The Campaign Company Blog

"I can"....but I need some help to do it!

The article in the Observer on Sunday by David Miliband was no doubt read by many for his views on the Labour Party Leadership election.

However what received less coverage was his analysis of the changing nature of society where he says:

If the 1945 government was motivated by the popular cry: 'I need', the 2007 government needs to be driven forward by people saying: 'I can.'

People want to be players in the economic, social, environmental and political decisions that affect them. They want to feel that their fate is not constrained by their background. That means budgets in the hands of people, more devolution from central to local government, new ways to empower people not just through education and training but also at work.

This is a potentially exciting agenda. However it really requires someone to be seen as the champion of it within the government.

Unless there is, the rather disappointing Lyons Review of local government finance will remain as the default position of central government and there will not be the sort of local devolution that will make this vision a reality.

Whilst the affluent already say "I can". For many less fortunate it requires support locally to liberate and empower them to be able to take action.

Following his article, it is very likely that whatever the final outcome of the Labour Leadership election David Miliband will be taking a more senior role in the government after June.

Hopefully that will give him the opportunity to champion the sort of society he proposes with the resources it requires at a very local level to empower everyone to be able to say "I can".

My favourite community is a local one!

With all the media speculation over whether he may stand for the Leadership of the Labour Party, it was interesting to read the profile in the Observer on Sunday that set out what David Miliband has been doing to promote stronger local communities.

The Observer profile talks of the work he is doing to champion a new style of government that envisages loosening the reins of Westminster and forging a partnership with local communities. Setting out his political vision in a recent New Statesman article Miliband spoke of a new 'I can' spirit in society and said that Labour's challenge must be to embrace and reflect it.

Other possible candidates for the Labour Leader and Deputy Leadership have also raised the need for strengthened communities and the need for government to take a more strategic role after a period of growth where we have seen an expansion in public services.

There is an increasing consensus that having set higher minimum standards of service over the last few years, there is now a need to encourage wider local diversity through devolved responsibility that is additional to the current standards rather than necessarily detracting from the improvements already made.

In order to take this agenda forward we now need to see an increase in local capacity. That requires central government to provide the commitment, through a variety of local stakeholders and Local Strategic Partnerships, for them to be able to engage effectively within local communities to strengthen their social capital. For example some of the innovative local ideas tested in New Deal for Communities (NDC) areas could have wider application.

Whatever ministerial role David Miliband has in the future, it is clear that the debate on this will need to continue and be responded to by all those taking a leading role in the future direction of government policy in the coming months.

Everyone's catching the social web bug

All of the candidates in the French elections have established campaign offices in Second Life.

The Americans battling for the Democratic nomination are campaigning in Second Life, on the social networking site Facebook and from their own websites which all feature blogs, forums etc etc.

The Labour party has just launched it's own YouTube channel 'Labour Vision' and the Cabinet Office issued a press release a few days ago detailing a review of the governments approach to using on-line spaces to access advice, Hilary Armstrong said:

'We know people feel, and are, empowered when they can access advice and help easily and directly online; the growth in web sites such as NetMums proves this. If Government can improve the experiences and lives of people using such web sites by providing information and advice through these channels, we should do so – but in a way that helps and not hinders this phenomenon'

Some argue that this is huge waste of time and money, for example Marina Hyde writing for the Guardian says

'"New technology, same suck-up," wrote a commenter on Labourvision this week, and it is hard to disagree with his conviction that the exercise is nothing more than down-with-the-kids gesture politics. If a million people can march against the Iraq war and be ignored, does anyone believe that commenting on Caroline Flint's smoking ban video is going to make the blindest bit of difference?'

Whilst I'd agree that little will ever affect decisions abour 'wars of liberation', other than perhaps the price of crude the (rapidly) growing engagment of governments, politicians and political parties can't be so easily explained away as a shallow attempt to be 'down with the kids'. Firstly it's too widespread in UK government, various departments from the DOH to DCLG are involved in pilots using social tools for communications, consulation and participation. The Department of Constitutional Affairs ran a whole series of pilots with the Hansard Society under the banner Digital Dialogues. MPs have recently gained £10,000 each for on-line communication with their contituents.

Secondly because this is new territory some attempts at using on-line spaces for comms and participation are simply bad, aping existing forms without making the tools and content fit for purpose. For example the casual style and shaky camera of Labourvision. This is easily seen as an attempt to cynically exploit the medium, in fact I think it's just a sign of lack of experience.

Thirdly it's international as I've mentioned the politicians of GB, France and the US are getting stuck in and I don't doubt the same in true of many other countries. I think this is clear evidence that there is real value being identified in using on-line spaces for campaigning and consulting.

It seems to me that political parties and government are actually ahead of the curve in engaging with this new medium. The VCS and non-profits are all only just getting into the potential uses for them. Reports on how each sector might use on-line spaces and tools such as the Third Sector Foresight report - Campaigning and consulation in the age of participatory media keep appearing. I'm sure that this inital interest will grow until every website for every charity, pressure group, membership organisation has a blog or blogs, a wiki where people can generate and share content, RSS feeds so people can upto date. The potential for people to feel common ownership of an organisation, to make a contribution without having to actually go to an office and volunteer is huge.

For some further reading on this check out Paul Caplan on the new face of the internet, Content to be different and David Wilcox's great blog Designing for a civil society.