Cooperative innovation: Ethnography in Lambeth Mark Picksley (Lambeth Council) Dr. Robin Pharoah (ESRO)
Dec 18, 2015
Cooperative innovation: Ethnography in Lambeth
Mark Picksley (Lambeth Council)Dr. Robin Pharoah (ESRO)
Background
Single Equality Scheme
• Knowledge gaps• Equality Impact
Assessments
Cooperative Council
• Early adopter pilots• Securing learning
Objectives
• Increase our understanding of communities
• Develop actionable recommendations
• Build skills within the council
The training model
ESRO ESRO
Ethnography:101
1hr wkshp
Ethnography:In Lambeth1hr wkshp
Ethnography:Analysis
1hr wkshp
Fieldwork homework
Recruitment
Ethnography:Fieldwork
preparation
Ongoing feedback, analysis
and support
Accompanied fieldwork
First ethnographic study: Gypsies and travellers Second ethnographic study
Shadowing of ESRO
Tackling difficult projects
• Black Caribbean dissatisfaction• Disengaged English Gypsies• The transgender agenda
Research. Investigation. Engagement.
Being brave researchers
1. Out of office. Out of hours
2. Challenging environments, challenging respondents
3. Embracing discomfort
1. Out of office. Out of hours.
• The RVT: a field site less ordinary• Challenging personal values• Learning a new language
3. Embracing discomfort
• Rumours and half-truths• Establishing contact• History of bad engagement
“This gipsy [sic] site disgraces the borough. It is a burden and a disaster for the local community. If accounts are true, it is also the scene of bizarre and cruel happenings.”- MP recorded in Hansard
Best community engagement/consultation 2013
London Borough of Lambeth / ESRO - Winner
Headline findings
• Challenging assumptions• Truly investigative• Uncomfortable truths
Black Caribbean dissatisfaction
• Does ‘housing’ drive negative perception?• The prominence of the ‘care services’ interface• The destruction of a community• No specific infrastructure… (victims of integration?)• Urban gardeners… the ethnographic gem
Transgender ‘community’
• Discussing ‘need’ in the community does not reflect diversity• There is inclusion and exclusion within the ‘community’• Bureaucratic language and services can exclude e.g. language on
forms, leisure centres etc.• Service visits can invade ‘private/safe spaces’• Travel fears
English gypsies
• Fear, stigma and insularity• Hidden population of women and children• A list of unmet needs• Tragedy is close• The need for new kinds of engagement
Research becomes actions
Transgender• Pan-London workshop• Trans-awareness training
Black Caribbean• Positive communications• Peer research and coproduced
action plan
Green Community Champions• Shaping the cooperative council
strategy and delivery models
Lives transformed
Gypsy and Travellers• Conference of partners • Single liaison officer• Improved communication
and engagement • £400,000 of regeneration
funds allocated for site improvements- Outhouse refurbishment- Additional plot- Community facility- Play area
Innovation just what we do
Further ethnographic studies• Financial resilience• Early years support
Refocused research budget
For copies of the research reports:
http://tinyurl.com/ESRO-LambethResearch
www.lambeth.gov.uk/equalitiesresearch