Report Launch: Building democratic culture, skills, and infrastructure within policy-led regions
22 September, 2pm -3.30pm. Register for free here.
"Commitments to building more generative local economies and the acknowledgement of the role democratic businesses can have in achieving this are certainly welcome, however, more needs to be done to support those tasked with translating these policy aims into practical action." James de le Vingne
Recent political support and policy interest has opened up new opportunities for democratic businesses – worker and employee owned enterprises – to become part of how we address local and regional economic challenges in the UK. However, the significant gap and lack of strategic leadership between key stakeholders in democratic business, policy, and local government are currently undermining our sector-wide ambitions.
Join Stir to Action’s launch of a new report based on interviews with democratic business members and advisors about their experience of working within ‘institutional strategies’, such as Community Wealth Building and the Co-operative Council Innovation Network, and their recommendations for the future.
How do we reduce the gap between policy making and democratic business? Can we build more strategic partnerships across different sectors and bodies? Can we encourage policy makers and local government to prioritise the funding of cultural awareness, pre-start, and business support? Is it possible for the democratic business community to not be seen simply as research subjects and end-users of policy, but key partners in research, business development, and funding for the sector?
Facilitating the discussion is journalist Hazel Sheffield, well known for her work at the Guardian, the Financial Times, and The Economist.
Report
The report will be published on 13 September. If you sign up the event, we'll send a copy of the report. If you're not available for the event, request a copy of the report by emailing events@stirtoaction.com.
About the project
Stir to Action’s Technocratic to Democratic: Bringing Together Democratic Business & Policy project aims to build strategic leadership between those in the democratic business community and those working to support the sector in research, policy making, and local government.
Funded by Friends Provident Foundation, the two-year project builds on recent policy interest in the role of democratic business, and aims to move beyond the limited focus on policy to address both the immediate deficit in cultural awareness and the business development gap in policy-led regions.
Who is Stir to Action?
We’re not a think tank. We’re a democratic business that is focused on encouraging strategic leadership in our sector and creating a new platform for building effective relationships between those in the democratic business community and those working to support the sector in research, policy making, and local government. Producing reports is not a core function of our organisation, but we see the value in developing an ‘intelligence function’ within this sector to create a new evidence base to influence wider policy and strategic agendas.
Event
22 September, 2.30pm - 3pm.
Registration
Contact
events@stirtoaction.com.
