The Participation Network has moved home!
Between 2018 and early 2023 CELCIS hosted the Participation Network, a shared community space for people to collaborate and learn from each other. This fantastic community has entered a new chapter and has a new home with Staf (Scottish Throughcare & Aftercare Forum), who will provide continuity in hosting the Network’s events.
After some exciting discussions at the meeting of the Network in March 2023 there’s so much ahead for this brilliant community and CELCIS will continue to be part of the Steering Group.
The Network has always been a shared community and it’s great to enter a new stage with fresh energy and ideas driven by the Network’s members with Staf.
Staf has more than 20 years’ experience of bringing communities together through networks and forums and in recent years established a participation practitioners forum.
With the closure of Life Changes Trust, Staf currently hosts two of their legacy projects, The National leadership Network and The Learning Channel and funds/hosts the Champs Board Co-ordinator Network across Scotland. As active member of the Participation Network already, they are fully committed to supporting the Network’s evolution.
What this means for existing members of the Network
To continue to be part of the Participation Network, just sign up to a new distribution list which Staf will manage for the Network. This will be used to share details of upcoming Participation Network events and any accompanying resources, just as CELCIS did over the last five years.
The Network will continue to hold the same ethos and open forum for anyone interested in participation practice. There is no fee required.
Sign up here to remain part of the Participation Network: https://www.staf.scot/participation-network-sign-up
What is the Participation Network?
The Participation Network is a group of people who care about children and young people. It is a space for people to collaborate and learn from each other and acts as a community of practice, encouraging positive changes and collaboration. The Participation Network aims to ensure that participation is carried out in ways that are safe, ethical and meaningful.
But participation also needs to be useful, engaging and fun, so we hope that through the Participation Network you will find that, with a mixture of larger events and smaller meetings for sharing good practice, there is something for everyone!
Why should I join the Participation Network?
Our events and meetings cover many aspects of participation. We want to hear different voices from our sector so that we can share good practice, learn from different participation approaches and cencourage good practice. We are a friendly and inclusive group, always keen to build supportive networks, so that we can spread the word about good participation work by individuals and organisations. And through our community, we often tackle some of the ‘hot topics’ in our sector, like ACEs and mental health, so that we can help each other to maintain proper values and guidelines for participation.
How can The Participation Network help you?
See what the members say
Ruth Harvey has been the Rights and Participation officer at the Aberlour Childcare Trust for three years. Here she explains how being a member of the Partycipation network has helped her build up a range of contacts across the sector and how she has learned from some of the thought leaders in the child care sector.
Peter Tormey works at Napier University and describes here how he engages with the network to learn from others in the sector and also to share some of what he has learned working with students and helping them to thrive.
Cathy Begley is the Participation Officer at the Office of the Children and Young Peoples Commissioner Scotland. She works to ensure that her office involves children and young people in everything they do.
In this video, members discuss how being part of the Partycipation Network has helped them during the COVID-19 health crisis and how learning from each other has given them useful tips for their own projects, both large and small.
There are lots of resources to help in your participation activities.