Energy Neighbours - can you help shape the project from the start?
The funding for Energy Neighbours has been agreed and recruitment is underway for the first jobs. It’s a busy and exciting setting up a project.
Energy Neighbours is a TSL Kirklees project, so TSL Kirklees is accountable for the money and for demonstrating that the project makes a difference, reporting to funders. So far, so business-as-usual. However, this project is more about community development than delivering specified services. So what does this mean?
Short version (if you don’t want to read below):
Community involvement in decisions is a key part of the project. If you are interested in shaping key decisions like recruitment decisions or office location please register your interest and tell us how you can help with this short online form now: Energy Neighbours mailing list or you can leave the mailing list using the same link.
Continue reading below:
A community development approach
Because this is a developmental project, the Energy Neighbours ‘deliverables’ or targets are not the be all and end all of the project. For example, one target is to produce energy audits and plans for 400 homes. This could be achieved by sending in experts to do the plans, and ‘tick’ it is done. Instead Energy Neighbours aims to work with communities and community organisations to work out how to do the audits and which homes, working together, in ways which build relationships, skills, knowledge and confidence in that community.
This might mean a volunteer programme, a new community business, virtual audits, street parties with energy experts or some other way of doing it. It means thinking about what residents want and how it links with other services and activities. Energy Neighbours staff and resources will support communities to do it their way and learn.
The point of the project is not to deliver a ‘service’ to community organisations and residents as if they were ‘customers’ – it is to build relationships, communication, structures and ways of learning which enable communities to decide how they want to impact on fuel poverty and energy use, and to do it together. The same outcomes are ‘delivered’ but in a different way.
This focus on developing community capacity requires us to draw on approaches like Human Learning Systems, Community Organisers, Local Wealth Building, New Economics, Co-production and Asset Based Community Development.
These approaches recognise that everyone has capacity and power and that culture, organisation structures, information systems, physical spaces and relationships shape how that power is used and who benefits. These approaches value relationships and ways of working together, valuing lots of contributions and perspectives, being flexible and responsive to individuals, and recognise that this can have real impact as an alternative to hierarchical, target driven, ‘customer’ approaches that dominate services delivery.
This all sounds very grand and principled, but what does it mean in practice?
It means taking time to listen and share information and finding ways to involve those living and working in communities in decisions that affect them. It means reviewing how the project is going in terms of real-life impact and working out what works, where and when and for who.
It means recognising that misunderstandings and even conflict are part of learning – and that it is how we handle these situations that determines whether we build trust and a stronger partnership longer term.
The new project staff will be given some training and support and encouraged to develop these ways of working. The project will share progress and involve community voices in decisions through a quarterly forum and an annual conference too. Like all projects, records will be kept, evidencing decisions, spend, benefits and beneficiaries.
The first decisions for Energy Neighbours – involving you
We would like to involve you in some of the first key decisions. Decisions to be made soon are:
- Who will be appointed as Project Manager, Project Coordinator and Information and Data Manager?
- Where will their office base be?
- Who will be appointed as Community Energy Development Workers for Batley & Heckmondwike, South West Dewsbury, North Huddersfield and South Huddersfield (4 posts)?
- Where will Community Energy Development Workers have an desk / office base (4 places)
If you’ve never been involved in these sort of decisions, but think you might like to help then please get in touch. We would love to have a mix of perspectives and experience to support good decision making.
Can you get involved in or help with these decisions? Can you help others in the community to get involved?
Complete this short form to register your interest in getting involved.
Supporting your involvement
We do have some funds and can contribute to organisation costs in releasing you to get involved (for example, for job interview panels). If you are not involved in an organisation, we can help with travel expenses.
We recognise that there may be potential conflicts of interest, as there can be in all decisions about money and people, but particularly as community interests are often intertwined. We are confident that these can be managed and we will be open and clear about how this works.
Thanks for reading,
Tom Taylor