Background

The original Democracy Matters conversation, in what feels like a different world pre-Covid, established that there was an appetite for more democratic control at local levels. Many of our members will remember being involved in these conversations. They showed that people want to have a say over what happens in their communities. However Covid happened, and the process was paused.

The Scottish Government has now committed to taking this forward again. The next phase, launched on the 28 August 2023, will discuss what powers, processes, structures and accountability might look like for this to work.

DTAS is delighted to have received funding from the Scottish Government to work in partnership with the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to deliver a series of events to engage our members and networks in this process.

What’s On?

National Events –  to inform our joint members and networks on how they can engage in DM2 and prepare to host a self-facilitated conversation.  The next online event is on 9 November. Find out more and register your place here. A final event will take place in the new year.

Place based deep dive conversations – SCDC and DTAS will be selecting 8 locations across our networks and membership to facilitate a more in-depth conversation. We will focus on community anchor organisations who can bring together a diverse range of community partners to explore the powers, structures, accountability mechanisms and resources needed to take more decisions locally. Output from these sessions will become part of the DM2 consultation response. We’ll post more information on locations as dates are confirmed. These discussions will be by invite only.

Self-facilitated conversations – the consultation is open to all. To support people to host conversations in their communities, the Scottish Government has provided materials for self-facilitation, plus a grant is available for communities to help with any costs of hosting such an event. More information is available on the consultation website. We’re keen to encourage our members to facilitate their own conversations. Please check-in with your DO if you’d like to discuss this further.