Observation about Community Organiser Training

Root Solution Listening Matters and the training is very challenging.  It encourages people to work together to explore their histories, skills, assets and attitudes to power. It challenges people’s perceptions and prejudices about communities, the poor and the powerful. It challenges the behaviour of those who make assumptions and instant judgement. In this particular training process some people were clearly uncomfortable  – because they where challenged to work with others to explore the links between personal growth, local action and the impact that might have at a wider society level. Some were challenged to move out of their comfort zone and to engage effectively with their peers. Some were encouraged to connect their hearts, hands and heads. All where encouraged to build community together and reflect on their behaviour; and people were supported to explore every type of power from their perspectives – using all the daily newspapers of the day. All explored the positions they take in relation to conflict and the whole three days were rooted in the  practice of action and reflection in their own time alone, working in pairs, small groups and large groups. Some were uncomfortable with this because they lost control to the group.

People then explored RSLM – which is designed specifically to reach the most difficult to reach and support them to engage and to play a role in tackling their concerns and build the community they want and aspire to. It is a real pedagogy of the oppressed, hope and freedom and a work that must continue to challenge the incredible waste of talent and human potential that we have seen in our country in the last 30 years. So many people complain of initiatives to develop communities that left them disempowered and dependant.

That is why Listening Matters is where it starts which is why I am glad to see the Cambridge House Team are applying it in the spirit of the programme.

Power shifted dramatically at least twice during this training. I leave readers to think about how and when that happened.

RSLM training is delivered over a 20 days throughout a 2-3 year period to full time community animators – which is why this programme is described as a foundation.

We have delivered a three day introduction to Root Solution Listening Matters. Community Organisers Training.

The 3 day experience was designed to equip trainee Community Organisers with an opportunity to deeply understand why reflective purposeful action is crucial – as well as reflection. It will change as situations change and we learn from doing.

Here’s some more food for thought. Written in response to Mark by Julia Olsen, Trainer and Development Director of Regenerate. Action to Regenerate Community Trust.

We designed the  3 day experience to equip trainees with an opportunity to deeply understand why reflective purposeful action as well as reflection is crucial. It will change as situations change and we learn from the doing.

The training aimed to introduce RSLM –  a tested strategy and a method (not a theory)  to connect with (the poorest) people – to prepare trainee organisers to walk the walk with disengaged and voiceless people in communities.  It was, and could only ever be in the time available, a basic introduction to the essential foundations for being an community effective organiser who will be awakening, activating and leading people towards achieving the changes the broad-based community aspires to.The training also aimed to equip prospective and aspirant organisers with essential understanding and  tools to enable them to develop themselves in their new role and on  their unique journeys.The training had a framework, of course – and it was facilitated and animated by the RE:generate team to enable everyone there to have an experience of listening, analysing and organising around a common experience. The real learning inevitably comes more from the experience of interactions and behaviours (own and others) than the inputs of the facilitators whose responsibility  and duty is to lead and challenge in this context.Theory – Freirian or other – has to be applied in a context. Our model of education will always include inputs from all experience – including that of facilitators and leaders –  and reflection. Inputs can be just that – because there is technical knowledge that is useful – but  this is not the same as banking education. Each input is made relevant to the task ahead and  designed to develop  understanding, skills and critical awareness – including reflection on the power dynamics in the training environment. Everyone has a chance to think on their own, share 1-1 and in small groups and contribute to the whole group. Therefore nobody is excluded or voiceless.

Facilitators have to hold the framework and take account of 50 individuals and their learning styles and needs – this is a reality of leadership and responsible exercise of power. A good many  trainees at Trafford Hall would not have had an opportunity to reflect and explore their own leadership and authentic potential as an organiser without being able to trust and feel safe enough in the training environment. They would not have had  their voice heard without a framework to enable dialogue and trust building. For example, consider the group dialogue about tweeting and blogging while in training  - this was a response to an idea and issue raised by a trainee – you. Space was made by the team and it was resolved  collectively – and a “fringe” space for further dialogue and learning opportunity was agreed.

Perhaps it is useful to think about the whole training community experience – including the evening Q&A session – and reflect on power shift and accountability. Here we saw an individual just take power from the panel without reference to peers, which made people uneasy. We also experienced the impact of rules for accreditation – but that’s another story!Regarding banking education and collaborative learning.We modelled as best we could the fundamental values of respect, responsibility and belief in human dignity which underlie true education, rather than an ideological dogma. The training included inputs from our collective experience of animating and organising on the streets and lanes of Britain.  It presented and offered tools to help organisers develop their own understanding of and ability to explore personal and collective responsibility with the public at large – by meeting them where they are and as they are. We aim to help organisers develop an understanding of why and how listening and dialogue can animate citizen action – and the transformative impact it can have if you actually do it. 1-2-1  listening is the nub of organising – and the heart of RSLM.

Talking, writing, tweeting has to go alongside walking the walk of the 1-2-1 listening journey.  At the beginning of training in the field, I suggest practising and doing  listening in the field is the only way to develop the essential skills and deepen the insights and empower the voiceless.

As you try RSLM – you will find that people are moved to action often because of their life experience and situation. The success of the work in your environment is down to you and your ability to listen and link people who take individual and collective action to transform lives.A question for you. Was Freire a Marxist?  Bishop Helder Camara pointed out that if he gave food to the poor he was called a saint, if he asked why the poor had no food he was called a communist. I think humanity over ideology is the essence of Freire – and RE:generate: pragmatism based on core values and ethical principles. Knowing which side of the bridge we stand on and why we do what we do.

Finally, thanks for the resource references on conversational democracy. Reminded me of  presentations to and conversations with think tanks (including Demos, RSA and NEF)  over the years. It’s good that word about the notion of the effective conversation is spreading! In the end it’s the actions, though, that link people and build solidarity at the grass roots – and there are no short cuts. The RE:generate team still do it  rather more than write about it – which is maybe why we have had impact on the ground and  find ourselves in this programme!

Pollution, Corruption and Greed – Sort that lot if you can

Posing a Problem Finding the Solutions

If you are a politician, a chief executive of a housing association, a police chief, a head teacher, or a local authority director – how can you use “Root Solution Listening Matters” to promote sustainable local economic growth, social action, a healthier democracy, volunteering, good neighbours, environmental action, cultural harmony and understanding? I will blog answers from my perspective and experience in the coming months. The first paper

“Politician as Facilitator: A guide to enhancing Politics in Britain from the bottom to the top” will be an important one. More on that to come.

Root Solution Listening Matters (RSLM) gets to the root cause of issues and finds people who want to develop local solutions to many of the issues we all face. It is the strategic system of Community Organising that the Cabinet Office are starting to explore in the Community Organiser Programme. The organisation I work for will provide training to 5000 community organisers that will teach them to start  RSLM. Rooted in respectful listening, building of trust and facilitation of actions small and large, it supports communities to prepare to take action and responsibility.  See link.

http://issuu.com/regeneratetrust/docs/guidetolisteningmatters

Before we kick off I want to share with you some of my personal current feelings about the root causes of the mess we find ourselves in.

Last week I was in middle of the English Channel crossing the shipping lanes heading to France to see my elderly mum. There were lines of container ships and oil tankers laden with goods for every imaginable market. The sky was deep blue, the sea looked beautiful but the orange fug, hanging menacingly above the ships raised an alarm. Every ship continually emits fumes from its engines. I’m told that shipping contributes enormously to global warming. It accounts for a fifth of all carbon emissions and other pollutants. Our obsession with material gain has got out of hand. The seas are dying and the air is rancid. Pollutants are seeping into our environment and our lives and even our minds.

Over many years we have lost touch with the most important things in life. We have been trapped into thinking that celebrity status and great wealth is the perpetual goal. We are conditioned to admire people’s success and  wealth, especially those who do appear in the media. Many of our children limit their ambition to wanting to be ‘a cleb’.

Our cash soaked egocentric society has left us oblivious to the damage we are doing to our communities, our environment and ourselves. The slick marketing machines of the banks and some profit greedy businesses and their shareholders have driven us to the edge –  many are not taking their responsibilities to community and society seriously and governments have let that happen while the planet shakes and the icecaps melt. I am completely pro business but lets do it responsibly and sustainably.

Until very recently we have been blind to the development of irresponsible and concentrated power bases with shallow and controlling interests in our lives. To understand them is difficult because many are invisible but they command and control.

To challenge power is too scary. Those who wield it have kept most of us in the developed world, for want of a better expression, comfortable and quiet. So why bother challenging? Politicians should, but they are paralysed.

 ”I might lose my seat”, “They may find out about my secret”, “If they haven’t got a story they will make one up about me to bring me down”, “If I don’t co-operate my job or my funding will be in jeopardy”, “I’m doing alright, if I rock the boat my comfortable existence might be at risk – think of the mortgage, the children the job.”, “There is no point, what can I do? No one will listen, my action won’t have any impact”.

Many of us operate within very similar parameters not because we have to but because realistically we have little choice. We are silenced and fearful. Our subjugated country has become a country of slaves. Our primary industries have vanished, our assets sold, our housing stock disposed of to feed the boom and bust economy, our pensions are shot and our manufacturing base is struggling. Job prospects seem to be limited to working with supermarket and fast food chains for many.

In my 20s I dreamt of a community that was built on trust and respect, people’s history and diverse culture, people’s skills and the natural assets of the local community celebrated and harnessed. I wanted us to emerge as the great new sustainable and responsible economy, learning from our mistakes. I was so proud of our democratic system because I didn’t realise how broken it was.

Trust and respect for and between people has been so severely undermined in this country that it has become increasingly difficult to dare to even have a vision for the future. That negative power over me and the rest of the community and the paralysis it brings is dangerous, destructive and is making me very angry. Our country and our planet are at risk because the powerful continue to make decisions that serve minority interests and not the broader community need. That backdrop to political action means we can’t get on with the job of making our country work again. The vested interests are blocking the nations progress.

I am furious about the outrageous behaviour of News International and others who engage in practices that are all about propagating a society of utter greed and selfishness. Consumption of their news has created the real axis of sleeze, evil and corruption evidenced by the fact our most senior police officers are resigning with clouds over their heads.  That signals real dangers to our democracy.

Sticking plaster or ostrich mentalities are not going to deal with these wounds. We can’t just go on papering over the cracks in the hope the problems will go away. The root causes of our DIS  EASE threatens personal, local, national and global integrity.

What an irony! The media moguls pretend to represent the interests and needs of the people yet they have led us by the nose into this mess and abused thousands of people and destroyed lives. They and their paymasters have built an empire that is founded on our base desire, to consume regardless of the impact. They of course appeal to the lowest common denominator justified and excused by the profit motive.

How stupid where we to fall into their world of unsustainable and wasteful consumerism? How stupid where we to buy their papers, watch their television programmes designed to do what it says on the tin…programme.

The political, economic and media bubble of this discredited system is bursting?  We are all still in denial hoping everything will be fine but we now must act bravely and courageously.

We have to understand sooner or later that we are all to blame. Me, you, every body.  It’s so easy to lay blame at the door of someone else but that just means we can conveniently ignore our own personal responsibility.

Our political system is failing because politicians cannot effectively lead. They are too preoccupied with avoiding getting blamed or framed by organisations like News International. Only between 13 and 50 % of people can be bothered to even vote and nobody is organised in communities to work with their politicians to support them to do a great job. They are left to it between elections. I think that has to stop if we are going to transform our communities and the structures that serve them. Politicians need to be effectively reconnected to the grassroots in a two way and collective relationship that will trigger the mass transformation we need.

There is some hope in government circles as they and the opposition talk about driving power from the centre to the grassroots with the localism bill and promises of power shift led by initiatives like the community organisers programme but there is much more to do.

We  all need to do something differently. We need to learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat them in the name of greed. We need to be much more thoughtful and reflective. We need to get to the root cause of the problems and start to make suggestions about how to put our communities right.

We need to REBIRTH Britain from all our perspectives, in all our communities, on our streets and in our homes and especially in our families. We need to develop new local economies and new social structures where people can collectively name the problems we have and sort them out.

In my next blog I want to start to talk about how we might do that from different perspectives.

Best wishes

Stephen

Civil Servants and grassroots activism

Whitehall is incredible. Thousands of people beavering away, running the country, occasionally calling for support from the community to help them. Often developing plans that will deliver the policy objectives of the government of the day.

Well I joined them yesterday, from 8 different Ministeries, along with colleagues from the Community Organising Programme. It was striking that most are keen to link with the COP and most had an idea about how they might do it.

Two points I feel might be useful.

The strategy and process that RE:generate use to animate and organise in communities(Root Solution –  Listening Matters), is a model that we have developed in Britain in the last 20 years. So it has come from us, here in our countries and communities and it has grown out of  concerns, aspirations, experiences and actions of  tens of thousands of people. It is the grassroots response to many of the issues we face in our communities. We share the model as freely as we can and what we love about it is it was created here. Not in the Americas.

It is not a Saul Alinsky’s approach or a Paulo Freire model, if there is such a thing. These labels are not helpful. They suggest we are importing models of development from another age and another continent. We are not. I know Paulo Freire would have delighted in hearing me say that because of the very nature of his teachings.

Civil servants locally and nationally have a government that want a home grown model of organising that has the potential to link people at the grassroots with local authorities, agencies and government departments to engage in a mature and transformative dialogue. The government want people to get involved in the delivery of public services and they want a power shift. Government has asked us to give people a foundation in Root Solution Listening Matters training as part of Locality’s Community Organising Programme. We have agreed because people at the grassroots want that power shift and we will help to facilitate.

Root Solution Listening Matters provides a strategic framework for development. People using it will  listen across the community they work in and find people who are interested in doing something to enhance where they live. Organisers will support people to engage in economic, social, environmental, cultural and political action. The crucial thing for civil servants to realise is that the framework starts with listening that will develop a mandate for those actions, a market for projects that people want to develop and a movement for transformation, change and action. It will also build a team of volunteers and key leaders. The local teams are a mix of grassroots people, new actors and some established organisations – people from all walks of life. They will manage a network of hundreds and often thousands of people who they have met . They will work with information that has been gathered and people that are engaged.

Agencies and government departments just need to sit tight while these broad – based teams develop. The teams will be capable of supporting the  management of a wide range of policy initiatives/actions that are appropriate to that community and they will be capable of distributing funds intelligently and effectively because they have listened, have the mandate, market and movement behind them. They will impact on local democracy because the voter register they develop within the network will activate at election time and will obviously impact on the way elected representatives work with them and the community. Most importantly they will be autonomous, looking after the interests of their area.

So if you have a policy that you want to implement, support Organisers to develop these teams, trust the process and you will probably find the community will support you to implement your intiative. If the community reject it,  go back and refine but make sure you are aware of the hopes and aspirations of the people you are working with.

ASS U ME and you could well fail to achieve your goal.

All the best

Stephen Kearney

What a week and the link to the Regenerate Story

What an exciting week. Ditch Townsend, our International Development advisor is developing the future direction for our international work. In terms of the mission of Regenerate this is priority work and I will be supporting Ditch and the team to develop the strategy. He is off to Zambia soon which will inform plans and he will be reporting to the Board on his return. I had a teleconference with Dominic Muchindu in Zambia recently. The struggle with the weather, money, food, illness and the grinding poverty the team face there puts everything into perspective for me. They tell me they are delivering this work against a complex backdrop of Organisation and Governments agenda’s that do not really tackle dependency. As we all toil away in England to deliver programmes and sustain our work I know that I must keep a keen eye on Dominic’s struggle because he asked for our support,our wealth, our dedication and know how.

“When you are deciding whether you are going to take a step you should consider whether it is going make any difference to the poorest person you can see in your minds eye”. From memory a Ghandi quote.

Projects in England are going well. The Community Organisers Programme is gathering pace. We are advising the “Kickstarters” as they enter the world of Community Animating and Organising. They are recruiting the first cohort of CO trainees. The first training will be delivered by the Regenerate training team at the end of September.

Regenerate will develop its exemplar projects which will give all host organisations within the community organising programme opportunities to see it in action over a significant period of time. Everybody is at the start of an exciting journey. We have distributed copies of Root Solution – Listening Matters to the first cohort of hosts and trainers at Trafford Hall who have shown interest in the programme. We held an event there three weeks ago which was designed to explore the COP and training technique and methodology. We carried out a thorough evaluation after the three days and the reaction was very good. We are looking forward to developing the working relationship with Barbara, Sally and the team.

In England we need to think about our role in the world and our behaviour if we are going to get this programme kind of right. We have a history of commanding and controlling. We as a nation are territorial and we live in often stifling hierarchies. The way we organise communities is often to bring together the the clever, the thinkers, the powerful and we charge off, when we have decided whats going to be good for our communities, and deliver a programme that will help us fulfil our goals. That approach is patronising and rooted in our colonial past and present. We have got to break away from these patterns of behaviour. We need to listen to each other and share histories and experiences. We need to learn from each other and share our skills. We need to trust.We need to accept imperfection if we are going to grow our nation to be fit for purpose for the challenges ahead. Peak oil, climate change, economic downtown…im going sailing. But before I do Paulo Freire, who never lets us down, offers this:

“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”

Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Our Community Animating work that is live is going very well. Holding teams are bedding in as key anchor organisations and we are developing a pilot project with GPs and other health professionals which will be designed to get to the root causes of ill health.

The Neighbourhood Challenge Project in Newark is developing well and ahead of schedule. Networks of institutions, faith groups, local people,businesses, agencies and authorities are growing well. People are coming to terms with the fact that we have to harness and utilise the strengths and assets that have been dormant for years if we are going to grow and ride the impact of funding streams drying up.

For reference here is the link to Regenerate story. I will leave it here for a while. I intend to write about the Root Solution Listening Matters process from a number of perspectives in the coming months so here is the introduction to the story for those of you who have not seen it.

Visit http://www.regeneratetrust.org – Scroll down to the cover of “Listening Matters” on the left hand side and click on it.

Or http://issuu.com/regeneratetrust/docs/guidetolisteningmatters

An Introduction

RE:generate (Action to Regenerate Community Trust) is an enterprising social action charity. We train and support individuals, multi agency teams, community and voluntary sector organisations to deliver a dynamic and empowering process designed to tackle the root causes of poverty and disadvantage. It is called Root Solution – ‘Listening Matters’, because we believe that in the root cause of issues faced in society lie the root solutions. It is this process and strategy that will be at the heart of the training of 5000 community organisers in England in the coming 4 years and the development of the associated Institute.

Action to Re:generate Community Trust has worked in the UK for over 22 years and in Zambia since 2001. On extremely limited resource we have developed our work, process and strategy organically – informed by Delta Training for Transformation as delivered in many countries of the world. Our work and our process has also been influenced by the philosophy, methods and approaches developed by educators and community activists such as Paulo Freire and Saul Alinsky in the Americas.

The experience base for RE:generate’s process

Root Solution – ‘Listening Matters’ is a holistic homegrown organising strategy conceived and developed by Action to Regenerate CommunityTrust – a social action charity founded by Stephen Kearney and Julia Olsen, social entrepreneurs with first hand experience of individual and community disempowerment. They developed their approach and process while working with communities in towns, villages and cities throughout the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In the mid nineties, after training with USA Community Organisers Ed Chambers and Ernie Cortez and Partners Ireland, they incorporated aspects of Freire’s and Alinsky’s work and teaching. The working model for transformation has been tested in major cities, large towns, market towns, villages, disadvantaged estates and mixed communities and Root Solution –‘Listening Matters’ is now a highly effective development tool that supports people to act and transform their lives and communities.

RE:generate has continually worked to develop, adapt and use organising techniques, participatory training methodologies and transformation training in very complex environments. To date thousands of people have been listened to in the UK, many have been trained in local and national programmes and thousands have directly engaged in activities and developments that have changed their lives and communities.

This work has linked people’s personal growth to local action and institutions, which has in turn impacted on the wider society as we see from the Community Organisers Programme.

In transforming communities, we are guided by shared values and principles that bind us and our partners in common purpose.

Re:generate believes that

• A healthy community is a living democracy where people work together to address issues that matter to them.

• As citizens, we have a duty to shape the basic conditions that affect our lives with others.

• If we are to get to the root causes of problems, power must be more effectively shared: local communities must have access to tools, support and opportunities to engage powerfully, voluntarily and appropriately in designing, shaping and delivering public services effectively.

• The country needs to embrace approaches like Root Solution -‘Listening Matters’ that can support communities to unearth and unleash hidden skills and talents to be stronger socially, economically, politically, culturally and environmentally.

Our organising strategy and process involves building trust, respect and relationships within and between individuals and communities at every level that leads to the development of an active digital and physical network.

Root Solution – ‘Listening Matters’ fosters forms of participatory leadership that enable individuals and communities to grow in trust, openness and confidence; to identify and empower them to act purposefully on their hopes and synergies; to facilitate processes of analysis of root causes of issues or problems; and to plan for solutions and policies with people’s active participation; to build connections between community members and with relevant institutions.

The strategy will make a key contribution to helping Local Authorities to fulfil their new obligations and aspirations under the Localism Bill.

We will train people in all walks of life to build trust, relationships and active networks in communities that will take action to transform.

 

Change Outcomes

The achievement of power balance – shifting and sharing power intelligently and responsibly between the individual citizen and accountable local and community institutions – is the central tenet and purpose of the process.

RE:generate’s work ensures that shifts in a balance of power are appropriately facilitated.

Root Solution-‘Listening Matters’ wakes people up to their potential. It encourages and catalyses individuals to take creative and enterprising networked action to seek, find and develop collaborative solutions to deep seated problems. It supports people to make positive changes happen in their communities and their lives. Individuals, communities, agencies and authorities experience transformed working relationships that deliver better public services.

The Coalition Government’s aims and objectives in relation to supporting the development of community animators and organisers in England are welcome. At every level and in whatever role citizens need to reflect on the part we play in the continuation of poverty and disadvantage – and the part we could play in finding solutions.

Root Solution – Listening Matters

^{is a framework any individual or organisation can apply to bring about transformation that challenges cultures of dependency and silence, and disabling structures and systems.}

 

Example: A letter from a Ward Councillor

“The RE:generate system is more than just a process. It is a life changing programme that gets individuals, families, agencies, politicians, authorities and communities working together to arrive at shared solutions to improve their own neighbourhoods and lives.

The work shifts power away from the state to the people and the Institutions. Apathy dissolves as people develop new relationships with their politicians that alter the balance of power in a very healthy way.

By bringing people together Root Solution breaks down social barriers. By getting people to identify what they love as well as what they want to change or improve it improves pride in place and self- respect within individuals. It ensures that people act in big ways and little ways.

Root Solution Listening Matters enables individuals and groups to grow in confidence and ability. By not being a quick fix but a project for the long term people know that it is for real and is worth working together to achieve. It creates a very powerful cohesion that cannot be ignored.

In the Whiteway Estate where I am a Councillor we have been working with this approach for two years now and the impact has been impressive. The community is much more confident, individuals and teams have developed the skills to meet with agencies and be confident and assertive. They are well prepared having listened to the views of 600 people and analyzed their data. They have a list of 300 people that are taking action and they work on the politicians and structure with power to support them in their endeavours.

Some are developing enterprises like the Proud of your Doorstep – an environmental business, some want to run the new centre for children and young people, some have set up a theatre community, a political action to reduce speed limits, some want to set up a free school to replace a school the council want to close, some are working with young people to turn them away from crime… this team have reduced offending by 90%.

As politicians we tap into the energies and talents that hitherto have not being tapped into and the results are unprecedented. The targets set for this piece of work have been met and exceeded beyond our wildest expectations.

The social impact is incredible. Families are helping each other more and the agencies have a better understanding of the dynamics of the community and are learning how to target public services more effectively and with the cooperation of the community, which makes delivery much easier.

It is challenging for the status quo and power bases that have been there for an eternity – but this is precisely the positive challenge power structures need. I will continue to welcome the work of RE:generate because they have sown the seeds for changing the way we function. They have positively, quietly and assertively challenged our whole approach to the delivery of public services and that has to be a good thing, especially in the current climate.

The next two years are going to be as big a journey as the last two. However we can only set off on the next part because of the in depth work of RE:generate during the first phase. Community transformation is not a quick fix. It is a long term process and Listening Matters and RE:generate are the ideal root solution to enable the transformation to start and grow.”

Cllr Paul Crossley

Leader Bath & NE Somerset Council Liberal Democrat Council group Orchard Rise Sham Castle Lane Bath BA2 6JL

Welcome to our blog

Welcome all.

Our blog will give insights to our work, history and vision for the future. It will give us an opportunity to trace and tell our own story and to talk with people directly.

So here goes. For many years Julia and I have worked in communities all over the UK. Starting 0n our own we chatted and listened to people because we were curious about how things worked, and what was happening in our communities. They’d talk about the things that were special to them, their concerns, dreams and aspirations. We listened and encouraged them to take some action about the things they felt strongly about. We found people needed encouragement because they seemed conditioned to seek permission from a higher authority to take any action.  A crippling paralysis of resignation, complacency or apathy had set in. So we decided to take our own action – we created initiatives with people in our own communities that solved problems. We knocked on doors – meeting people one to one – and we built a team of volunteers and users of projects (that we developed ourselves or helped others develop). There were many lessons on the way.

People’s own perspectives and motivations to act can lead communities on exciting journeys and adventures that are guaranteed to thrill – because who knows where they will go!  The clean cut world of set agendas, departmental funding criteria, ordered structures and box ticking are out of the window.

People have so many different ways of articulating need, desire, aspiration and concern. Using play and the arts as a means of facilitating a conversation has been central to the way we’ve worked in RE:generate since its beginnings. The Toy Library and mobile play resource unit working its way around Wales – by relays of volunteers – had its listeners alongside, chatting with mums and families about the issues and actions people might want to take. Gently encouraging them to get involved. Exploring the obstacles.

We helped people to recognise, remember and realise the strengths, skills and talents they had, which were lying hidden, dormant or contained.  From our experience,  we knew a seam of gold ran through every community we lived or worked in – and we panned for it until we found it.

Since those early days we have developed our strategy. The analogy of the garden in relation to our work has taken root. ”Root Solution Listening Matters” (RSLM) as it has become known, is like a trellis that will support local growth. Almost everything that is needed is in the garden, and the trellis provides a solid frame. When it is set up and the soil tilled and cultivated new growth can flourish as long as the pests and diseases are kept at bay. Manage the soil well, break through the “hard pans” that stifle germination and the garden will bloom.

People take the action that is right for them at a particular time – whether to organise an event, set up a business, develop a campaign, vote, use a project, challenge an authority. As actions link and people think, the networks grow and potential develops. Dialogue develops and change follows.  Well organised networks have customers, clients and users of initiatives developed locally. They have people who promise to volunteer and vote. Leaders in the network act to develop strategic associations, actions and initiatives to improve life locally. With the power of the network’s vote and activity they win support from and can support their elected representatives.

This Government has shown interest in “Root Solution Listening Matters” so, as RE:generate, we are partnering with Locality to deliver foundation training to 5000 Community Organisers.

We are also working with a number of local authorities to help them explore how they can enhance the role of elected representatives and work with information and people that emerge from the Listening Matters networks.  There are indications that this work will help deliver public services more effectively and strategically.

Our community organising model builds autonomy by exploring and challenging though action and reflection the way we use power and the way it affects us. It links  business, cultural and enterprise development to social action and political renewal because we start from where people are at – and go from there.

We look forward to your visits.

Stephen