Grids, love them or loathe them.
Me, personally, I love the Sheila McKechnie Foundation’s Social Change Grid. It resonates with me as it made the complexities of working within a huge sector easier to navigate.
Blog
Sharing power is a commitment not a whim
I begin this blog by asking myself a question: how well have I shared power in my social change career? The answer to the question is probably good, bad and indifferent. I could have pushed at the structures that repress power sharing more forcefully. I should have taken more risks in empowering those with less
Caged Revolution, written and spoken by Jhanzab Khan
At SMK’s first ‘digital’ Change Network event ‘Children and Young People in Custody’ on 22 April we welcomed writer Jhanzab Khan from Leaders Unlocked, who gave a live recital of his poem Caged Revolution. It was moving and thought-provoking. Here he speaks about his background and experiences of prison.
When the dust settles, will we retreat back to holding onto power or will we share it?
One of the weirder moments of the last few weeks was when Madonna sat in a petal filled bathtub and told the internet that COVID-19 ‘doesn’t care how rich you are…it is the great equalizer.’
‘Political’ is not a dirty word: it’s time to stand up
Civil society must throw away the idea that speaking up is ‘too political’ and step into public life – for the sake of us all
SMK’s role during the Coronavirus emergency: what do you need?
We don’t know how long the Covid-19 emergency will last. Charities, not-for-profits, community groups and mutual aid groups are now rightly focused on the immediate needs of the communities they serve, and on staying active so they can meet them.
Civil Society and Covid-19
“Neighbourhoods are the cells which keep society whole. We are threatened with infections, from outside and from within; our powers of resistance and eventual recovery depend largely on whether these neighbourhood cells are healthy or beginning to decay.” Tony Gibson, Counterweight: the Neighbourhood Option (1984) This quote from nearly forty years ago is spookily apt.
You already have this: unlocking confidence in an emerging social influencing team
Barnwood Trust is a Gloucestershire-based organisation championing disabled people and people with mental health challenges. They commissioned SMK to help develop their influencing programme. An initial workshop with the senior management team (SMT) allowed us to listen to Barnwood Trust’s influencing journey so far. Social influencing was agreed as the best way achieve large-scale impact,
Climate breakdown and Civil Society: collaborating to make best use of limited resources is our best hope
Hope for the Future is a climate charity which works to equip communities, NGOs and individuals to communicate the urgency of climate change to their local politicians. SMK contributor blogger Georgina Collins, reflects on the challenges of the last year and how, with hope and collaboration, it is possible to overcome them.
It’s not too late – Five Resolutions for 2020
We’re not usually ones for New Year resolutions, but 2020 is gearing up to be an important year for civil society and change-making. So, we’re starting as we mean to go on!
