Digital Engagement Team
Written 11 posts
Participation A-Z: D is for deliberation
4th December 2024
Deliberation describes a specific way of communicating. The idea is that in a deliberation, people exchange views and ideas, advocate for their position, inquire about other perspectives and discuss, before coming to a shared decision (consensus).
Listen to me! Babies and infants participation
17th October 2024
In this blog post we hear from Hannah Murison, Early Learning and Childcare Policy Adviser from National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland. Hannah talks about the development of a participatory method of engaging children on the subject of their rights to inform the creation of Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments (CRWIA), which is called…
Meet the Open Government team
2nd October 2024
We are the Open Government team at Scottish Government. We’re a small team of 4 and we work with teams across Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, public bodies, third sector, academia and civil society to make government more open, transparent and accountable. What we do The Open Government team has responsibility for coordination of Scotland’s Open…
Participation A to Z: community engagement
29th August 2024
Participation can feel overwhelming with the number of things to consider from the planning and delivery stages to the analysis and evaluation of the project. However, since 2005 the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) has been setting the bar high and supporting practitioners in conducting well thought out community engagement activities with the National Standards…
“Fundamental to democracy”: a discussion on public participation with Louise Macdonald OBE, Director General Communities
29th August 2024
We were able to catch up with one of Scottish Government’s Executive Team members Louise Macdonald OBE, Director General (DG) Communities. It was fascinating to gain an insight into her views and unique position when it comes to the pressing matter of public participation and engagement. We touched on Louise’s experience and approach to participation…
The importance of planning participation: developing a statutory definition of care experience
31st July 2024
The Digital Engagement Team were lucky enough to catch up with Sean from Keeping the Promise on the importance of planning when it comes to public participation. Sean shared how he is planning the upcoming consultation on the term “care experienced” and connecting with other teams to co-ordinate consultations around similar topics. We often showcase…
Participation A to Z: benefits and barriers
5th July 2024
This instalment in the A-Z of participation series looks at the benefits and barriers of participation. There are so many positive impacts of participation done well, but there are challenges to reflect on and address first. What we mean by participation in Scottish Government Participation is a broad term used to describe how people get involved…
Participation at the heart of policy design and delivery: the National Dementia Lived Experience Panel
21st May 2024
“I am Indian; I am Scottish. I am a husband, a brother, a father, a grandfather. Some relations seem so distant now. Another life? I recall the streets of my youth; I do not know my address. But I am still me.” From a poem written by a member of our National Dementia Lived Experience…
Democracy Matters: public participation in 2024 and beyond
13th May 2024
It has been an interesting and busy time for the Local Governance Review Team since the summer of 2023. Many events and conversations have taken place across Scotland exploring how decisions could be made by communities themselves. Now that the dust has settled, we wanted to share some highlights of the conversations we observed and…
Participation A to Z: accessibility
12th April 2024
We are beginning a new A-Z series of posts. Each letter of the alphabet will cover a different topic in participation and public engagement. We hope you enjoy this mini-series, and without further ado, we’re kicking things off today with A for Accessibility! What do we mean by accessibility? When we talk about accessibility we…