Power with, not for: how our Participation Team is shaping community-led change

At Adur & Worthing, we talk a lot about participation — but for our Participation Team, it’s not just talk. It’s about building the infrastructure, relationships and everyday practices that help people lead change, not just be consulted on it.

Over the past fortnight, they’ve been quietly and powerfully laying the groundwork for community action, learning & development, and organisational culture change. This blog shares some of that work — not the full story, but a snapshot of how they’re helping make participation feel possible, practical and real.

“We’re not asking people to take part — we’re creating the conditions where they can lead.”

What the team has been working on

Over the last two weeks, the Participation Team has:

• Launched the second-stage tender for our Community Catalyst partner, following feedback from 20+ VCSE and grassroots groups. This new partner will help grow the conditions for community-led participation across Adur & Worthing.
• Facilitated our Community Leaders session, where over 50 community partners, councillors and officers explored how local government reorganisation can be shaped with, not just for, communities. Themes included neighbourhood identity, trust, and shared power.
• Refined the Kitchen Table Cost of Living Fund & Support Programme, now supporting residents to develop grassroots cost-of-living projects — offering funding and development support before April.
• Hosted the March Participation Lab reflection, building insight into how we connect the Lab to mission boards, neighbourhoods and organisational development. We’ve now set clear learning goals for future sessions and invited senior leaders to take part in the next one.
• Coordinated the launch of a face to face onboarding programme and new online learning development system, the former bringing days in the life of different staff, opportunities to meet the staff and political leadership and interactive activities and the latter a more streamlined way to learn and ability to do classroom learning, and developing 30 day learning plans.
• Collaborated on internal engagement, including the staff newsletter, to invite colleagues into the devolution conversation and share ways to get involved in shaping the future council.

“Participation isn’t just a project — it’s the culture we’re growing, together.”

Why it matters

This isn’t just about community engagement. It’s about changing how power flows.

The Participation Team is helping us:

• Co-design participation that reflects real lives
• Support civil society
• Supporting staff to learn and develop
• Make internal culture more participative

And they’re doing it by holding space — across communities, services and teams — for ideas to emerge and action to follow.

What we’re learning

1. Participation needs scaffolding, not just good intentions Investing in the ecosystem — not just the activity — makes participation more sustainable.

2. Internal and external participation go hand in hand Through the Lab and devolution engagement, we’re learning that organisational culture is part of how democracy works.

3. Local knowledge is leadership Kitchen Table isn’t just a fund — it’s a shift in mindset about who holds insight and how we support it to grow.

4. We don’t need perfect tools — we need shared purpose Whether it’s a session or a staff newsletter, what matters most is the intention behind the interaction.

“Participation doesn’t start with a form. It starts with trust.”

What’s next

In the coming weeks, the team will:

• Deliver the next Participation Lab with senior leaders joining to explore power and place
• Finalise the selection of our Community Catalyst delivery partner
• Launch new staff-facing participation opportunities as part of the Thriving Together devolution programme
• Deliver the start of new learning and development toolkits and finalise the onboarding of hundreds of staff onto our new learning system

Because the future of local government isn’t just about what we deliver — it’s about how we share the power to shape it.

“If we want more people to take part, we have to start by making space — and backing them when they do.”