Press
Here you can read press coverage of recent Governance International activities.
March 2012
Direct democracy, social media and public participation are now high on the agenda of Austrian local government. The journal ÖGZ of the Austrian Local Government Association highlights in the March issue (pdf download) an article by Elke Loeffler on Austrian good practices in public service co-production. The article features the Austrian project Close To which enables and encourages young offenders to teach their peers with their first-hand experience to drive responsibly. Close To shows how a traditional service – driving lessons – can be made much more effective through co-production. As Elke argues Austrian local government needs to collaborate more effectively with service users who know and care to transform public services at local level.
January 2012
Elke Loeffler wrote an article for the Guardian titled 'Public service compact to revolutionise services'. Click here to read the article.
What are the biggest challenges facing the UK public sector? Join the debate of The Guardian’s Public Leaders Network and read what Elke and other panelists had to say about this issue by clicking this link
December 2011
The Guardian announces that Elke Loeffler been nominated to be among the eight members of the new editorial advisory board of the Public Leaders Network. The other board members are:
- Lyn McDonald, Director, Tell Us Once
- Professor John Bolton, Interim Director, Adult and Community Services, London Borough of Westminster
- Valerie Pearce, Director, Improving Customer Experience Programme, and Head of City Services, Brighton and Hove City Council
- Helen Randall, Partner and Head of the Public Sector Commercial Department, Trowers & Hamlins
- Emer Coleman, Director for Digital Engagement, Government Digital Services
- Chris Sherwood, Director of Innovation and Development, Scope
- Professor Alison Petch, Head of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Science
November 2011
Elke Loeffler travelled to Finland to give a keynote speech at the Finnish Society of Public Administration Conference in Tampere. The speech was titled 'Public Sector Co-Production: New Resources for the Public Sector in an Age of Austerity?'. During this trip Elke also gave a seminar in Helsinki to the Finish Local Government Association on 'Public service co-production - what it is, why to do it, and how to do it?'.
Click here to read a summary of the presentation (in Finnish) on page 46. 
Watch this video of an interview that Elke gave at the event.
Alternatively you can watch the video on the Kunta.tv website by clicking here.
September 2011
‘Fix my society': more citizen participation through open government?’ We think the answer is yes but only when citizens are provided with the skills to make effective use of open data. The topic of the Governance International session at the Open Government Barcamp in Berlin on 29-30 September attracted a lot of interest. Our blog on Open Government summarises our views on developments in Germany (click to read). This article by Innovative Verwaltung, the leading journal for public managers in Germany, outlines the event (click here) and includes a picture (right) of the Governance International session. You may also read the interview with Elke Loeffler in the DEMOS Monitor “verwaltungen-werden-vom-dienstleister-zum-ermoglicher“ (in German).
August 2011
The Governance International team facilitated a consultation event in Argyll & Bute to bring together commissioners and providers with a view to improving partnership working between the two and how best to develop a new grant allocation scheme. The outcomes from the event and progress made moving forward are documented on both Argyll & Bute Council's website and on the Carnegie UK Trust's website.
July 2011
Tony Bovaird, Elke Loeffler, and Frankie Hine-Hughes produced an article explaining what public service co-production is, the changes in relationships that it creates and why it is important for the future of public services. The article has been published on Sift Media's on MyCustomer.com and PublicTechnology.net websites. Click here to read the article on the MyCustomer.com site or click this link (http://bit.ly/r0OsWA) to see the article at PublicTechnology.net
April 2011
Elke Loeffler briefed 60 participants of the Innovators Club on recent developments of the Big Society in the UK. The national conference of the Local Government Association DStGB focussed on the “Smart City” as the future model of local government in Germany. Click here to download the German summary of the event.
February 2011
Tony Bovaird gave his views on the Big Society at the Local Society Seminar organised by the Urban Forum, Involve and Local Government Leadership in London. View his video clip below and join the debate at http://www.localsociety.org.uk/.
You may also want to read some blog articles from some of the participants at http://www.localsociety.org.uk/blog-write-ups.html
January 2011
The Italian Department for Public Services features an interview with Elke Loeffler on the role of citizens in public services on its Quality Management Portal. If you want to practice your Italian, read http://www.qualitapa.gov.it/sotto-la-lente/newsletter/newsletter-numero-25/
December 2010
Our case study on the Turkish neighbourhood association Çigdemin in Ankara has raised a lot of interest in Turkish newspapers - Turkish readers may have a look at the articles published by two major Turkish newspapers
Habertuerk Newspaper (click image to enlarge):
Haberi Newspaper (click image to enlarge):