Véronique Jochum

You’re absolutely right, Richard. I’m really interested in considering how organisations could tap into the enthusiasm and motivation of ethical consumers. Ethical consumerism is clearly a fantastic opportunity for organisations in the sector, even though many people who buy fair-trade or organic products may not want to engage more. I guess for me it’s about linking individualised forms of action to more collective ones.

Complex engagements are probably mostly seen as a threat by organisations, partly because this challenges their existing approaches and processes. I guess more sophisticated citizens and activists mean that organisations need to be really flexible and offer a range of options. But in terms of management and planning this is of course very challenging and demanding. It would be great to learn from people’s experience and the responses of their organisations.

Really pleased that this seminar is happening. I think the discussion around implications for society and the VCS should be fascinating. There’s so much happening at the moment around migration that I’m sure people will have plenty to say. On people’s radar should be today’s launch of the government’s new points-based system for migrants. and the worrying Green Paper Path to Citizenship. Already a number of VCOs have critised the idea that volunteering could be made compulsory, as shown in this recent article from Third Sector magazine.

I went to a workshop at the NCVO annual conference on intergenerational working. The workshop set out to explore how intergenerational practice could help close ‘the growing chasm between youth and elders’ and build social cohesion. Alan Hatton-Yeo from the Beth Johnson Foundation chaired the session and noted that intergenerational work had been around a long time, but had recently become more prevalent in policy debates. From the practical examples given during the session by organisations such as Age Concern Kingston-upon-Thames and Magic Me, it was clear that intergenerational practice was able to bring generations closer together, challenge negative perceptions of both old and young people and strengthen solidarity across generations. But to me what was really interesting was to see that although the different initiatives that we looked at were about bringing the young and the old together, it was also about bridging across other potential boundaries, including cultural identities, and capitalising on what people shared in common. The art projects at Magic Me on beauty or the home showed this particularly well. Clearly in the current context of growing diversity the experience and knowledge of intergenerational practitioners could benefit many communities and organisations. A wealth of information on intergenerational practice is available at the Centre for Intergenerational Practice.

For those interested in participation and governance, you might like to have a look at the latest publication of The Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability which summarises the contents of an international learning event on engaging citizens in local governance. The event brought together 44 people (24 from the UK and 20 from 14 other
countries)who looked at the challenges local governments face in responding to growing demands for citizen engagement and more participatory forms of governance. Chapter 5 is particularly interesting because it considers the implications for different actors (government, appointed officials, locally elected representatives, communities and civil society and donors).

I facilitated one of the group discussions at the seminar and we ended up having a fascinating conversation on the implications of localism. The group was asked to reflect on the risks and opportunities of the ‘Charity begins at home’ scenario in which public and political engagement is more likely to take place on more local and personal levels within an environment of relative affluence. In this scenario the emphasis of people’s involvement is more on the safety and quality of their own neighbourhoods than the future of society as a whole.

As the majority people in the group were from larger charities there were quite a few comments on the impact of localism on national charities. While participants saw more local volunteering and community spirit as an opportunity, they also felt that national organisations would need to adapt and make the case that national working was still important. For organisations like theirs more local action would probably mean having to provide more diverse services, being more transparent and employing more project-based specialists.

I have written several posts on human rights lately and here is another one. I spoke to Chris Stalker, who is head of Campaigning Effectiveness following the event he organised with his team, on human-rights based approaches to campaigning. I wanted his feedback on something which I thought was relatively new and which probably had scope for development. Chris felt there was definitely a growing interest amongst organisations, large and small but it was early days. In terms of future development, he saw some exciting and significant opportunities as well as some challenges. The three main opportunities he identified for campaigners are as follows:

1. The language of human rights is very powerful: it is based in the law, but it also moves the emphasis from ‘needs’ to ‘rights’.
2. Human rights based approaches can help campaigners link successfully the local to the global.
3. They provide a framework which has the potential to really encourage the participation of users and beneficairies.

On the downside, there are still important barriers. Cultural barriers essentially. The general public opinion is still quite negative and this can represent a reputational risk for organisations, especially for the large and well-established ones.

Following this event, Campaigning Effectiveness are planning to put together with BIHR a resource that will provide some guidelines for campaigners. So watch this space!
In the meantime, you might like to have a look at this new Charity Commission publication: Charities in the field of human rights

Demos has just started a new project on radicalism looking at the relationship between violent and non-violent radicalisation. Should be interesting.

ESRC/NCVO seminar: Human rights, a tool for change (31st October 2007, 12.00 – 2.00, at NCVO)

The Human Rights Act is a potentially vital tool for individuals – and communities – wishing to improve the quality of public services. It requires public authorities not only to ensure that the rights of individuals are upheld, but it also places them under a positive obligation to promote people’s rights, particularly those who are vulnerable or excluded. This seminar will explore how individuals can use the Human Rights Act to secure improvements in services and how public authorities are using a human rights approach to achieve change.

Speakers are Stuart Weir (University of Essex), Katie Ghose (British Institute of Human Rights) and Belinda Pratten (NCVO).

Places on this seminar are limited and free of charge. If you wish to attend, please contact the ESRC

In the recent ‘Helping Out’ report there’s quite a lot of interesting data on how time is hugely influential in encouraging and discouraging people to volunteer. But what has often puzzled me is why some people always seem to have the time or make the time to do things…surely it’s not just a question of personality.While having these fantastic people on board is hugely valuable to organisations, how can we avoid being too dependent on them?

I think it’s really important for organisations to consider how their stakeholders might not have access to the internet. The internet is obviously a very hot topic at the moment and will probably continue to be a hot topic for a long time, but it’s important not to loose sight of the other ways organisations communicate and reach people. I guess it’s about being diverse…and strategic.

Lots has already been said about ICT and social capital. I thought this article was interesting. Apparently social networking websites will become more and more specialised, and be aimed at very specific communities of interest.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2176765,00.html