Appreciation for civil society at coffee club: what did we learn from the Minister for Civil Society?
Since the beginning of last summer, Civil Society Consulting has hosted a series of virtual coffee clubs aimed at connecting leaders of grassroots civil society organisations. At our most recent meet-up, the newly-appointed Minister for Civil Society, Nigel Huddleston MP, joined us to discuss the role of civil society and his role supporting it.
Many of the 54 ‘friends of civil society consulting’ who attended were leaders of grassroots civil society organisations having high impact in minority communities, who we have supported through our free Steps to Recovery programme.
The conversation
Kicking off the conversation, Mustafa Field O.B.E., from Strengthening Faith Institutions, highlighted the important role of faith-based organisations in supporting communities throughout the pandemic. The minister responded by assuring that the Government recognised the critical and multi-faceted contributions that civil society organisations have performed throughout this turbulent period.
The discussion then shifted to the role of civil society organisations in the national ‘Levelling Up’ programme. John Kabuye, Founder and Director of Ubuntu Multicultural Centre in Middlesbrough, reinforced the necessity of collective work that the Levelling Up agenda puts forward, but asked the Minister for clarity on what the agenda would really mean for a black man from Middlesbrough, like himself.
Zahra Ibrahim, Director of the Excel Women’s Centre in Barking, spoke on the importance of women as the backbone of post-pandemic recovery in many communities, as well as rising inequality gaps – and particularly in regards to digital poverty. Zahra, along with a number of other esteemed coffee club members, expressed that civil organisations act as a fallback solution and ‘fourth emergency’ service (on incredibly tight budgets). Such acknowledgement is touching, but the sector’s effort cannot be taken for granted; it is not sustainable.
The Minister agreed and reassured the room: “Continue doing what you do, it is valued, it is recognised. You may not always get the credit you deserve, but we do not take what you do for granted.”
This acknowledgement was warmly received. However, there is undoubtedly an appalling lack of core funding to support the sector, which suggests some taking-for-granted must be taking place somewhere in government quarters. This will lead to burnout, warned Penny Vincent, from All the Small Things:
“There does not seem to be any widely-available core funding to make sure that local teams are able to invest in self-care, team-building and organisational development. [The funding is] only to deliver projects. This is a route to burnout, across the board, nationally; it therefore poses an [existential] risk to civil society. Gratitude is not enough to sustain us. We need core community services to be properly funded. And we need people to have enough money to live on: poverty is at the root of a lot of this.”
Watch an abbreviated version of the zoom recording:
“Civil Society should not be picking up the work of the Government [unless the sector receives the appropriate support to do so]. Child poverty, public health services, tackling loneliness etc – these are key Government priorities. Therefore, the Government needs to invest in civil society.”
We would like to give a special thanks to Nigel Huddleston MP for joining us in these important discussions, as well as all the organisations that were able to participate and contribute.
Coming up again soon
The Coffee Club plans to meet with the minister again later this spring, this time to present a number of detailed case studies from various organisations in different regional areas. We look forward to establishing stronger networks, as we continue to facilitate this dialogue on how the government can improve its support model for the civil society sector.
Do you work in the social sector? This is an open invitation to join us at our next Coffee Club! These virtual events provide the opportunity to connect and meet other actors working in civil society or faith-based organisations, and exchange ideas on how to strengthen the sector – all while enjoying a nice cuppa coffee.
See our eventbrite page here.
