News
The dilemma of listening to service users
The current Coronavirus crisis is shining a very large light on how vital it is to engage communities in order to have real, on-the-ground impact. In this article from early March, Nigel Ball Executive Director of the GO Lab debates the reality of responding to the demands of greater citizen involvement in public service delivery, concluding that:
…to truly listen to people, we need new forms of democratic engagement. Flawed though they may be, democratic structures combine voice and accountability by definition. But democratic reform may be the most distant ambition of them all. In the meantime, public servants may have to work out for themselves how to usefully engage citizens despite the bureaucratic hurdles, and without succumbing to the risks.”