Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Our Civil Society represents the best of us. From supporting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, to the work of community groups, charities and businesses that are committed to social good, the work of the civil society is woven into the fabric of our society. From the community group helping people who are experiencing loneliness to young people getting involved in social action, civil society is about people and organisations who improve lives in our communities, independent of government.
Continuing a conversation
I feel immensely proud to have been a part of civil society for many years. As Minister for Civil Society, I’ve recently been around the country, hearing from a range of organisations across the sector (including over 70 amazing charities, social enterprises, businesses and social investors) about your work supporting our civil society strategy and discussing how we can further focus our shared priorities for the future.
Have your say
I want to ensure everyone has the chance to have their say and be a part of these discussions. And that’s why alongside the roundtable meetings I’ve been hosting, I’m inviting your ideas, questions and comments to help inform an online discussion in which I’ll be joined by an expert panel, representing people and groups from across our civil society.
The main themes for discussion will be:
- How can we build stronger connections between people and their sense of belonging to the places they live?
- How can we ensure every young person can access a range of activities and opportunities to help them fulfil their potential?
- How can we better support the social sector, in particular through effective commissioning and funding?
How to get involved and have your say
To get involved all you have to do is tweet your ideas, comments and questions in response to these themes alongside the hashtag #OurCivilSociety on your social media channels, or post them as replies to this blog. We’ll be monitoring your replies to inform the discussion with the panel, which will be live streamed on DCMS’s Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/dcmsgovuk
Meet the panel
To help inform the discussion, the panel members are drawn from across the Civil Society Sector to represent a range of perspectives and include:
- Hera Hussein – Founder of CHAYN volunteer network
- Iona Lawrence – Carers Family, Jo Cox Foundation and Safe Passage
- Ruth Breidenbach‑Roe -Policy Manager, Locality
- Peter Olawaye – Trustee at LEAPCC
- Jordan Aloye – Community football coach
Please do spread the word and get involved. I’m really looking forward to hearing about what matters to you and how we can continue to build on the work of our civil society strategy.
Research indicates 700,000
children aged 11-18 are without adequate internet access. In an increasingly digital society, how do we ensure that no one is left behind, and that every child has benefits from the opportunities of the digital world?
I’m really disappointed to see that you have no arts or heritage organisation on your board. Arts & heritage can play a really significant part in promoting community cohesion, inter-generational working, civic pride, and creating opportunities for young people, especially people who are creative but don’t necessarily conform or tick the academic boxes. Commissioning and funding local cultural organisations inlcuding arts and health organisations, museums with outreach programmes, and the myriad other possibilities that are out there could be a very effective method of reaching your goals.
Our question is will the strategy recommend asset based ‘kindness’ approaches to future commissioning priorities? As an approach it implicitly uses community and social connection making and we have found it to be particularly useful in reaching very isolated people.
Thank you all for your insightful comments and questions. The panel and I found them very informative in our discussion, and even though we may not have specifically read each out during the roundtable, rest assured that they have been taken very much into consideration. Thank you again #OurCivilSociety.