a chance to try blogs and other tools if they wish. We can also collaborate with the programme run by the Hansard Society on blogs, forums and instant messaging.

How will we find other people with similar interests?

That’s one of the aims of the event on December 14, and other events. In addition, the online system will give everyone a home page where they can include a profile and keywords searchable across the system. One of the roles of the support team will be to help people form networks across the programme, and with others outside government, through events and online.

What does each group have to produce at the end of the programme?

We will encourage each ALN to set themselves a task within their area of interest, and agree this with the evaluation team. The support team will produce a report on the programme, and also a briefing kit on how to set up and run ALNs. We hope participants will contribute their views to that. In addition, and engagement content we have developed will continue to be available.

Will the project as a whole produce any outputs?

The project aims to produce a guide which aims to:

• help others set up and run Action Learning Networks
• outlines issues and challenges arrising and suggests actions
• indicate where to find supportive content on engagement

This guidance aims to ensure the continued and self-supporting use of Action Learning Networks to share skills about engagement and participation across government

More information from David Wilcox
020 7600 0104