Bulletin #9, January 2020

Our Call to Action, launched at the end of last year, identified the change we want to see: ‘a radical shift to liberate the power of people and community’. It also set out what we can do to achieve that change, by sharing power, changing practices, changing organisations, and bringing about collaborative leadership. Thanks to the many people in the network who contributed to its development.

Nothing we propose is new or fantastical. It is all grounded in the reality of experience from across our network. That is what makes it so powerful, and indeed so hopeful.

Over the coming months and years, our network will be continuing to share ideas and inspire each other, deepening our Call to Action and applying its thinking in services, communities and places. We plan to grow, and as we do we hope to reach out across sectors, deepen our reach within civil society and connect with others who share our vision.

We want to hear from you. If you have an example or a method or a piece of evidence which could be useful for our network, or a topic you’d like to discuss with others, do get in touch.  If you’d like to write a blog, even better. Or if there is an individual or organisation you would like to connect to the Better Way, please make the introduction. And don’t forget to follow us on twitter @betterwaynetwrk.

Please forward this bulletin to others who may be interested, and if you are not yet part of a Better Way group but would like to be, just let us know. 

Caroline Slocock and Steve Wyler

About A Better Way

We are a network of people across society, calling for a radical shift to liberate the power of connection and community. Together we have drawn up some principles and steps to put a Better Way into practice, as set out in our Call to Action, and our members are using them to challenge business as usual.  The network is hosted by Civil Exchange, in partnership with Carnegie UK Trust and is also supported by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. You can find out more here: http://www.betterway.network/. 

Better way thinking

A Better Way strategy for local communities. In November a group of members came together to consider what a national communities strategy could look like. Various ideas emerged, e.g. methods to enhance local participation, community impact assessments for new policies or developments, principles to inform national funding of local activity. You can find out more here.

Beyond command and control. Also in November, Better Way members met with Professor John Seddon to consider the implications of his recent book Beyond Command and Control. One of the most important insights from the discussion was that command and control systems embed and reinforce inequality. Prescription and standardised forms of service delivery impact most negatively on those who are socially excluded or who have the most complex needs. But of course, it needn’t be like that. You can find out more here.

What our members are saying

A new agenda for a new Government.  Better Way co-founder David Robinson calls for a relationship-centred government. ‘If the new team at Number 10 were to think about spending priorities, public services, and so on from the perspective of relationships, what might change?’ More here.

Shifting and sharing power. Sonya Ruparel from Turn2Us reflects on the launch on our Call to Action and says that it’s how we do what we do that will make change.  ‘Until we embrace our work as a political agenda, and until people stop being grateful for the small amount we do and hold it as their right to have a home, have a job, have food, we cannot be part of a collective movement for change.’ More here.

Building community. Amy Middleton from the Mayday Trust reflects on her experience of working with homeless people. The solution is not to focus on ‘weakness, fixing, and segregation’, but rather on helping people connect with other people and organisations in their local community.  ‘By encouraging and empowering them to build a support network around them, they should be able to cope when they come across tough times in the future without needing to fall back into services.’ More here.

Common cause – what others are doing

Power sharing. SMK is asking the question, ‘What would it look like if civil society was better at sharing power in pursuit of social change?’, and is building a community of practice in London on this topic, made up of people with lived and learned experience.

Better government. The Centre for Public Impact has produced a Manifesto for Better Government. It is based on three beliefs: ‘most of the challenges we face as a society are complex in nature’; ‘the quality of human relationships matters a great deal’; and ‘progress is best achieved through experimentation and a process of continuous learning.’ The manifesto also proposes core values for government (starting with humility) and principles to guide action (including ‘think systemically, act locally’).

Social Care.  Talking about a Brighter Social Care Future proposes a new way to frame the national debate about social care. For example: ‘The dominant narrative is of a one-way street, with regulated personal care service “looking after vulnerable people”.’ This needs to change. In a brighter future, ‘we see our fellow citizens being supported to live lives that they choose to lead, as part of a reciprocal web of community based support.’

Collaboration. This month, Collaborate launched a Manifesto for a Collaborative Society.  ‘The mindset we need today is collaborative. It is based on the story of ‘us’. Its premise is that we are part of a bigger whole, and it asks us to acknowledge the interconnectedness of people and planet, that we are part of a living system.’ 

Local democracy. We are #notwestminster is holding a two day event in Huddersfield on 14 and 15 February for those who want a more compassionate kind of democracy that matters for our everyday lives (and in which our everyday lives matter). 

Climate change.  As you may have heard, the Citizens Assembly on climate change is now underway.  110 people have been selected, and after four weekend sessions they will submit recommendations to MPs on how to deliver the goal of cutting carbon emissions to near zero by 2050.

More good reads

Shifting power. Barry Knight’s recent paper Systems to #ShiftThePower is about how to shift power from external agencies to local people. The immediate focus is international development, but this is also hugely relevant to the UK domestic agenda. As Knight points out, ‘a vision of a good society based on large institutions may be a flawed idea.’ He argues that we need to bring about a shift from transaction to transformation, from big is best to small is beautiful, from colonisation to self-determination, from centralised to distributed control of resources, and from linear and logical evaluation to abductive reasoning. Well written and insightful. 

Community infrastructure. Left behind? Understanding communities on the edge was published by Local Trust in November. Based on extensive data mapping, it concludes that three factors make a significant difference to social and economic outcomes for deprived communities. These factors are: a lack of places to meet (whether community centres, pubs or village halls); the absence of an engaged and active community; and poor connectivity to the wider economy (physical and digital).  Where these apply, in other words where community infrastructure is weakest, there was a strong correlation to high Brexit votes. Should we be surprised?

And finally…

We’ll be emailing out about forthcoming Better Way events shortly. We do hope you will be able to join us.