Case study taken from:
Learning Labs - Evaluation of the Pilot Projects 
University College Northampton

The Community Forum is an umbrella organisation representing sixty-one of the ninety ethnic and community groups in the area. Some 50% of the groups are Pakistani in origin with the rest comprising of Bangladeshi, Irish, Afro/Caribbean, Somali, Yemeni, Sudanese, Chinese and indigenous residents. The forum was created in January 1996 to provide support for, and develop sustainability within, community groups. It has a full time development manager and administrative assistant with a management board of voluntary members representing the forum's affiliated groups.

It meets six times per year through two ordinary general meetings, one annual general meeting and 3 board meetings. These meetings tend to focus on administrative and financial matters, are dependent on active volunteering and have, to date, provided few opportunities for reflecting on the day to day concerns of local citizens.

Following a wide ranging discussion about services in their community with a representative of the City Council a learning lab was suggested to consider those concerns and as a useful way forward. The principal aims of the lab were firstly, to provide some space for forum members to come together to take stock and think about their future. Secondly, to offer opportunities for community group members, particularly those who do not regularly attend the forum's business meetings, to explore issues of concern to them, and to consider how those concerns could best be addressed.

There was no fixed duration for the lab and so far, two meetings have taken place. The evening meetings were publicised by the forum sending out information to its affiliated organisations. However, a recruitment problem was encountered in that the publicity for the initiative coincided with the month of fasting for many of the groups and the response was less than hoped for. Nevertheless, the first two meetings attracted sixteen and twenty-one participants respectively, representing some of the major ethnic groups. A significant number of those participants had not had any direct involvement in the work of the forum previously. The meetings were facilitated by a development officer from the City Council who had assisted in setting up the lab.

There was some initial scepticism and concern was expressed by representatives of more than one ethnic group who said "we are sick and tired of consultation so we hope this isn't another name for doing nothing". Also demands were made that the local authority should listen to local people. One member suggested "the local authority has to be much better at listening to the community'.

Given the variety of cultures within the community there are problems of access to such activities as the lab. In some cases it is difficult for women to participate at any time and, particularly, in the evening yet many potential participants would be unable to meet during the day or at weekends because of their normal hours of work and/or times of religious observance.

The notion of community based labs as distinct from workplace based labs was seen to be a positive move by the authority. It was suggested that there could be annual community forum labs looking at: service delivery, local concerns (complete with action plans), implementation, capacity building, and labs developed to assist the interaction between community groups and the City Council.

To avoid cynicism developing lab members suggested that there has to be a commitment from the principal decision makers in the authority and that proper attention must be paid to outcomes. The first round of lab meetings decided that it would be helpful to be able to 'hold decision makers to account' by inviting them to a post lab meeting to explore how decisions of the lab could be implemented.

Widening participation was seen to be vital for the success of community based learning labs, particularly where there are cultural differences. This will require careful consideration of access issues including time of day/evening, day of week, duration, location, religious observance and ethnic/gender mix for meetings. Careful consideration of how and when to publicise labs of this type was also believed to be important in accommodating cultural differences.

Some participants saw labs as a potential stimulating way of involving individuals not particularly keen to engage in the more administrative and political work of the community.

Given the nature of participation in voluntary organisations there was perceived to be a danger of 'commitment overload' in providing an additional activity. Members suggested that greater success might be achieved where the concept of a learning lab becomes part of the normal way of working in organisations rather than another additional initiative.

Local authorities and other agencies should ensure wide dissemination of information and initiatives to community groups to ensure they have a reasonably comprehensive awareness of the opportunities for participation in decision-making. The groups themselves have a responsibility for ensuring this information is disseminated among their members.

Learning labs may have the capacity for engendering new ways of working within community organisations as much as providing an interface between organisations and local authorities.

Contacts for further information

Birmingham City Council web site

Tarik Chawdry Birmingham City Council

Steve Trivett Birmingham City Council

Last Updated: 05/2002