The idea that people, communities and the voluntary sector are key to building vibrant, collaborative places will not be news to anyone. We know that efforts by those with the power and money to achieve systemic social change fail unless you make real efforts to co-produce solutions. We know that joined-up, preventative interventions to social challenges result in far better outcomes for everyone, not just those accessing the support.
We also know that public services are struggling to solve some of our most pressing social and economic challenges and that there is huge variation in the outcomes of different towns, cities, and neighbourhoods. In other words; there is a mismatch between what we know works and how successfully those approaches are implemented.
The voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors (VCSE) have a vital role to play in enabling citizens to shape the places in which they live. Yet research shows there is a disconnect between those sectors and those in charge of local public services in many areas. In some places the traditional, paternalistic relationship between the two prevails with the result that smaller voluntary and community organisations are being routinely squeezed out of contracts, as research by the Lloyds Bank Foundation shows.
In our recent report, Building Collaborative Places, we identified some of the key ‘building blocks’ to creating real, systemic change in a place. Each of these ‘blocks’ provides a starting point for shifting to a more collaborative way of working across sectoral and issue silos, with instances of how specific places have shifted practice to improve outcomes for citizens. It argues for social organisations and the public sector alike to put outcomes for people ahead of organisational priorities and for genuine recognition of the behavioural and cultural shifts required to work in a truly collaborative, systemic way.
‘In some places the traditional, paternalistic relationship
between the public sector and community organisations prevails’
There are particular opportunities emerging now to create a step change: a whole range of macro issues are forcing local public services to think differently and seek new ways of working; rapid service transformation is taking place, particularly in devolved regions; and more and more independent funders are talking about place-based approaches to support local communities. If the voluntary sector and community groups are going to make the most of these opportunities certain shifts are required;
These shifts are not simple. And as Collaborate’s latest report argues, they require a number of pre-conditions to be acknowledged. These include the recasting of public services, seeing them as part of a local system which includes families, local voluntary organisations, businesses, universities and others; a harnessing of the collective power of the system; and an understanding the role that different actors can play in improving local outcomes.