Will you be part of Local Democracy Week 2020?

Will you be part of Local Democracy Week 2020?

Citizens talking about local democracy

Join us for Local Democracy Week 2020

Local Democracy Week is a way of helping people to be part of civic life and to have a voice in the issues that really matter in our local communities. We’re encouraging our citizens, councillors and local organisations to get involved by organising an online event or a safe activity anywhere in Kirklees during October 2020 that helps people to get involved in local democracy.  We’re also looking for stories to share from local citizens and organisations who are actively involved in making our local places even better.

We will help you to promote what you’re doing, and we’ll also be organising some activities ourselves. Join our email list for the latest updates.


When is Local Democracy Week?

Local Democracy Week is held around 15th October every year. Local Democracy Week 2020 runs from 12th to 18th October. Our programme will include safe activities or online events happening any time in or around October 2020, plus stories about things you’ve already organised or got involved in.


Who can take part?

Local Democracy Week is for everyone. In previous years we’ve been proud to work with our citizens and with many local organisations, including community groups, schools, the University of Huddersfield, libraries, museums and local businesses, as well as national partners. Most things in our programme are open to everyone, but we’re also always keen to include events for children and young people, events for staff, and activities that include our local councillors.


What kind of activities can be part of it?

Anything that helps people to be part of local democracy and civic life can be included. We won’t be having any big events in local venues this year (Kirklees Council are currently asking people not to hold events that are likely to attract crowds of more than 30 people – also see the latest Covid-19 restrictions for Kirklees), but here are a few other ideas…

1. Getting together – it’s more important than ever for us to stay connected. Can you help people to meet their local councillors by organising an online discussion or get-together for people where you live?

2. Everyday democracy activities – could you try out some of our creative everyday democracy activities for children and young people in your school or in your community?

3. Share your story – do you have a story to share about how you’ve already got involving in making your local place better? This could be something you’ve done as a citizen, or something that your organisation is working on. We’re looking for stories to share.

4. Celebrating our democratic heritage – can you help inspire people to find out more about our heritage and get involved in our local democracy today? Previous activities have included suffragette walks and ways of exploring local archives.

5. Discussions or debates – can you get people talking and help people to get their questions answered? You could do this by using online tools, or by finding safe ways of sharing ideas in your neighbourhood.

6. Saying thank you – are you doing something to say thank you to local groups or volunteers who have been incredibly busy finding ways to help other people over the past few months?

Are you already planning something around this time that helps people to have a voice, get involved in their community or learn about local democracy? Please let us know what you’re working on so we can include you in our promotion.


How to get involved

We’re keen to hear from local organisations and others who might want to be part of Local Democracy Week in Kirklees. Interested? Let’s work together to promote local democracy.

Please email us at: Democracy@Kirklees.gov.uk

We welcome new ideas for local democracy activities. Please email us or tweet us @kirkdemocracy if you’ve got something to share.

We’d love to hear your ideas.


European Local Democracy Week

European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) was launched to foster citizen participation and promote democracy at the level that’s closest to citizens. This year’s theme is:

Local democracy: building trust
– Co-designing local democracy together with citizens
– Practising open government

We think this fits in well with the aims of the Kirklees Democracy Commission – we’ve made a commitment to grow a stronger local democracy here in Kirklees, from the ground up.

We hope you’ll want to be a part of it.

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