ACTive NGOs Brighton – Learning from Liverpool
Edited on
05 March 2020The desire for a UK learning visit
At the halfway point of the ACTive NGOs project, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the impact of the project and the original goals and challenges set out within the Brighton transfer plan. Rather than a single community asset as with NGO House in Riga, East Brighton has a dispersed community asset model. There are many partners each with individual goals and perspectives and the project has focused its efforts based upon those set out in the original local transfer plan - improving communication amongst community stakeholders and externally to the communities within Bn2 Five (East Brighton); (re)establishing and maintaining trust across Bn2 FIve; enabling emerging community champions to make positive change; co-designing an overriding Bn2 Five ethos or set of principles that act as a catalyst for greater collaborative working and positive impact for Bn2 Five as a whole.
A long-term wish of ULG members was to take part in a study visit within the UK, so an extra-ordinary ULG meeting was planned within ACTive NGOs project in the form of a study visit.
Whilst the transnational visits have been both inspirational and thought-provoking, ULG members commented on the political distinctions currently facing the UK and difficulty in transferring good practice locally. Therefore, a learning visit to a UK city would allow ULG members to learn from community asset innovation framed within a decade of austerity, the uncertainty of Brexit and municipality interventionism. Furthermore, the desire was to visit a city that has a history of European knowledge sharing to enable our ULG to see how we can implement change locally from transnational visits.
Why Liverpool?
Liverpool was selected as the destination as a city which has embraced EU funding and knowledge sharing with several innovative community assets and NGOs.
ACTive NGOs Brighton signed up to take part in a workshop and launch of a Community Hubs research report at Safe Regeneration Hub in Bootle, Liverpool. The findings were based on ethnographic research carried out at Safe Hub by Dr Kerry Traynor and the booklet is a key resource that will be shared amongst our ACTive NGOs partners.
Through the connection made with Dr Traynor, Kerry introduced the local team to Brian Dawe at Safe Hub and Danielle Forman from Alt Valley Community Trust, with tailored visits arranged with both community assets.
ULG member Perspective: INVESTIGATING SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY HUBS
8 East Brighton [ULG] members with 2 [municipality] community engagement officers visited ALT Valley, Croxteth and SAFE Regeneration, Bootle. [These] are two independent and successful community hubs where local people have kickstarted and sustained community regeneration in areas of high deprivation. Both projects have been running for 20+ years, they have both been through many ups and downs but keep finding ways to navigate through.
Jackie Rana, ACTive NGOs ULG Member & Visual Diarist
Alt Valley Community Trust & Safe Regeneration
The group visited Alt Valley Community Trust and Safe Regeneration, both of which are strong, independent grassroots NGOs that:
- Held a clear community vision
- Kept to their principles and remained independent of municipalities
- Brought stakeholders together and built trust through an authentic approach
- Secured, maintained and improved community assets and realising them as genuine community hubs
'We believe that everyone deserves to live in a happy, healthy neighbourhood' Safe Regeneration ethos
(Traynor, K & Simpson, G; 2019). Community hubs: ten strategies for sustainability 04. Safe Regeneration: an ethnographic case study
What we’re bringing back to East Brighton
1. Don’t overcomplicate a community vision. Both Alt Valley and Safe Regeneration returned to a clear and simple vision through everything they did. If it did not fit in with their vision, they didn’t take a piece of work forward. In East Brighton, a similar community vision – embraced and owned by all - could be a way to remove bureaucracy, miscommunication and demonstrate a collective set of values that brings about wider positive change within Bn2 Five.
2. Embracing Generous Leadership.‘Generous leadership’ is an approach which offers constructive advice, support and mentoring, encourages a high degree of autonomy, sets few rules and is reluctant to direct or interfere. ‘There’s a term we’ve begun to use a lot now and that’s ‘generous leadership’. And that’s about being, pretty much saying yes to most things. There’s only two rules in Safe: as long as what you do does not impact negatively on anyone else and as long as it’s cool – get on with it. That’s it …’ Brian Dawn, CEO Safe Regeneration.
(Traynor, K & Simpson, G; 2019: p51). Community hubs: ten strategies for sustainability 04. Safe Regeneration: an ethnographic case study
In Brighton ULG, we have spoken about how we can collectively be more yes, but often get stuck in the reasons for no. Generous leadership is an approach that is used subconsciously by several ULG members in Bn2 Five, but more buy-in of this culture could lead to more innovation, increased trust. However, this would be a significant culture shift for many partners, particularly municipal stakeholders.
3. Exploring the Hub & Spoke Model
A network of interdependent organisations work together like the parts of a wheel. The hub organisation leads project development and subcontracts to the spokes, a consortium of complementary partner organisations.
(Traynor, K & Simpson, G.; 2019: p4). Community hubs: ten strategies for sustainability 04. Safe Regeneration: an ethnographic case study
The Hub & Spoke Model is one that will be explored within our community governance workshop with ULG members. It will be fascinating to see how different ULG members respond to this model and whether it can be transferred as a potential community governance structure within the East Brighton context.
4. Learning from #DestinationBootle. #DestinationBootle is more than a hashtag, but an inclusive message that brings NGOs, residents and businesses together. It is reassuring to see that application of a key message can gain familiarity in the same way that locally #Bn2Five #WeareBn2Five is beginning to have. To make further impact, other ULG members must feel #Bn2Five is part of their messaging going forward if it is to be successful like #DestinationBootle.
5. Moving beyond reliance upon the local municipality. Most vividly, the visit illustrated Liverpool’s NGO sector has a closer proximity to national and EU partners than their own local municipality. Consequently, organisations like Alt Valley Community Trust and Safe Regeneration LTD have a wider, more influential network that are open to innovative approaches and can tap into larger funding and grants opportunities.
Learning Visit Reflections from ULG members
‘It brought us together as a group and it made me think about what I want to achieve in regards to helping the local community to come together’ Sarah Griffiths, ULG Member & Manor Gym Volunteer
‘I found the visit to Liverpool inspiring, a lot to take in, but seeing ways how to improve our work here. For myself I need to improve DueEast in the way it communicates with people and I would love a derelict building to use as a base for the community’ Chris El Shabba, ULG Member & Chair of Due East Neighbourhood Council
‘A good visit and many ideas running around my head. Encourage less talking / meetings, replace with consistent, achievable, small actions which people share. Chart these so we can see and feel our progress’ Jackie Rana, ULG Member and co-founder of Metagraph, Bristol Estate Art Collective
What next?
ACTive NGOs prepares for a series of workshops focusing on key areas of the transfer plan and share the learning from all the visits to date:
- Communication in Bn2 Five – including social media training sessions for ULG members and local residents
- Exploring Community Governance in Bn2 Five
- ACTive NGOs showcase at local Bn2 Five events during Spring 2020
- Working in & with Bn2 Five – how to build trust between NGOs and local municipality
Find out more:
- ULG member, Jackie Rana, has created the of the ACTive NGOs Liverpool Learning Visit
- Community Hubs: Ten Strategies for Sustainability: Learning from the experience of Safe Regeneration A community hub in the Liverpool city region
- Power To Change - The Community Hub Handbook
Bibliography
(Traynor, K & Simpson, G: 2020). Community hubs: ten strategies for sustainability Learning from the experience of Safe Regeneration A community hub in the Liverpool city region. University of Liverpool. Power To Change: London.
Written by Tom Goodridge, ACTive NGOs coordinator Brighton & Hove, photographs provided by ACTive NGOs Brighton ULG members Tom Goodridge, Jackie Rana and Evie Martin
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