In 2018, the Scottish Government launched Democracy Matters, a national conversation about how democracy can best work for our communities.
Democracy used to mean that most citizens were content to cast their vote and then leave the decisions to others. Increasingly people want to share in making those decisions, or at least have a greater understanding as to why certain decisions have been made on their behalf. In order to make democracy work better for everyone, and especially for those who feel left out, the Scottish Government asked people to respond to a national consultation.
The Scottish Government published a discussion paper in 2021 to prepare for stage 2 of the Democracy Matters, which unfortunately had to be put on hold because of the pandemic. However, officials and Ministers are now ready to launch the second phase of the Democracy Matters national conversation on 28 August. This will mark the start of the next six-month process which will be an important opportunity to discuss the future of community decision making.
This webinar with Scottish Government officials will discuss the next stage of Democracy Matters and how Community Councils can get involved, as well as making you aware of a range of resources which will be available from the Scottish Government.
If you want to hold a community event to discuss the Democracy Matters consultation and to submit a community response, funding is available to support this. Grants of up to £300 are available to help with anything that would be required to get a conversation going. For example, hiring a venue, printing costs, facilitation or to help with costs of those with additional needs to participate. This fund is being managed by Impact Funding Partners, who will also be in attendance at this webinar to answer your questions.
To sign up, please fill in this form and we will send out a Microsoft Teams link nearer the time.