By Jenny Brotchie
There is an opportunity for philanthropic organisations to work with governments and the influential OECD to explore fresh ideas to some of the big social justice issues of our times. Jenny Brotchie, Policy Officer at the Carnegie UK Trust argues that it is critical that progressive foundations are at the table.
What is the role of foundations in nurturing positive change and tackling some of the complex social, economic and environmental challenges? Last month the Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace Network met in Brussels to discuss how foundations could Promote Solidarity in Europe at a time of Austerity. The big challenges: widening inequalities, dwindling opportunities for young people and growing disengagement with politics were discussed and network members shared their approaches ranging from community grant making, to commissioned programmes. A small number of us were are also working to influence policy and practice at the strategic level.
Foundations are in a unique position to support civil society activity thanks to our independent wealth and the fact that we are unbound by political cycles and vested interests. We can do so by providing direct monetary or other support or indirectly by using our resources to effect changes at the strategic level: seeking to remove institutional and policy barriers to change and to create a more enabling environment for progress. In our complex and interdependent world both approaches are critical.
At the Carnegie UK Trust we intentionally work at the strategic level to change minds and to change lives by influencing policy and practice. Our remit is to improve the wellbeing of the people of the UK and Ireland and we have had a long interest in the importance of community led action in improving wellbeing. In 2012 we began exploring the emergence of a common set of policy shifts we call the Enabling State. The shift gives citizens and communities more control over their own wellbeing and over the public services they receive and is occurring independently in the 5 jurisdictions of the UK and Ireland.
This is a largely positive movement – there is strong evidence that a sense of control, civic engagement and strong social networks are critical to our wellbeing. It is also clear that traditional models of public service delivery are not good at supporting and facilitating citizen and community control and this may lie at the heart of our continuing failure to tackle deep seated inequalities in our society.
We recognised however, that there were significant risks – not least that the shift is used as a fig leaf for austerity and the retrenchment of public services and, that the most vulnerable communities are unable to benefit. So we set out to explore how governments could give communities and individuals more control and make it a success.
At the same time the OECD: the influential international organisation that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world is exploring how to tackle declining trust in governments and institutions. It is increasingly evident to governments across the OECD that traditional approaches to government are no longer sufficient in response, and, as an organisation with a strong commitment to building evidence of what works, the OECD is investigating fresh ideas and approaches.
As such, the Trust was invited to the OECD Headquarters in Paris to discuss our Enabling State research. It was clear however that there was a larger opportunity. The OECD expressed an interest in working with foundations to explore new solutions to wide range of social and economic challenges and there is an opportunity for philanthropic organisations to potetially establish a new more formal partnership approach to these shared challenges with the OECD.
What might be the advantages of such a collaboration? The OECD is a highly respected and influential institution known for its robust evidence based research and analysis. Over the years it has explored a number of progressive policy issues such as the wellbeing and sustainable growth agenda. A working relationship with the OECD and governments of member states offers foundations, particularly progressive foundations an important opportunity to influence the policy and practice across a large number of member states on issues such as trust, voter disengagement, wellbeing, youth unemployment and sustainable growth.
Going into partnership and collaboration creates real risk and unknowns for both parties – this is largely new territory for both the OECD and foundations but we believe that this is an opportunity worth exploring and it is critical that foundations with a strong interest in social justice are at the table to share their knowledge, experience and insights.
In September a small group of interested foundations met at the European Foundation Cente in Brussels to discuss some shared challenges and the opportunity to work more closely with governments and the OECD. There was broad agreement within the group that this was an opportunity worth exploring and the group is now working in partnership with the European Foundation Centre to develop this opportunity and to bring a wider group of foundations into the discussion. A follow up meeting with the OECD is planned for the New Year.
If you would like more information or to get involved please get in touch with Jenny Brotchie, Policy Officer, Carnegie UK Trust at jenny@carnegieuk.org.