The Objective
The client, Folkestone & Hythe District Council, wanted to engage local people with their sustainability policy and encourage community action – with grants available for suitable projects.
I proposed a programme that, rather focusing on ‘tell the public what they should/shouldn’t do’ (which often causes resistance) to instead give local grassroots leaders, innovators, business and community entrepreneurs the opportunity to share their ideas and projects. This would not only provide incubation and support for existing initiatives, but also inspire others to consider what ideas and projects they may be able to pursuit.
The Challenge
As a grassroots programme, many projects and ideas were still at the early stage, and some innovators lacked confidence in their expertise and experience to be speaking on the topic of sustainability. There was also a range of different topics and organisation type – meaning each had different needs, style and approach.
The Solution
I designed and delivered an engagement and taster workshop programme to encourage applications – from which successful innovators were selected to take part in an 8 week development programme I created. This programme was designed to simultaneously help them clarity their ideas and developing them into engaging talks. These talks were delivered at a public engagement event, which I hosted. Following the public event, suitable ideas/projects were invited to apply for funding.
The Outcomes
- Sold out event, which was also live streamed online and receive local press exposure
- 100% respondents rated the event 7 or above out of 10, with 83% saying they were highly likely to make new or additional behaviour changes.
- The client commissioned further programmes and support to showcase and incubate grassroots innovation and projects
- A number of participating innovators formed partnerships to collaboratively and successfully apply for grant funding
