Building equitable futures

About Agora

We help public, private and community-led organisations to devolve power to members of the public.

In politically volatile times, amid growing inequity, organisations need to transform to survive. We support organisations to do this through co-designing policy, shaping strategy and resolving problems with members of the public.

Agora tackles distrust, disillusionment and inequity at their roots, using democratic deliberation, co-design and other participatory methods.

Drawing on our own and others’ experiences, we are committed to creating meaningful collaboration and democratic decision-making, working alongside people from underrepresented and overlooked groups.

A circular photo of colourful patterned and plain mosaic tiles. The colour of tiles are mainly blues and greens but with splashes of white, orange and red

What we do

A white woman with short hair sits at a table and gestures with her hands as she talks. Next to her is a Black woman in a headscarf holding a cup. Both are engaged in conversation with people outside of the image

Image credit: Centre for Ageing Better

We are experts in public participation, strategy (co)design, policy change, democratic deliberation and community building. We use our backgrounds to provide research-led and practice-tested services.

Not everyone will have come across some of the terms we use so below is a quick guide.

Co-design is a participatory approach to designing solutions, policies, services or products with the people who use or would be impacted by them.

Public participation can also be referred to as public engagement or involvement. It is the practice of involving individuals in democratic processes such as consultations, voting, campaigning or policy change.

Democratic deliberation or deliberative public engagement is an approach that allows time and space for people to consider information, discuss issues in depth and come to a considered view. This takes place in specific forums, examples of these are Citizens’ Assemblies and Citizens’ Juries.

A good source for information on these terms and public engagement more broadly, is Involve.org.uk’s Knowledge Base.

Learn more about the services we offer in these areas here.

A cluttered desk with cityscape and portrait photographs. The image also shows a laptop, vibrant notebooks, stationery and papers. A white woman's hand is rested lightly on top of one of the photographs.

How we can support your work

  • public participation

  • deliberative democracy

  • impact measurement

  • strategy and policy co-design

  • research

  • radical governance

  • addressing inequity

Learn more about our services and how they can support your work here.

All image credit unless stated otherwise: Beth Knowles Casas