Through Thick and Thin
How an infrastructure for relationships could unlock the collective action we need to accelerate progress towards a world designed for and around relationships
Lots of people in lots of different spaces are doing amazing work around building better relationships, but the connections between these nodes are often weak or non-existent. Drawing on conversations with over 100 people in late 2020 and early 2021, we (led by Iona Lawrence) explore the challenges we share in prioritising relationships in the places that we live and work and the work that needs to be done to address those needs.
Our shared and uniting goal is to build a world that is designed for and around relationships: a world where relationships are the first mile, not the extra one.
Building a Relationship Collective: Our Proposal
Building on the insights unearthed in Through Thick and Thin, we submitted an expression of interest to the Bringing People Together Fund at the National Lottery Community Fund to bring to life the idea of an infrastructure for relationships. Drawing inspiration from Joe Mills and friends in the democracy centre, we decided to publish the proposal in the open so everyone can see what we’re hoping to do and more easily explore ways to collaborate.
In short, the expression of interest we submitted is for a two year project to design, test and build the necessary infrastructure to support shared learning and collaboration in the field of relationships and relationship-centred practice in the coming decades.
We are delighted to say that our application was successful and, as of Autumn 2022, we are focused on developing the infrastructure for a thriving field of relationship-centred practice. Find out more about our plans for the next two years below.
Rosalyn – Spirit of Lockdown #1
I am still worried about the pandemic but I am proud of us and what we have achieved this year.
Observatory Sighting #12: Lockdown blues
In this, our twelfth Observatory Sighting, we share stories of 'pissedoffness' and explore some of the differences between this lockdown and the last one. “Pissedoffness” might not be in the dictionary but it pretty much captures the mood amongst several of our...
The Relationships Field: 6 initial reflections and 5 questions
In brief 6 weeks ago, we (Iona Lawrence and Immy Robinson) set out to explore whether a ‘field of relationships’ could, should, or does already exist. We’re still at the early stages of this exploration but have been lucky enough to pick the brains of some very...
The world needs a piglet
We received this piece from Linda Woolston, one of our Observers, this week. Linda found it circulating on WhatsApp. Some will love it, some won't. We thought we would share it because, this week more than ever, the world needs a piglet.Pooh woke up that...
Making it real: Councils and communities working together
In brief Continuing with the work on Developing the Framework for councils to support community action, David Robinson and Tony Clements invite you to share examples of changing council practices that 'let people in' and join the conversation about how councils can...
Loving the Stranger in the Time of Coronavirus: The Story of HostNation
In brief In this Joining the Dots blog, Anthony Berman gives a personal account of the befriending charity, HostNation, before and after COVID-19, and the benefits it has brought to refugees and asylum seekers and their befrienders.Anthony is on the Management team at...
Capturing the spirit of the 10m
Shift Researcher Leonie Shanks invites us to explore who the 10m community ‘volunteers’ were who stepped up to support their communities through Covid, and how we can maintain this energy and commitment going forwards.
The Art of the Covenant
In brief In this blog, Nick Sinclair and David Robinson explore the concept of a 'social covenant' discussed in Danny Kruger's recent report, 'Levelling Up Our Communities', arguing it must be formed around values, trust, morality and relationships. Nick works...
Observatory Sighting #10: The Changing Weather
In our tenth Sighting we reflect on the 'changing weather' and ask how we can stem the tide and nurture more warmth, connection and positivity. Over the course of March to May, we reported on a number of positive shifts towards greater trust, collaboration and...
Changing for good
In brief In this blog, originally written for and published by Nesta, David asks the question:What can we do to keep the community spirit that was amplified by lockdown alive and make 2020 the year we changed for good? Some of us have suffered loss in recent months....
