So far, in looking at the new evaluative practices, we have heard from people who are negotiating new ways to value the outcomes of change projects. Rather than arriving at reductive checkbox approaches, the tendency is to bring people into discussion, co-design engagements and sensory ways of ascertaining what the values are and how to gauge them. Measurement has given way to sensing and sense-making. It is less about what success looks like, more to do with how success feels.
In this conversation we will explore power. This is just one of the things we could look at as an example of how to structure a conversation that digs deep into a concept (see the MIRO for other angles). However, power, has the advantage of working at all levels of a change process, and hence influences both the project's success as well as how we might gauge that success. Collectively, we have also spent time on these concepts in both the implementational model as well as consideration of the evaluation and impact assessment. Keira Lowther focussed on power within evaluation in her podcast. There is now a heightened awareness of how these concepts play out in change projects.
In the MIRO exercise we started to breakdown power, negotiation, narratives and learning.
In preparation for this conversation, please sketch out your responses to the workshop sheets that Emily posted.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Also read: Lessons from Barcelona’s 8-year experiment in radical governance
In this article, the authors report on the activist, community-led, city council that has governed Barcelona for eight years and talks about the multiple layers of power that operate in and around the council.
In your first read, focus on the narrative. The authors, Mark and Paul Engler, give it a story-like structure, highlighting the tensions between conventional and community based groups, with narrative arcs that imply the drama we could expect when these and other power run up against each other. They highlight, too, the evocative language that Barcelona en Comú use, such as 'creating a “fearless city”', “However, we found that change was being blocked from above by the institutions. So… we decided to win back the city.”, “platform” rather than a “party”, “a confluence”, “A citizen platform doesn’t just aim to change local policies,” its leaders wrote. “It also aims to change the rules of the game and create new ways of doing politics.”
The story they tell brings to life the liveliness of the discussion we could imagine happening in Barcelona, especially at the time the Barcelona en Comú won control of council. Not only between the natural rivals of conventional and activist, but also within the activist communities.
In the second read, look for the layers of power that the authors explore: the peoples' power of 2008 when "more than six million Spaniards poured into public spaces across some 60 towns and cities, joining protests that included a May 15 mobilization in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square." Or the political parties supporting or opposing the Comuns. Through to Airbnb, a corporate power that was impacting on the housing in Barcelona and elsewhere.
The authors note that Kate Shea Baird who they quote, summarised the layers of power: “You get into City Hall, even a relatively powerful City Hall like Barcelona, and you realize that not all of the power is there,” she continued. “Airbnb has a lot of power. The Catalan government has a lot of power. The Spanish government has a lot of power. The media has a lot of power. Winning the election is the first step to getting anything done.”
...
In each of the cases we can identify similar layers of power, including speculation on the unsaid power relations between genders, occupational levels, city and country, Indigenous and non-indigenous, economically affluent and poor, and so on.
This allows us to cycle back to you and the power, equity and inequity that you identify through the Field Guide to Power Literacy (above). In turn, this work informs the evaluation and impact models you are developing for the case, keeping in mind power, collaborative negotiation of value (through discussion and interactions), the various narratives, and learning.
The questions arising from this article, and the work you've done into your own situation can direct our prototype conversation on Tuesday.