Our approach at this time of crisis

In common with millions around the world, we hold anxiety about families and friends and about the future. Like people in workplaces everywhere we are re-organising ourselves to respond as best we can to the COVID-19 crisis. Amidst this, as a foundation interested in living systems and complexity, we are trying to hold on to and make sense of the disruption to all sorts of systems that is happening around us.

Among other things, we are seeing:

• People in neighbourhoods supporting and caring for one another to an unprecedented extent, with mutual aid groups popping up everywhere to address immediate needs in ways traditional organisations often can’t.
• The Government agreeing to pay 80% of the salary for staff who are kept on by their employers up to £2,500 a month, write off NHS debt and decide on an approach with energy suppliers, telecom companies and other private businesses, not to mention releasing pregnant women and those in Mother and Baby Units from prison.
• Local governments providing shelter for people who are rough sleeping and, within a matter of days, putting in place new ways of working that usually take years.
• Private companies shifting production to meet society’s needs, for example, a brewer of craft beer making sanitising hand gel or Leon food chain collaborating with food suppliers and distributors to deliver meals to frontline health staff.
• A shift in the way we think about who is a key worker and who we need for our survival. We realise that those who work in supermarkets, food supply chains and the caring professions are the backbone of our society. We understand how interdependent we are, as individuals and as countries.
• A Financial Times editorial and others talking about a different kind of economy where governments accept a more active role in the marketplace, see public services as investments and look for ways to make the labour market less insecure. We’ve seen redistribution, Universal Basic Income and wealth taxes all in the mix, challenging the economic thinking of the last 40 years.

All of this was unimaginable a few months ago. Amidst the fear and sadness, these things give us hope. This is systems change.

However, as Julian, our CEO sets out, we are deeply concerned that the harms created by COVID-19 will be exacerbated by inequities, and that those inequities will in turn worsen. In other words, people already facing the most extreme disadvantages will have the hardest time, now and as a result of the long term changes that will happen. So as a foundation interested in systems, we have to hold two positions at the same time: we have to be in solidarity with our partners as they respond to the crisis as experienced by people facing the most extreme disadvantage and we have to think of the medium and long term future.

So at a time like this, our approach is as follows:

Share and process what is happening with our partners

Lots of people in our networks have spoken of their need for friendship, solidarity, mutual support and processing. We also share these needs. As a result we are organising weekly open zoom drop-in sessions between ourselves and our funded partners/friends across the different places we work. There is an open invitation for people to come if and when they are able to share what’s happening and to support each other.

Reflect as a team

We are meeting three times a week as a team, again because of a need for connection, mutual support and sense making. We are thinking about how to work when you are at home with the children, how we share the load, how we work online and take care of our mental health. One of those team meetings is to reflect on what we are doing now that is different, to notice what is going on beyond our organisation and to think about the medium and long term.

Support to create rapid learning environments

Our learning partner, Northumbria University, is offering support to our partners to think about how they can create ‘rapid learning environments’ when the time is right for them. In such a fast-changing environment, none of us has a full picture of what is happening. By regularly noticing together what is going on, we might be better able to act.

Communicate our insights and uncertainties with the outside world

We have often been reluctant to share unfinished thoughts, talk about emotions, point out behaviours that are toxic to relationships (our own or others), air our uncertainties or share our curiosities. It is understandable; organisations typically communicate solutions. We are letting go of that and creating a Medium blog to share imperfect but hopefully useful reflections. We acknowledge our fortunate position in being able to do this right now but at the same time we think space for thinking and processing is more important now than ever.

‘Co-produce the future’ (in the words of one of our partners)

Momentous systems change is underway right now, with all kinds of business-as-usual going out of the window. We know people are deep in the emergency response but some have asked us to document what is changing, and for space to think about what we collectively want to bring with us into the future.

We are using all our networks and every conversation to listen out for views. For now, we are using the following questions:

What new relationships with public services are starting to emerge?

What new interactions/relationships amongst different set of actors are emerging?

What are the experiences of people facing the most extreme marginalisation as these changes unfold?

What capabilities, strengths and ways of self-organising are we noticing?

Whose voices are missing, who is not getting help?

So, we are thinking about the big stuff, and making sure we are documenting what’s happening but we’re not sure yet what action to take in terms of bringing this together. This is something Lankelly as a wider organisation is thinking about. Many others are already viewing this crisis as a unique opportunity to create lasting positive change. How do we get behind them?

Immediate changes to our funding — relaxing conditions and supporting emergency costs

We knew straight away we needed to support our partner organisations and the places we are committed to working in during the immediate emergency phase. We suspended any grant conditions and asked our partners to use the funding to respond as they see fit. We have also made additional funds available to our partners and to the places we are working in. You can see the full set of actions we are taking here.

If you have any thoughts you want to share or explore a way of working with us, please get in touch.

Cathy and Habiba, April 2020