UK Democracy Bulletin, 18th November

Fortnightly news, jobs, grants and gossip from the democracy sector, brought to you by James Moulding and Molly Hudson of The Centre for Democracy. Read by 280+ democracy organisations. We read everyone’s newsletters & research so you don’t have to. If you want us to cover yours, let us know: hello@centrefordemocracy.org.uk

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Highlights

• Democracy Funding democracy orgs benefit from funding boost from JRRT/JRSST-CT
• Election Bill Week of Action commencing 27th November
• Civility in Politics Awards voting open for the annual awards until 8th December

Elections Bill

Democracy Defence Coalition preparing week of action for 27th November

Based on current information of the bill’s timeline, the Coalition is focusing their efforts on the week commencing 27th November, including an in-person rally led by Make Votes Matter at Parliament Square. Contact Emma Knaggs at Make Votes Matter to find out more about the rally and how you can participate.

Cat Smith MP indicates government may push back Election Bill report stage

It is currently unclear when the report stage and Lords stage of the bill will progress, Cat indicated the possibility down to the Conservative Government wanting to distance themselves from the ongoing sleaze narrative.

Don’t forget — if you’re working on the Elections Bill, join the weekly office hours discussion

Every Thursday at noon, Kyle and the team at Fair Vote convene a space to coordinate and share information for working on the bill. Contact matt@fairvote.uk if you’d like to be included in the Office Hours Zoom, or any of the wider Coalition activities.

Democracy Sector

Notwestminster 2022 first ticket release sells out — more tickets available on 25th November

Notwestminster is back on February 26th in Huddersfield. Diane Sims and the team are looking for people to host workshops on the day around their 2022 theme: “The future is unwritten”. They’re also looking for sponsors for the event, and for their online event later next year. Find out more here & pop 25th November in your diary if you want to grab your free ticket!

Elect Her is hiring!

Hannah Stevens and the team are looking for a new Community & Comms Officer and a Programme Coordinator — deadline for the new roles is 6th December, check it out and apply here.

Vote now for the annual Civility in Politics Awards

Returning for their second year, the Civility in Politics Awards shine a spotlight on the people working in politics who have shown the possibility of civil, thoughtful and reflective public debate that spans across political divides. The awards are judged in four categories, Politician of the Year, Bridge-Builders of the Year, Campaigner of the Year and The Daniel Stevenson Award. Shortlists will be announced in late December, with the awards themselves taking place in January. Nominate and vote now — voting closes 8th December.

Less than ⅓ of secondary schools offer weekly lessons in politics or citizenship, says new report

Oliver Walkden at Young Citizens’ highlights the concerning findings of the recent Political Literacy APPG report surveying more than 3,300 secondary school teachers across the UK. The report found that less than one third of secondary schools offer regular weekly lessons on politics or citizenship — with just 1% of teachers feeling prepared to teach politics and 60% of teachers feeling responsible for developing their students’ political literacy skills. According to teachers, their training reportedly provides no preparation for teaching political literacy, despite declining youth voter turnout across democracies and increasing political polarisation. To reinforce the findings, a separate survey mentioned in the report finds that 72% of over 1,500 secondary school parents agree that it is important for their children to be politically literate, with just 31% believing that the curriculum supports this to a full extent.

Shared Future CIC planning new Climate Change Citizens’ Juries

Having recently released the recommendations of their North of England social tenants climate jury bringing together 30 social housing tenants to advise the Northern Housing Consortium on the best ways to retrofit their homes and green their neighbourhoods, they’re now planning new juries in Southwark, Furness and Copeland. Check out the video on the jury from the Northern Housing Consortium here.

Titus Alexander suggests engagement with Biden’s Summit for Democracy

President Biden’s Summit for Democracy is taking place this 9/10th December. Titus suggests petitioning Parliament to form an all-party Joint Committee on Strengthening Democracy to engage with the summit. See Titus’ suggestion document here. The International Coalition for Democratic Renewal writes here how the Biden summit has the capacity to push back on democratic backsliding of recent years and develop a common agenda to confront the new autocrats.

Jon Alexander writing new book on the Citizen Story

Jon’s new book, CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us hits the shelves early next year. Jon has put in the hard graft in an effort to change the story of the individual in society from consumer to citizen — but he’s also involved a lot of people from our community along the way, sharing ideas, reviewing drafts. Grab yourself a discount or pre-order a copy here.

Reboot GB launch Democracy Hubs™

Democracy Hubs™ is a new initiative by RebootGB to provide spaces for people to discuss politics and build trust without being pressured to join anything long term. Find out more and sign up here.

Integrity & Transparency

Join mySociety in responding to the DCMS data consultation

mySociety have submitted a response to the DCMS consultation, recommending a board position in the new ICO for FOI issues and focusing on FOI more generally. If you want to piggyback on their submission or make your submission, the deadline is this Friday — see here for more info.

Unpicking the standards system one part of wider assault on our democratic system, argues Toby James

Writing for The Conversation, UEA Professor of Politics and Public Policy, Toby James, argues that the sleaze affair of recent weeks, with the government within spitting distance from unravelling the carefully crafted standards systems, should not be viewed in isolation — but is part of a wider attack on our democratic institutions, including taking back control of the independence of the Electoral Commission. Toby recently submitted evidence to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Inquiry on the Elections Bill.

Democracy & Media

Novara Media temporarily pulled by YouTube, receives support from across the political spectrum

Novara Media’s YouTube channel was deleted without warning or provocation on 26th October. Novara Media is an independently regulated media publisher and amongst the top 50 most watched news and politics channel in the UK. After the deletion Novara Media received support from political commentators across the political spectrum.

Independent Media Association (IMA) receives new grant, launches new strategy

The Independent Media Association, formerly known as The Media Fund, is a cooperative focused on promoting the work of independent media. With their new £10k funding they’re looking to boost the work of independent media with short and snappy training on key topics including marketing and organising parliamentary briefings.

Funding Democracy

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and their charitable trust release information on their latest investments, including:

Democracy Volunteers funded £150k to scale up their observer capacity

Democracy Volunteers provide a valuable service in observing elections, with the likely issues caused by voter ID an expansion of volunteer observers of the UK makes sense, though not previously thought required, until now.

IPPR awarded £65k for democratic renewal push

It’s thought that the Institute for Public Policy Research have been looking into the possibilities of, and funding, a new Commission on Democracy — very exciting if true!

Fawcett Society funded to research the causes of women dropping out of Parliament

The £38k funding boost will allow Fawcett to investigate the causes of women MPs choosing to leave political life.

Spotlight on Corruption — Standards in Public Life

A new campaign is to be set up by Spotlight on Corruption having received £35,000 to promote integrity and the strengthening of standards regulating public life in the UK.

British Youth Council receives £18k to boost the case for Votes at 16

With Scottish and Welsh young people able to cast their votes at 16, attention now turns to England as the last holdout nation on the mainland. The new funding for BYC will help develop MP’s support for Votes at 16 in the UK Parliament.

#HandsOffOurVote receive a £7.5k boost

The voter ID campaign Hands Off Our Vote will utilise the new cash to provide coaching and training on developing impactful campaigns, as well as supporting mapping across the sector.

Fair Vote UK benefit from a £7.5k for a dedicated comms manager for the Election Bill Coalition

Part funding the role, the new role holder will significantly increase the capacity of the Democracy Defence Coalition at this critical inflection point in the campaign.

Open Rights Group get £7.5k to amp up their work on the Online Safety Bill

ORG will deploy the funding for a short five month campaign to inform and mobilise public activist against government and regulatory overreach through the Online Safety Bill.

TheatreState gets a £7k boost for inspiring the leaders of the future

Focused on reimagining political life, TheatreState’s new tranche of funding will help them deliver their programme Influencers for Change: a practical and creative journey into UK politics for the leaders of the future.

And Finally…

New research charts a path for creating openings for civic space in authoritarian settings

John Gaventa, Professor at the UK’s Institute of Development Studies (IDS), notes how a focus on developing capable democratic leaders working to push reform in their own countries, coupled with other measures detailed in their research, may chart a path forward — reversing the last decade’s global democratic recession.

Featured Upcoming Events

The Centre for Democracy maintains a full database of events from across the democracy sector.

View the database here — Have we missed something? Add it here!

Active Job Listings across the Democracy Sector

View the full database of upcoming job listings here — have we missed any? Add them via this form.

Apply ASAP

• Apply by 17 November: Head of Independent Group Office at Local Government Association (£69,832 — £78,883)
• Apply by 21 November: Head of Communications and Public Fundraising at Fix the Glitch (£37–42k)

Jobs with upcoming deadlines

• Open Deadline: Trustee at Speakers’ Corner Trust (Voluntary)
• Apply by 30 November: Executive Assistant to the Managing Director at Purpose (£35–46k)
• Open Deadline: Legislative Director at Fairvote UK (£38–45k)
• Apply by 1 December: Senior Media Relations Officer at Local Government Association (from £34.5k)
• Apply by 8 December: Investigator at Open Rights Group (£34k pro rata)
• Apply by 25 December: Community Organiser at Citizens UK (£31k)
• Apply by 12 December: Community and Communications Officer at Elect Her (£27k)
• Apply by 22 November: Consultant (Events and Network Coordination) at Open Rights Group
• Apply by 25 November: Finance and Administration Manager (Part Time) at mySociety (£35–40k)
• Apply by 25 November: HR and Wellbeing Manager (Part Time) at mySociety (£35–40k)
• Apply by 22 November: Marketing and Analytics Manager at Institute for Government (£40–50k)
• Apply by 30 November: Head of Policy & Litigation at Open Rights Group (£37–42k)
• Apply by 8 December: Policy Manager at Open Rights Group (£34k)
• Apply by 30 November: Freelance Policy Consultant at Open Rights Group
• Apply by 28 November: Policy and Campaigns Officer at Digital Action (£25–29k)
• Apply by 29 November: Policy Adviser at London Assembly (£44,388)
• Apply by 22 November: Programme Manager at The Politics Project (£28–35k)
• Apply by 12 December: Programme Coordinator at Elect Her (£27k)
• Apply by 22 November: Elections Assistant (Part Time) at Democracy Club (£25k)
• Open Deadline: Perl and Python Developer at mySociety (£40–46k)

Unsalaried job listings

• Apply by 3 December: Research/Communications Assistant at College Green Group

We’ve been experimenting with the format of this email and the accompanying meetup, if you have any feedback we’d be glad to hear it.

If you can’t make our weekly meetup, you can always drop in to the meetup document of the current fortnight and add to it by going to democracymeetup.org.uk.

Thanks to everyone who joined us this week for Democracy Check-Ins. This week we were joined by Titus Alexander of Democracy Matters, Joe Mitchell — Programme Manager at Public Interest News Foundation & The Centre for Democracy, Liz Crosbie — Project Director at RebootGB, Kyle Taylor — Director at Fair Vote UK, Myf Nixon — Comms Manager at mySociety, Alex King — Comms & Marketing at Shared Future CIC, Jon Morter — The Progressive Alliance, Hannah Stevens — Director at Elect Her, Thomas Barlow — Board Member at Independent Media Association, Oliver Walkden — Comms at Young Citizens and Diane Sims at Notwestminster.

Thank you all and see you next time, add to your calendar

James, Molly, and The Centre for Democracy team