Our democracy is in trouble. Communities across the UK are despairing of their decision makers and unable to make change. We need a radical transformation. One that ensures citizens can shape the quality of their life, community, and future.

But how we achieve this is subject to fevered debate.

Do we reform our existing structures? For example, introducing proportional representation? Do we need new models of democratic decision making, such as citizen assemblies? Or do we simply need to shift power and money into the hands of communities – so that they can win change from the bottom up?

Join leading thinkers and doers to debate how we transform democracy and put our communities back at the table.

Presented in collaboration with the Civic Power Fund.

Speakers:

Indy Johar is a founding Director of 00 and Dark Matter Labs. An architect by training, Indy is a Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation and a visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield. He co-founded Impact Hub Birmingham and Open Systems Lab, and was a member of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission. He is a thought leader in system change, the future of urban infrastructure finance, outcome-based investment, and the future of governance.

Marc Stears is an internationally regarded academic, political strategist, and speechwriter. He specialises in creating collaborations between academia and communities. Currently the inaugural Director of the UCL Policy Lab, Marc was previously Director of the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney,  CEO of the New Economics Foundation, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford and chief speechwriter to the UK Labour Party. Along with his co-author Tom Baldwin, he is completing a new book: England, Whose England? 

Chrisann Jarrett MBE is the CEO of We Belong, the UK’s first migrant youth-led organisation. Together with young refugees and migrants, We Belong aims to improve individual lives and wins systemic change. In 2014, Chrisann secured a major change in the law to ensure young migrants can access student finance. In 2020 she was appointed an Eisenhower Fellowships Youth Leader and Trustee for the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. In 2022, she was awarded an MBE for ‘services to children and young people’.

Martha Mackenzie is Executive Director of the Civic Power Fund, the UK’s first Fund dedicated to community organising. Until January this year, she was Head of Global Humanitarian Advocacy at UNICEF in New York. She has led teams and winning campaigns at Shelter and Save the Children. She sits on the Programme Board of Oxfam UK and Policy Board of the Child Poverty Action Group.

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