Participatory Policy Learning and New Municipalism

I will extend my PhD research on evaluation to open up a new agenda in the field of public policy. The core principle of evaluation is that evidence should be used to identify the impact of an intervention and inform future social policy. Despite its promise, evaluation has had little impact on transformative social change, as conventional approaches tend to limit the scope for learning within the frames of the status quo. My PhD research has developed an original approach of 'counter-establishment evaluation' based on participatory action research with social justice as a core value. Counter-establishment evaluation can robustly evidence the ways in which social action has caused tangible improvements to people's lives, and then use this evidence to broaden the scope of policy learning about transformative social change.

Civil society organisations often experiment with innovative approaches to promote social justice. As such, there is much that can be learned from civil society organisations to support social transformation. At present, opportunities to learn from civil society are rarely realised by policy-makers. A more participatory approach can build on the capabilities of civil society to contribute new policy ideas to address social problems.

Municipal institutions can enable public participation, while at the same time they operate at a sufficient scale to enable transformative social change. New municipalist platforms are emerging around the world, and aim to create a new form of participatory urban politics to promote social justice - for example, Barcelona en Comú. Contemporary municipalism has considerable potential to deliver social justice, but could benefit from more systematic approaches to evidence and learn about transformative social change. Through collaboration between civil society, municipal institutions, and grant-making organisations, cities can become sites of social innovation to create new solutions to social injustice. I will engage with stakeholders in Manchester and Barcelona to advance a new direction for implementing and embedding participatory policy learning within municipal institutions.

This ESRC fellowship will create opportunities for shared learning across academia, civil society, municipal institutions and grant-making organisations with three key aims: firstly, to consider the potential for small-scale social action to inform policy-learning; secondly, to cultivate, shape, and implement a new vision for evaluative culture and practice at a municipal level; and thirdly, to set out a new agenda for participatory policy learning in municipal institutions.

I will engage with activists, civil society organisations, municipal policy-makers and grant-making organisations in Manchester and Barcelona to explore new approaches for participatory policy-learning at a municipal level. I will produce a report for the stakeholders with recommendations to advance participatory policy learning in each city. This process will create new partnerships for future research collaborations and enable opportunities to impact policy and practice. I will produce a pamphlet and digital long-form publication for a broader audience.

Through this ESRC Fellowship, I will set the foundations to establish myself as a research leader in the academic field of public policy by advancing a new agenda in participatory policy learning. I will achieve this by publishing four papers in high impact, peer-reviewed journals; through active involvement at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Local Government Studies; by presenting my work at both the Autonomous University of Barcelona through a visiting fellowship, and the European Consortium of Political Research's Joint Sessions conference; and by taking part in a unique training workshop at the Critical Participatory Action Research Institute at City University New York.