Some reflections from our work with grantees of the Oak Foundations’ Housing & Homelessness Programme.
In recent years, we’ve worked closely with Oak Foundation’s Housing and Homelessness Programme to better understand how organisations can truly centre the needs and aspirations of people with first-hand experience of homelessness or housing inequity in their work.
The Solidarity in Social Change programme has been a shared inquiry asking, ‘what does – or might – solidarity look like in your work, and what helps and hinders that?’. As the programme moves into a new phase, we’re taking stock of what we’ve learned in this long-form blog.
About this programme
Who has taken part?
The Solidarity in Social Change programme has focused primarily on supporting organisations, and the people that work within them, to reflect on their own power and how they use it in service of greater equity and solidarity in campaigning.
The organisations on the Solidarity in Social Change programme are all working to end housing inequity, and all are seeking to do that in deeper solidarity with people with first-hand experience of housing injustice, insecurity, or homelessness. Their work takes many different forms with many different communities. Some provide support to people experiencing street homelessness, some address renters’ rights, others advocate for changes to the law. Some work with refugees and migrants, some with women experiencing domestic abuse, others with young people at risk of homelessness. Some work with people with multiple and complex needs.
In a sector so diverse, it’s no wonder that the relationships between organisations and the people and communities they serve are so different.
Opportunities and challenges for working in genuine solidarity can also look very different in each of these settings. Some are household name charities working nationwide, others are embedded in local communities. Some are staffed by change professionals who may or may not themselves have first-hand experience of housing inequity. Others are unions and community-led organisations whose staff share the experiences and demands of those they serve. Some are working in close proximity to people and communities on a day-to-day basis, others are more distant but doing important work to create the right conditions for wider, systemic change.
The approach we, at SMK, have brought
We, at SMK, have touchpoints across the campaign community – from people working from their own first-hand experience without resource, to those working in large national and international NGOs. We believe social change happens most effectively when people work together, valuing diverse perspectives and deploying a range of tactics. But, as we set out in our guide It’s All About Power, sometimes the relationship between social change organisations and those most affected by social issues can be hard to get right.
Our view is that organisations and the people that work within them do still have a vital role to play in social change, not least so the burden of change does not rest solely on the shoulders of those most affected by social issues. But that role is changing and needs careful thought.
It’s worth saying that we know others are working in service of equity and solidarity in different and important ways across the sector. Some are directly strengthening and resourcing communities, others are developing ‘lived experience leadership’, or offering healing or consciousness-raising spaces. We see all as vital for deepening solidarity. But we see our role as slightly different.
At SMK, our community is campaigners or changemakers in their broadest sense – from community organisers to those advocating for policy change in Westminster – across a broad range of social issues. We have never seen ourselves as experts in all these discrete disciplines, communities or issues – our approach is always to work with those who are. Our unique role is in putting our arms around the whole campaign community and bringing a big picture view of social change and how it happens.
From this perspective, we have come to understand that the work of deepening solidarity is context specific and emergent. Formal organisations need to consider some basic principles, like valuing everyone’s time, knowledge and experience, involving people from the start rather than when the real decisions have already been made, and taking time to understand and overcome barriers to participation. Paying for travel or childcare and scheduling meetings thoughtfully are simple steps that can be easily overlooked.
But, beyond that, we see this work as about understanding and truly celebrating diverse perspectives (and recognising the limits of our own perspective), building trusting relationships, creating enabling conditions, establishing a clear shared vision and taking the next best step. There are some simple tools and frameworks that can help people develop a shared language and understanding and make sense of complex situations, but not one single solution.
To understand more about the design and delivery of the Solidarity in Social Change programme, please see our report, Learning About Programme Design Y2.
What have we learned about solidarity in social change?
Not only does solidarity look very different in different settings and contexts, but it can also mean different things to different people. When we ask people what it means to them, they tend to describe a feeling or an action – maybe a sense that someone had their back – rather than a fixed idea.
At its heart, we believe a commitment to solidarity is a commitment to working alongside people whose experience of the world may be very different, and taking action together to shape a fairer, more equitable world. This sounds simple, but we have seen how hard it can be.
You can read about what we have learned in more detail in our report Insights from Y2 of the Programme, but one key insight stands out:
Working in deeper solidarity requires profound change. But the ‘formal’ social sector is not set up to do this work well. Barriers exist at all levels.
Charities and other social sector organisations are under increasing pressure, including from funders, to involve people with first-hand experience – and for very, very good reasons. But many don’t yet have what they need in place to do this well.
Genuine solidarity can and does exist between people in organisations and those outside of those organisations or within communities. But barriers exist at all levels of the social sector system:
Individuals: Many social sector professionals are deeply committed to working in solidarity. But they are tired. The wider political and social context has taken a toll on those working on the frontline of our most pressing social issues. Risk of burnout is high when people feel deeply invested in their work and powerless to help people, under what they describe as ‘relentless’ pressure. They are also deeply concerned about doing harm to the people and communities they seek to work so closely with – whether due to raising expectations they’re not equipped to meet, inadvertently retraumatising them, or getting caught up in so-called culture wars. There is a paradox to wanting to shift power but feeling powerless to do so, which only adds to the sense of exhaustion.
Organisations: Charities and other social sector organisations are under pressure to involve people with first-hand experience, but don’t always yet have processes, structures and culture in place to do this well. Individual staff members can effect change in their organisations, but without support from senior leaders this increases the burden on already stretched staff. There are too many instances of accountability for involvement, participation or solidarity resting on a single role rather than being held as a collective organisational responsibility. Those staff that take this commitment seriously can wind up feeling their efforts can only ever be superficial or performative – or that they are complicit in upholding the systems they want to change.
The sector: Solidarity is a quality of relationships – all relationships. Building solidarity and collaborative relationships between organisations is essential for building capacity to support solidarity with people with first-hand experience. Trusting, collaborative relationships support the sharing of knowledge, resources and concerns. But, as anyone working in a funded organisation knows too well, competition for funds and contracts can hinder this. In the absence of strategic, collective spaces to explore what power (and its limits), privilege and accountability look like across different positions in the sector, there is a risk that a culture of distrust or blame is developing.
Society: Beyond the boundaries of organisations and civil society, exists a society in which inequalities are deeply rooted and getting worse. Organisations working to tackle issues such as housing injustice and homelessness are at the frontline of this political struggle. Some of today’s most influential campaigners in this space are campaigning directly from their own lived experience, but they cannot tackle this alone. Organisations need the support, resource and permission to campaign for change, alongside their fire fighting role. The new Government brings new possibilities for ‘insider’ tactics, but these campaigns must centre the needs and aspirations of people most affected. And, as stated, this requires change and investment at all levels of the system.
What needs to happen from here?
The sector needs strategic leadership for meaningful change.
Much of our work on the Solidarity in Social Change programme has been with individual staff members committed to changing the way their sector works for change. But without strategic support from senior leaders, funders, and the wider sector, this simply increases the burden on already stretched staff. Accountability for deepening solidarity, participation and involvement must be shared.
A strategic approach to deepening solidarity requires a commitment to change at all levels:
Individual staff members must take steps to support their own wellbeing, reach out to colleagues and inform and resource themselves and each other to do the reflective, relational work required for meaningful solidarity.
Organisational leaders must prioritise relationships at a strategic level, dedicate adequate time and resource for developing trusting relationships and reflective practice, and put plans in place for strategic organisational development so culture, processes and structures are aligned in support of solidarity.
Funders could do more to develop open and trusting funding processes and invest in strengthening organisations committed to solidarity with secure, long term core support. They could do more to listen to the experience of those on the frontline and to support communities of shared interest, so organisations can share knowledge, resources and campaigning practice.
What next for the Solidarity in Social Change programme?
We are deeply aware of the paradoxes at the heart of this work. We are social sector professionals seeking to support others in our position to use their power well. The people we’ve met on the programme want to do that but are constrained by the very systems that require them to change. We have ourselves, at times, felt complicit in upholding those systems – and in adding to the burden participants face with our insistence that they change the way they work for change.
Oak’s Housing and Homelessness Programme is on the frontline of tackling among the most complex and challenging issues facing the UK today – and we are deeply inspired by the commitment and resilience of the people we meet.
Our work with the programme will continue, with a focus on strengthening campaign capacity in a changing social and political climate, alongside the essential work of building solidarity and connection between organisations working for change – as an essential source of support for building solidarity with people with first-hand experience of social issues. This is a moment of immense political opportunity, and the need for organisations to take up their role as campaigners has never been greater. Change is possible, and hope is built through action.