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nef has developed Democs kits on whole range of biomedical topics, supported by the Wellcome Trust, such over the counter genetic testing, stem cell research and clining and nanotechnology with the Wellcome Trust and Human Genetic Council. We have also done democs on homelessness with Groundswell, on international trade with Oxfam, and on climate change with Hereford County Council. We have also carried out several policy consultations using the democs game:
Ambient noise with the GLA (Greater London Authority)
The GLA wanted to find a way of consulting on their ambient noise strategy. nef designed a Democs kit that informed people about the topic and helped them make their minds up about it. 29 people spent two hours playing Democs. Most liked the event - despite the fact that we lost 40 minutes to two fire alarms...
'Democs proved to be a useful and innovative way of enabling citizens to discuss complex policy issues. By using gaming techniques it is possible to involve and engage Londoners who might not be prepared to take part in other forms of public consultation.'
Consultation Manager, GLA
GM food (GM Nation debate 2003)
Democs made a small and significant contribution to this important national policy debate.
Democs kits were distributed on a large scale. 138 kits on GM food were sent out to the public, and feedback received from 18 events (involving 220 people), of which six were organised by the Democs team and 12 were self-facilitated. Two large events involved more than 80 people in Edinburgh and 120 people in Malvern.
Results of games were fed into the consultation via a report to the organisers, the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission.
The Democs team reacted very quickly to an emerging policy issue. The kits were produced, designed and distributed in about three weeks to a varied audience; ranging from supermarket chains and government bodies to pressure groups and concerned individuals.
One difficulty was that self-facilitated games generated little feedback within the period specified by the official consultation (though many have sent feedback since then). Given longer time frames (2-3 months), more public input to decision making would have been possible.
West Sussex County Council Materials Resource Management
West Sussex County Council used Democs as part of their consultation on Materials Resource Management technologies (like landfill and recycling). The aim was to produce a prioritised list of criteria by which the Council would decide what technology to adopt . For example, which criterion do local residents find most important – cost or environmental impacts?
Democs was played in three locations in West Sussex, with three community involvement groups. It was played in the usual way until the clustering stage. In this case, each cluster represented a criterion for deciding materials resource management technologies. There was an extra stage where the small groups compared their criteria with each other, and decided a combined list. Each participant was then given three votes to highlight their favoured criteria, and a prioritised list of criteria was arrived at in this way.
After the events, the Council and its advisers used the weighted criteria against the various options on waste management. It also used them to design questionnaires for further public involvement:
Community Development Foundation on Equalities
nef worked with the Community Development Foundation to produce a Democs on Equalities. It was used at a staff awayday as a means to involve staff and generate ideas for CDF's Equalities Strategy. The kit has subsequently been made into a generic resource, primarily as a tool for learning and action. It can be used by individuals to find out about and discuss Equalities, and by organisations as a training tool, or to feed into organisational policy making. The kit will be free to download very shortly (April 2006).
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