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Blog Post
New Hard Edges report is shining a light on SMD
Read moreIn 2019, people in Scotland are seeking, and in some cases being advised, to commit crimes in order to get the support they need. Let that sink in for a minute. Of all the findings of Hard Edges Scotland, most of which do not make easy...
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Blog Post
Brave and safe spaces: philanthropy and systems change
Read moreI don’t often get invited to events for ‘senior members of the funding community’ in the UK - perhaps because the work I’m involved in is quite unusual. Because of this, I had a sense of trepidation about joining the recent retreat...
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Blog Post
Data and disadvantage: are we learning anything new?
Read moreIn 2015, Lankelly Chase and Heriot-Watt University published the Hard Edges report on severe and multiple disadvantage. As well as showing the number of people accessing substance use, homelessness and criminal justice services at the same time,...
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Blog Post
The Games We Play
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I usually start a piece with a quote or by referencing an academic model. Something pertinent that someone I’ve never met has said or thought of. I do this for many reasons and if I am completely honest one of those reasons is that I’ve...
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Blog Post
Reflections on trust and systems change
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Part of Lankelly Chase’s Action Inquiry on ‘place’ has involved funding associates to work with local actors to embed the 9 System Behaviours. This piece is a synthesis of our experiences in the action inquiry as they relate to those...
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Blog Post
Personal and organisational observations about Systems Changers 2018
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As we enter month four of the third Systems Changers programme, a couple of pieces of received wisdom that were passed on to me when I started are playing out and beginning to make sense. The first is that doing an action inquiry requires the...
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Blog Post
Learning new ways of thinking… when your brain hurts, but in a good way
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This is a bit of a brain dump after an exciting week of work, following the second two-day workshop as part of the System Changers programme. I’m on the programme with a dozen other staff members from the Children’s Society (and a great...
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Blog Post
All Change: Why Systems Change is more than just a fad
Read morePeter Grigg, The Children's Society A few years ago, when The Children’s Society determined a strategic focus on systems change, it ran the risk of sounding faddish. Was it just describing what we’ve always done using new jargon...
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Blog Post
Lankelly Chase’s Governance Action Inquiry
Read moreMy acid test for any would-be solution to a social problem is whether it reproduces or disrupts the dynamics that created the problem in the first place. For example, if you are attempting to tackle inequality, is there inequality built into your...
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Blog Post
Losing Control is back and bigger than ever!
Read moreEsther Foreman, The Social Change Agency Since Losing Control, 2017, we have witnessed a massive increase in organisations and leaders asking how they can accelerate social change by adopting more inclusive ways of making decisions. We have...