At Involve, we help communities and governments make decisions together through structured dialogue and deliberation. We bring people together to tackle complex issues, from local planning to national policy through intentional conversations.
But we know that without considered systemic and individual planning for inclusion, equity and accessibility these processes can unintentionally exclude people: through inaccessible activities, formats that favour certain communication styles, historical social norms, hidden power, or blind spots about who's missing from the room entirely.
Disability Working Group
What we do: This group ensures disability inclusion isn't an afterthought; it's built into our work from the start. We share what's working (and what isn't) in our public engagement processes, and create space for colleagues with disabilities to connect and support each other.
Why it matters: When disabled people can't participate in democratic processes, those processes aren't truly democratic. Our working group scrutinises our methods and practices to consider what works well for different disabilities and applies our learning to strengthen the accessibility of our processes. We show what inclusive engagement looks like in practice, from choosing genuinely accessible venues for everyone and creating materials to facilitation approaches that welcome different communication styles. The group is led by disabled staff and carers and also serves as an internal peer support group.
The impact: Better processes, stronger outcomes. When we design with accessibility from the beginning, we reach more people, hear more perspectives, and help communities make better decisions. By supporting each other internally, we build the resilience and insight needed to champion accessibility in every project.
Power and Privilege Working Group
What we do: This group looks at how power operates within democracy, participation, and decision making. We look at who is able to influence decisions, whose knowledge and experiences are valued, and how democratic processes can unintentionally reinforce the status quo. As a group, we work together to challenge harmful patterns in our own organisation and in our work with partners, so that participation is more inclusive, accountable, and power is genuinely shared.
Why it matters: Without addressing historic and ongoing inequality and injustice, decision making processes can continue to centre the voices and experiences of those who already hold power. We believe building a healthier democracy that supports everyone means recognising and challenging the systems that sustain exclusion, discrimination, violence, and unequal access to power.
The impact: This work shapes everything: how we design engagement, who we partner with, and how we show up as an organisation. It is ongoing and often uncomfortable work that is necessary to shape participatory processes that better reflect the needs, experiences, and knowledge of communities across the UK.
Wellbeing Working Group
What we do: This group focuses on creating a supportive, responsive culture within Involve. We run regular health and wellbeing surveys, provide access to an Employee Assistance Programme, and act on what our team tells us they need to thrive at work.
Why it matters: We can't create inclusive, caring democratic processes if we don't practise that internally. Deliberative work asks a lot of us, we hold space for difficult conversations, navigate community conflicts, and support people through complex decisions. Our wellbeing work ensures we model the kind of supportive, responsive culture we want to see in civic life.
The impact: When our team feels supported and heard, we bring our best selves to the communities we work with. We're more creative, more resilient, and better able to hold the complexity that good democratic work requires. It's about walking the talk: building the culture internally that we're trying to help create externally.
