Are We Being Heard? »

Are We Being Heard?

Millions are wasted each year by local authorities and other public bodies on unimginative consultations that yield little in terms of organisational intelligence or improved public services.   Are We Being Heard is the report on Chamberlain Forum’s collaborative enquiry into the practice and future of consultation.  Five key insights from the 9 month research based [...]

December 22, 2011 | Posted in Gallery,News,Pictures,Publications,Resources | Read More »

Regional Coproduction Report Launched »

Regional Coproduction Report Launched

‘Coproduction in Practice: Six Case Studies of Coproduction in the West Midlands’ was launched on February 11th at the ICC in Birmingham. The report is still in draft form, and will be open to comments until February 28th. You can download a copy of the report below, plus each of the 6 case studies. Please [...]

February 17, 2011 | Posted in Featured,Publications,Resources | Read More »

SDM Facilitators – Supporting Information »

SDM Facilitators – Supporting Information

Below are a series of supplemtary briefings used as part of the SDM Facilitator Training.  They have been written to supplemnet the SDM Manual, and aid facilitators run effective story circles. If you have any questions or queries about any of the briefings, please contact us 1          Chunking 2          Dialogue 3          useful Questions [...]

December 10, 2010 | Posted in Publications,Resources | Read More »

Sideways Look at ‘Big Society’ »

Sideways Look at ‘Big Society’

The whole way we think of public services and the part they play in making neighbourhoods may need to change. The challenge, identified in Chamberlain Forum’s Looking Sideways report on neighbourhood coproduction, is to look beyond the management of individual public services and instead at how they work together, and with communities, to create more, or less, good places to live. As the local State shrinks, the only way it can gain influence is by working better with communities. Government calls this idea ‘Big Society’. It requires better use of local assets and the local State to work with the grain of community interest. This is coproduction. It is the new Municipalism.

July 28, 2010 | Posted in Featured,Publications | Read More »

The Shortest Path…. »

The Shortest Path….

A Manual for learning from Stories; Structured Dialogue Method

September 21, 2009 | Posted in News,Publications | Read More »

What We Do

Chamberlain Forum helps civil society and local authorities to coproduce better places to live. We are non-profit, politically independent and proudly based in Birmingham.
We organise Chamberlain Lectures featuring speakers including Prime Minister David Cameron. We also organise Resident University - a peer and shared learning programme for people who live and work in neighbourhoods.
We promote and develop community networks as social capital builders, including by supporting Community Network 4 Birmingham
We support action to strengthen local civil society including through: community asset transfers; neighbourhood websites; mediation and facilitation; training and business planning.
We organise action research into aspects of coproduction and are delivering an 18 month programme, Communities Managing Change, funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Chamberlain Forum Limited acts as a consultancy delivering a wide range of 'thinking and doing' services for clients including local authorities, housing associations, development trusts, health and social care bodies, local strategic partnerships and voluntary and community groups.

Big Ideas

3rd Sector Asset Transfer Big Society Birmingham Citizenship Citizenship Model Disability civil society co-production Cohesion Community Community Anchor Community Assets Community Dialogue Community Empowerment community first community networks Connecting Communities Culture Democracy faith future cities Health Local Government Localism Neighbourhood Forums neighbourhood management ni4 Participatory Budgeting Regeneration research Resident University riots Sandwell Self-help Social Enterprise Social Media Story Telling Sustainable Communities Timebanking Transforming Local Infrastructure unemployment Volunteering welfare West Bromwich Youth Empowerment

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