Camden Council services work in a range of ways that enable all of Camden’s residents, in particular people with migrant/minority backgrounds, to voice their concerns, examples are:
- Communication via Tenant Participation Officers who work closely with tenants within Camden’s housing estates.
- Specific community focused projects such as the “Safer Communities” work with Somali residents, wellbeing work linked to neighbourhoods affected by the HS2/Euston development and neighbourhood assemblies.
- Community Partners that support and work in partnership with local organisations and communities representing migrant voices, such as:
- Camden Smali Cultural Centre.
- Ksmos Centre (Camden Cypriot Women’s Organisation).
- Bengali Wrkers Association.
- Hpscotch Asian Women’s Centre.
- Smali Youth Development and Resource Centre.
- British Smali Community.
Camden Council regularly takes initiatives to encourage people with migrant/minority backgrounds to engage in political life. An example is the Youth Activism project which aims to drive local activism amongst young people. An action-oriented group made up of young Camden residents (aged 16-25) from diverse backgrounds and service representatives was set up and is co-chaired by a young person and an elected Council member. The aim is to work together with local organisations to deliver an action plan tackling the disproportionate impact of policing and education on Black people and others from diverse backgrounds. The Council is investing in young people to lead change with a focus on providing social justice activism skills, through accredited training opportunities (such as campaigning skills). Young people will decide how they want to tackle these disproportionalities whether it is at a local, regional or national level, through lobbying the government to developing policy statements. The aim is to build a model that is sustainable for all and to further build the capacity of young people.
Participatory mechanisms, other than voting rights or a consultative body, were introduced in Camden to enable all residents, irrespective of their migrant/minority backgrounds, to participate equally in the decision-making process. These mechanisms include public participation networks, participatory budgeting and intercultural dialogue platforms/round tables.
Camden has been at the forefront of developing Neighbourhood and Citizen’s assemblies. A recent example is the Gospel Oak and Haverstock Neighbourhood Assembly. It is a group of 30 people from across the Gospel Oak and Haverstock area who are all interested in the future of their neighbourhood. They have been randomly selected using a method called sortation and are representative of the area in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and housing tenure. They bring with them a unique set of experiences based on the lives they have lived.
Camden Council is working in partnership with a local community organisation to design and deliver a participatory approach to budgeting. The aim is for residents of a Camden estate to control a rolling revenue budget, taking decisions about how the money is spent on their estate, using a participatory budgeting approach.
