The Delivery Team is made up of staff from Democratic Society (Demsoc) and Involve and by officers from Newham Council.

Facilitators

Mel Stevens. Mel is the Director of Programmes and Practice at Demsoc. Mel is a specialist in developing strategy and practice for all forms of evidence-based decision making and participation. Mel is a lead facilitator for the Newham Citizen Assembly.

Mat Basford. Mat joined Demsoc in 2015 and has since built up his practical experience and understanding of how, and why, to give citizens greater involvement in our democracy. Mat is an experienced facilitator and researcher, having worked on other participative processes around the country.

Pandora Ellis. Pandora is a Network & Delivery Manager at Demsoc. Before joining the team, Pandora was a voice & participation lead and manager in local government. She is a specialist in local democracy and citizenship. Pandora started the West Sussex Youth Cabinet, which is still going strong more than 21 years after it was launched. Pandora is an experienced facilitator having worked on the team in previous assemblies around the UK.

Chris Tuke. Chris is an Associate at Demsoc. She lives in Sussex, and has extensive experience both in local and central government and is passionate about working with communities to improve the way we work together. She's also not bad at golf!

Kevin Ditcham. Kevin is an Associate at Demsoc. His background is in community education and youth participation where he developed the national young people’s volunteering programme as part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018. He is passionate about the engagement and involvement of people in public life. Kevin is an experienced facilitator having worked on the team in previous assemblies around the UK.

Michael Christov. Michael is an Associate at Demsoc and an experienced facilitator who is passionate about the potential of citizens to help governments make the best decisions. Michael designs services and policies in Newham’s neighbouring borough, Waltham Forest, working together with residents, community organisations, businesses and academic institutions to solve complex local challenges such as food insecurity, Covid-19, hate crime and unemployment.

Tina Favier. Tina is an Associate at Demsoc. Tina works in local government and has experience of working in the NHS, the voluntary sector and education. She has a background and passion for working with local communities and health and wellbeing and finding ways to enable communities to thrive. Tina is an experienced facilitator and lives in Worthing in West Sussex.

Rachel Nixseaman. Rachel Nixseaman is an Associate at Involve and has facilitated participation projects across the UK. Rachel is an experienced facilitator with a background in youth and community work, and is passionate about empowering people to engage with democratic processes, shaping the world around them.

Louise Tennekoon. Louise is an Associate at Demsoc and is a facilitator, writer, coach and mum. She is passionate about sustainability and empowering people to imagine and create a better future. She is an experienced facilitator having worked on a number of Citizens’ Assemblies around the country.

Nikki Wilson. Nikki is an Associate at Involve and has been working in the social enterprise and charity sector for 20 years, with a keen and growing interest in participatory approaches to social and environmental change. She's an experienced facilitator and has enjoyed supporting a variety of online citizen engagement processes. She is based near Chelmsford, in Essex.

Tim Hughes. Tim is the Director at Involve. During his time at Involve, Tim has advised national, devolved and local governments in the UK on designing and facilitating effective participatory processes. He has overseen and co-lead facilitated large deliberative processes, including the Citizens' Assembly on Brexit and Citizens' Assembly on Social Care.

event management, production and Technical support

Alex Zur-Clark. Alex is a project officer at Demsoc. Alex has worked operations for political advocacy, accounts management for advertising and in broadcast TV.

Euan Platt. Euan is an associate at Involve. He is a co-design Manager at Young Scot and has a background in youth and community development, and is passionate about working with people to achieve social change.

Note takers

A whole host of council officers are stepping forward to support note keeping in the sessions.

participant liaison

Pandora Ellis. See above.