Posted inCurrent Newsletters Uncategorized

Newsletter: Winter 2022/Annual Roundup

Dear friends of Research for Action, 2022 has been a year of major growth and change for us.We grew our work on public interest and audit, began a project with groups in Sheffield and Glasgow on democratising governance and deepened our work with the European Municipalist Network. We have developed as a worker co-op, adding a new member, Gloria Dawson, and a board member, Tim Joubert. We have also developed our mission, vision and values as well as the policies and procedures we need for our co-op to reflect our values, and we are proud of the progress we have made... [continues]
Posted inCurrent Newsletters Uncategorized

Newsletter: Autumn 2022

Dear newsletter readers,    We are very excited to say that we have just launched a report that showcases the work of various citizen auditors across England!  The publication, called ‘Citizen Auditors: investigating local government's accountability gap’ shows ways in which local groups and individuals are scrutinising their local authorities, challenging poor governance and decisions they believe are not in the public interest. It draws on the experiences of a network we have been coordinating this year. Citizen auditors are working on a wide range of issues relating to council spending, but also on challenging poor governance. We support each... [continues]
Democratising Governance
Posted inCurrent Projects

Democratising Governance

This action research project explores campaigns for democratising local governance. Together with collaborators in Sheffield and Glasgow, we look at the strategies campaigners and community groups have used to tackle the democratic deficit and identify more democratic forms of governance at the city level. The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the world, voter turnout in local elections is low, and many local authorities are simply badly governed, as our work with citizen auditors has shown. For this project, we are working with campaigners in Sheffield, It’s Our City!, who spoke to over 20,000 people about governance... [continues]
Citizen Auditor Network
Posted inAudit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current

Citizen Auditor Network

There is a worrying accountability vacuum in local government. Since the closure of the Audit Commission in 2015, there is neither any overarching oversight of local government audit, nor a central government body that has oversight of governance or spending irregularities across multiple authorities. Even though citizens have rights to information and accountability, these are not often respected. We have documented this in detail in our report, Democracy Denied (2021). This lack of accountability is particularly concerning given the alarming state of local government finances and further rounds of austerity cuts. During 2022 Research for Action has facilitated a citizen auditor... [continues]
Summer newsletter: new staff member & project updates 
Posted inCurrent Newsletters

Summer newsletter: new staff member & project updates 

  Dear friends and followers of Research for Action,  We hope you have been enjoying the summer this far and have been able to take some relaxing time off. Research for Action has grown by a staff member since you last heard from us. Gloria started working with us at the end of June as our brand new Advocacy and Communications Coordinator and we are very very excited to have her on board!  Gloria says:  Hi, I’m joining Research for Action to work on local audit reform. I’ve had a lot of experience in political organising, activist research and diverse... [continues]
Job Vacancy: Advocacy & Communications Coordinator
Posted inCurrent Jobs Uncategorized

Job Vacancy: Advocacy & Communications Coordinator

  WE ARE RECRUITING Research for Action is recruiting an Advocacy & Communications Coordinator for a campaign to put public interest at the heart of local government audit. The purpose of your work will be to increase the impact of our research that aims to improve local democracy through a focus on audit, accountability and governance structures. This is a new role in a small worker co-operative, so you will be instrumental to shaping it and take an active role in running the organisation. This is initially a 12-month contract for three days a week, mainly working from home with... [continues]
GUEST BLOG: Building local power – reflections on municipalism
Posted inCurrent Guest blog

GUEST BLOG: Building local power – reflections on municipalism

By Steve Rushton In May 2021, Research for Action, Municipal Enquiry and Cities for Change organised an online event called “Building local solidarity and horizontal power”. I collaborated on this project as the local forums facilitator for the UK and Nordic countries for Cities for Change, a decentralised forum initiated and organised by Amsterdam City Council that aimed to strengthen and network municipalism across the continent. Together with Research for Action and Municipal Enquiry, we recognised that local government has been decimated by successive legislative changes and austerity, as Research for Action's work has documented. It often feels politics provides... [continues]