DD2501 Civil Society Roots 2

1.1. London’s civil society is critical in supporting communities, delivering services and making London the vibrant place that it is. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society has shown how vital they are in responding to a crisis, ensuring their beneficiaries are supported whilst juggling the challenges of years of being under-funded and under-resourced. 

1.2. Through innovation, flexibility and collaboration, the sector has responded to the rapidly changing needs of communities, reconsidering how to deliver services and adopting new ways of working in response to Covid-19. Organic and self-organised collaboration across communities has been identified as one of the most positive outcomes of the crisis, as it has enabled agile and community-led holistic responses to the needs of London’s communities.

1.3. Research by Local Trust, Locality, New Local Government Network and Power to Change have all highlighted the critical role of infrastructure in underpinning an effective response. This has been described in different ways, community-led infrastructure, social infrastructure, digital infrastructure or civic assets to name a few, however it highlights that there were some pre-existing conditions within some communities that supported greater collaboration, and resilience during the crisis. Where these pre-existing conditions were strongest, communities were readiest to respond.

1.4. Through engagement with communities and civil society, the critical role that strong relationships, networks and infrastructure have played in London’s response to the crisis has been demonstrated. The factors that enabled this require resource and time to build. Civil Society Roots 2 will offer development grants to existing or new collaborations that strengthen community resilience.
Civil Society Roots 2

1.5. The Civil Society Roots 2 programme will offer development grants of up to £15,000 to support collaborations that were mobilised in response to COVID-19 and are looking to grow and embed their missions, and organisations who have identified cold-spots for community response that can be addressed through collaboration.

1.6. Collaborations are when two or more partners (civic, public or business sector) come together in response to the COVID-19 crisis to provide a more joined up support offer to Londoners. This includes both place-based projects, and/or projects focused on communities of identity:
• for existing collaborations, development grants will support projects that wish to build on lessons from COVID-19 response and strengthen partnerships as London moves into recovery; and
• for new collaborations, development grants will support projects addressing a cold spot in existing community-led infrastructure.

1.7. Grants will be used to establish the foundations to resilient and sustainable partnerships and could be used in some of the following ways:
• to increase capacity in organisations’ core activities to formalise the partnership and embed collaborative ways of working;
• to invest in training for staff across the collaborating organisations to learn and embed new ways of working;
• to develop a shared vision, mission and longer-term action planning across the collaborating organisations;
• identify, develop and stimulate the conditions needed to enable collaborative working between two or more organisations; and
• increase capacity to develop innovative long-term projects or solutions.

1.8. The grantees will be supported through an incubator programme which will be delivered by a commissioned partner. The programme will be delivered with a budget of £50,000. This programme will focus on resilience, future-proofing and collaborative working. The incubator will create a community of practice for grantees, supporting peer-to-peer learning, facilitating skills swaps, hosting workshops and supporting the collaborations to reflect on their learning and develop their delivery plans. The incubator programme will also have a focus on readying the collaborations to apply for future funding from other sources, to help ensure sustainability.

1.9. MD2680 (Communities and Social Policy Programme Budget) approved the spending envelope for this programme, noting that detailed expenditure plans would be approved by officers under delegation.

2.1. The programme objectives are:
• strengthen the conditions necessary for effective community mobilisation and response;
• build capacity in community-led infrastructure so that it is prepared for future shocks;
• support collaborations that have developed in response to COVID-19 and enable this continued way of working;
• address cold spots in community infrastructure and networks; and
• incubate collaborative projects so that they are prepared to apply for future funding opportunities.

2.2. The anticipated outcomes are:
• increased community resilience to responds to shocks and support recovery;
• increase in sustainable civil society collaborations that deliver long-term sustainable work programmes;
• recognition of the essential contribution collaborations across civil society make to ensuring London’s communities can survive and thrive; and
• more joined up and coordinated support for Londoners from civic, public and business sectors.

2.3. The Civil Society Roots 2 programme aligns with the aims of the London Recovery Mission of ‘Building Strong Communities’, aiming to support the civil society ecosystem to take hyper-local and community-of-identify action, and build networks to create resilience across the sector. By supporting collaborations, this programme also supports the aim of the mission to support Londoners to lead the recovery in their own communities.

2.4. This funding would support 10-15 projects directly through Mayoral funding. The grant amount has been determined through consultation with partners. On sharing the proposal with other funders, there is also appetite for match funding of the programme meaning the cohort of successful grantees could grow. Where possible, this project will maintain alignment with strategic funding partners across London.

2.5. The development grants will be administered through the partner organisation commissioned to deliver the incubator programme. Funding would be distributed in two instalments, at the start and end of the incubator programme.

3.1. Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2. Equality, inclusion and collaboration are the drivers behind this programme. The work of both the Communities and Social Policy Unit and Team London embraces London’s diversity by connecting and working with Londoners from a variety of backgrounds.

3.3. The programme is open to all types of collaboration explicitly encouraging place-based and protected characteristic-focused collaborations to make applications to the grant.

3.4. The programme acknowledges that collaborations are often only able to happen when ‘pre-existing’ conditions exist in an environment and evidence has shown this tended during COVID-19 to favour more affluent areas as evidenced in the Local Trust research ‘Stronger than anyone thought: Communities responding to COVID-19’. The programme directly addresses the need to support the creation of these environments elsewhere to enable the development of strong collaborations to serve London’s communities.

Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

1. 4.1 This project supports the cross-cutting principle of the recovery programme, Collaborating and involving London’s communities and directly contributes to a range of missions including but not limited to Building Strong Communities, High Streets for All, A Robust Safety Net and Better Health and Wellbeing
3. 4.2 The Mayoral priorities of social integration, social mobility and community engagement are all supported by a healthy civil society. The GLA need to work with communities and civil society groups across London to encourage active participation in community and civil life from all Londoners, which this programme supports
5. 4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of the officers in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1. Approval is sought for expenditure of £200,000 towards the Civil Society Roots 2 programme within the 2020/21 Community Engagement workstream. The expenditure will be £50,000 on an incubation programme and up to £150,000 on collaboration development grants.

5.2. This expenditure of £200,000 will be funded by the CSP Community Engagement budget as approved via MD2680.

6.1. The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the director (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
b) consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
c) consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2. In taking the decisions requested, the director must have due regard to the Public Sector equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it) section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3. Officers have indicated in paragraph 1 that the proposed expenditure in relation to the Civil Society Roots 2 programme will amount to the provision of grant funding not payment for works, supplies or services. Officers must ensure that:

6.3.1. the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code; and
6.3.2. appropriate funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipient of the funding before any commitment to fund is made.

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