Including the voice of lived experience in policymaking webinar summary
Ensuring the voice of lived experience is clearly high on the agenda for many in Greater Manchester if the attendance and engagement at our recent workshop is anything to go by.
Our webinar, delivered Tuesday 10th June, gave participants the opportunity to hear more about a set of principles developed by Greater Manchester Equality Alliance (GM=EqAl) on including the voice of lived experience in policy making, as well as best practice around remuneration and overcoming barriers to power-sharing.
The webinar was designed to support colleagues in the public sector in Greater Manchester to build confidence to take action to include the voice of lived experience in their work.
The webinar covered our key principles for including the voice of lived experience in policy making as in our guidance document. These include sharing power and decision making, valuing lived and learned experience equally, providing inclusive and respectful remuneration(payment), involving people early and continuously, and offering practical support and accessibility.
It was great to see an engaged group of over 30 attendees joining in the conversation during the session. Such discussions included the definition of ‘meaningful involvement’, barriers, what needs to be in place to enable this kind of work, remuneration, and more. A big thank to everyone that contributed.
During the webinar, we were joined by three speakers who shared their insights and experiences of including the voice of lived experience in their work - a massive thank you to them for giving their time to the session.
Josie Sykes, Senior Participation Programme Manager at GMCA, shared more about her work around embedding meaningful participation with colleagues in GMCA, GM Fire and Rescue and Transport for Greater Manchester.
Emily Howlett, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, spoke about an approach to including lived experience in research that has made significant impact. Parents with lived experience participated in the design of a study to save babies from permanent hearing loss, which helped the study to get funding and ethical approval. Thanks to this study and the involvement of parents with lived experience, 11 babies have so far being saved from hearing loss across Greater Manchester. This work could save the NHS around £5million every year by reducing the need for interventions such as cochlear implants, clearly emphasising the impact of meaningful involvement in this example.
Finally, Alexia Mitton, Assistant Director of Communications and Engagement at NHS Greater Manchester, shared an experience where they have gotten it wrong in the past, showing how even the best meaning efforts don’t always meet the needs of everyone but highlights the importance of reflecting on and learning from these experiences.
Learn more
- Watch GM=EqAl members share more about why it’s important to include the voice of lived experience in poly making
- Find out more about GM=EqAl, who deliver the Equalities work stream of The Accord
- Join VSNW and The Kings Fund on Monday 14th July. They're bringing people together from across sectors to ask: How do we make the shift to a real ‘Do With’ approach, not just in theory, but in practice?.
Would your organisation benefit from training on including lived experience in their work? Get in touch with us to explore options. Email Lucy at lucy.north@vsnw.org.uk
