LIST OF PANELS

Given the complexity of our problems today, policy problems require multi-sector solutions, and there is a growing need for solutions to be generated from the community. In this panel, we would like to explore the key challenges related to this complexity around priority setting and our understanding of which actions will have the most significant positive impact and create the conditions for effective integration of efforts. We would also like to explore questions such as:

-With the nature of the complexity of our problems, how does the community mobilize around collaborative, cooperative, practical solutions around priority setting and establishing reciprocal relationships between citizens and government?

-How can we describe the conditions and actions, and behaviours of communities responding to complex problems, and what does it tell us about what is required from the government?

-Finally, how can activating communities, community leaders, and advocates form some part of the solution in priority setting and understanding practical solutions that can be undertaken on the ground?

We are looking for papers using transformative, critical and anti-oppressive frameworks. We recognize the need to flip the orthodoxy of who is an expert. How might we go to the community as experts for advising on the policy question; advising on what has been done before; advising on how to interpret the information collected; and representing the information? How do we remain accountable to communities? 

What roles can the community play in the agenda-setting stage in terms of defining the problem, defining what should be prioritized and what is needed? How might we resource communities to mobilize effectively so that they might respond to their needs? 

How can policy-makers listen and practice social-justice-oriented learning? How can policymakers include communities in ways that are not performative or tokenistic? How do we define inclusivity and representation in the agenda-setting stage?