2.Central Aspiration of the Authors or ‘Why’ we are doing this.

After Covid 19, many Citizens may feel it is worth trying to develop a recipe for a ‘new normal way of working’, where one size does not fit all, but they become Enabled to change their local world, for personal benefit and that of their fellow citizens. The present authors believe we are at a time and stage where to try new ways of working are entirely now possible and by way of example look at the current take up of video conferencing/zoom during Covid 19, when the technology has been available for over 25 years. The journey of self-development and enablement, as with anyone, starts with oneself and locally, at any time you are ready. There is no need to wait for the fairy tale, good fairy, to come to the rescue. Ideally it will also lead citizen to become empowered to enact desired change.

In terms of a participation in decision making, we believe that the better educated, representing about 35% in a  country like Germany, are more likely to participate in local constituency democratic decision making processes; this is according to an article on social practice in “Der Spiegel” (2016); whereas the research on participatory democracy by Parry (1972) suggests that the uneducated seem to depend more on stealth and direct democracy, rather than democracy through active participation. However, we need to improve such a situation for the disenfranchised.

Citizens Enablement might well be a Utopian dream, but now might be a good time to help create a different future for citizens and communities and accept the recent studies undertaken by the Royal Society Arts which begin to show how this could be achieved. This is no matter how difficult such a cultural change might be, as it will involve social, as well as personal, interactions and therefore changes in social relationships. It is clear that different cultures will require a different type of societal contract, for the world does not any more create a linear perspective for the development of anyone. But now is at least the time to try to enrol and engage citizens in a better way.

The PUMR approach on which this paper is based was honed into good working practice by the PASCAL International Observatory (Generic Process B, page 31). It was designed, bearing in mind normal cultural biases, and has been shown to create Citizen Enablement of the highest order. So, for instance, both Peoples Voice Media and Community Reporters projects (Case Studies 4 and 8, pages 50 & 59) show how citizens can, and do, give full voice to their own needs and wants.