The GM Participation Playbook Launch!

What if people across Greater Manchester weren’t just heard, but had real agency to shape the places they live and the support they receive?

What if everyone had the tools, resources and permission to actively shape decisions, so together we could grow a Greater Manchester where everyone can live well?

Now is the moment to press play on participation!

Across the UK, trust in institutions is falling and too many communities feel decisions are made about them rather than with them. At the same time, public services and leaders want to work differently, but are often held back by outdated processes.

That’s why Greater Manchester is launching the GM Participation Playbook: Shaping how we Live Well Together – a practical, co-designed guide that brings together tried-and-tested participatory approaches, from citizens’ assemblies and participatory budgeting to co-production and digital democracy. More than just a set of tools, the Playbook is designed to spark ideas, build confidence and equip people to work differently with communities at every level.

And in true #GMLiveWell style, you won’t just hear about participation – you’ll experience it.

Some of the Playbook’s featured methodologies will be brought to life at the event, giving you first-hand insight into what it feels like to participate and actively shape decisions collectively.

On the day, you’ll:

• Celebrate the launch with Mayor Andy Burnham, VCFSE partners, NHS and local authority colleagues, national funders, and community leaders.
• Get your own copy of the GM Live Well Participation Playbook, learn about its ambitions, and explore the participatory methods it features.
• Hear directly from colleagues and communities across Greater Manchester who are already using these approaches – discovering what they’ve learned and the real impact of putting people at the heart of decisions.
• Meet and connect with others who are driving the movement for community power and community-led change and work together to begin designing a participatory process of your own.
• Contribute to a Greater Manchester Live Well Participation Charter, a shared commitment to action!

As the event takes place on Remembrance Day, we will pause together at 11:00am for a one-minute silence and time for reflection.

So come and join us – as we press PLAY on launching the Playbook, celebrate participatory approaches, and continue growing the movement where Greater Manchester’s communities don’t just have a voice, but the resources and power to shape decisions.

This is more than participation: it’s about communities leading the way, and services creating the conditions to support that leadership. Together, we can shape a Greater Manchester where everyone can Live Well.

#GMLiveWell
gmlivewell@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

Why Community Participation Matters?

Across the UK, people are proud of where they live, but many feel that decisions about their neighbourhoods and services are made to them rather than with them. A recent National Lottery survey found that while 55% of people feel pride in their local area, nearly half say residents lack influence over how both their community and local services could be improved.

As a result, communities are feeling increasingly disconnected from local governments and public services, trust in public decision-making are at an all-time low and too often policies are failing to reflect the realities and needs of everyday life.

Participation reframes how public decisions are made by positioning communities as genuine partners and actors in shaping the services they use and the places they live. There is no single way to do participation and that’s part of its strength!

Different approaches/methodologies can be used on their own or combined to suit your needs. For example, participatory budgeting gives communities a direct say in how resources are spent. Citizens’ assemblies create space for residents to deliberate and shape policy, while co-production puts lived experience at the centre of service design. While each method looks different in practice and produces varying outcomes, when used meaningfully, participatory approaches can:

- Enable communities to be heard and supported with the resources and skills to make change happen/making their communities healthier and happier

- Design preventative and more effective services, support, and information with communities, not for them

- Deepen trust and accountability between people and public services

Communities and organisations across Greater Manchester already have a strong track record of testing and piloting participatory approaches. While much of this has happened in pockets of innovation, now is the moment to scale that learning through GM Live Well.

With political commitment to working differently with communities, a refreshed Greater Manchester Strategy, and strategic investment in Live Well centres, spaces, and offers, GM Live Well provides the platform to spread best practice, embed participatory approaches across the system, and grow community power at scale.

This is about more than participation; it’s about enabling communities to shape decisions the way while ensuring public services create the conditions to support that leadership. Greater Manchester has the experience, the ambition, and the opportunity to show how this can be done and to set a new standard for how places work with the people they serve.

What is GM Live Well?

GM Live Well is Greater Manchester’s commitment to ensuring great everyday support is available in every neighbourhood. It will tackle health, social and economic inequalities by changing how we work with communities and in public services to grow opportunities for everyone to Live Well.

GM Live Well will ensure everyone has the support, control, connections and resources to lead a healthy happy life.

#GMLiveWell

gmlivewell@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk