Citizens Action Networks (my experience so far)
Hey all! Just thought I should start this by apologising for pulling out of the call last minute.
Here are the points I wanted to bring up during the call. I originally soft-launched Co-Create Sheppey, a CAN on the Isle of Sheppey in May of this year. However not everything went to plan, I lost motivation for the project and have not updated the few people who were interested in the project for months now. I thought I should share what I thought went right, what went wrong and my plans for the relaunch of Co-Create Sheppey. I will also try and give a few pointers and explain what I'm willing to provide others who also want to launch their own local CAN's in the future.
What went right?
Co-Create Sheppey looked promising. Mostly because I was willing to invest time and money into the project. I promoted transparency and made sure anything that people wanted to know was easily accessible. And from feedback, people liked the branding (apart from the name). I do wish this section could be a bit longer...
What went wrong?
I also wish this section could have been shorter... The main problem I had was getting people involved. There was a ton of issues that played into this, be it the "current global situation", my lack of confidence to host/ promote events, or even people just unfortunately not caring along with many other factors lead to issues. I think the main issue was however my own personal desire for things to be perfect. I didn't feel comfortable posting my own content till the time was right to do so, or I was perfectly happy with the design. This worrying stopped me from the important part of actually doing. This was a hard lesson to learn but one I hope I can take on board and remember that while plans are great, the important thing is to be doing and making change.
Another issue I had was what I viewed as transparency, other organisations took as me taking advantage of their more established names in the community. I need to remember that while I know that I'm here to promote good, others don't, I need to prove that.
After this push back from other local groups, I lost a lot of motivation and didn't want to pick up the project again... but recently that changed. I made a plan of action and here is what I want to do with not just my own CAN but the support I'm willing to provide other CANs.
My Plans for Co-Create Sheppey
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Re-Brand as "Sheppey is ours!"
This new brand has a bit more urgency to it. Along with that, I will be reworking the founding document to promote this change, focusing more on creating change, away from the political establishment and showing people that the power belongs to them.
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Actually have meetings
Turns out it's hard to build an ambitious movement when you don't actually engage anyone... Who knew??? I will be planning online meetings to actually start getting the values of Sheppey is Ours and the larger Alternative UK across. It will also be useful to start getting more people involved in projects as I can only get things so far by myself.
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Launch "England in Common"
Turns out I'm not content in creating just overly ambitious project. I want England in Common to be another national grouping like the Alternative UK. EIC with is there for the promotion of democracy, evidence-based policy and unity amongst social progressives. To massively oversimplify the role of EIC: a more ideologically focused, England based version of A/UK
Both SiO and EIC will Promote the key Ideas and values of A/UK.
What I want to do for others
I have access to the pro version of Canva. I am willing to create graphics for use by CAN's or similar groupings who are part of the A/UK if they need help.
EIC will happily back and support any local CAN.
I will also make a list of generic, evidence-based ideas that any community can do as part of their own CAN's in order to start bringing power back into the hands of the people.
To end this post
Apologies for this being a bit rambly. I do think I'm missing some bits but they will come up in some posts to here I have planned for the near future. A more detailed plan for both SiO and EIC. Advice for those looking to make their own CAN's. I might also look at the possibility of creating starter kits for new CAN's in order to make their launch easier (please do let me know if this is of interest).
A big thank you for reading this mess of a post and I hope that we can keep making more happen together.
Kayleigh Wed 7 Oct 2020 8:36PM
A thank you for the comment and sorry for only getting round to responding. The questions you ask are valid and definitely something I need to look into. I'm personally only using Facebook currently as a way to draw people in as that's where the people are. Hopefully once more established I can move members onto either Loomio or possibly Discord. I honestly do not know the best course of action here but I have had some success with the Facebook route. I will keep A/UK updated with how it's going and what is and isn't working on my end.
And in regards to the support for setting up, I think that will be the content of the next thing to work on for me. once Sheppey is Ours is fully ready (I'm currently rebuilding the site and rebranding old plan documents). But I have some thoughts and will try and put it all into one place once the ideas are a bit more gathered
David Wilcox Wed 7 Oct 2020 9:24AM
Hi Kayleigh, picking up Phil's point "Have you thought about online communications more generally and what you'd like to use?"
Did you see this editorial Look to communities - they're the real testbeds of tech innovation - which explores the tools people are using both globally and in communities. I've been working on how we can use maps, apps and stories for community and network building in the Networked City project and would like to explore further in relation to CANs. I'm new here ... do you know if there has there been discussion in the past on this?
Kayleigh Wed 7 Oct 2020 8:42PM
Thank you for the comment and sorry for only just getting round to replying. I had missed that, will definitely be giving it a read now. I will also look more into what tools are available for people to use online. While I found lots that would possibly be useful when Public meetings can once again go ahead, I've not found much for easier online collaborations (at least not free ones).
And in regards to if this conversation has happened before, unfortunately, I'm not the one to ask as I have been very MIA from the A/UK scene for a while now, but I am working my way back into things (if anyone does know more I would love to hear from you!)
Maria Fri 16 Oct 2020 4:50PM
Hi Kayleigh. Thanks so much, really appreciate your insights, sorry that I'm so late to respond. Also great to hear you're feeling motivated to give it another go.
@Indra Adnan and I were thinking that perhaps a fortnightly/monthly call for all CAN builders to share insights and experiences like yours could be valuable? To support each in sustaining motivation and also to discuss more deeply how to successfully initiate and sustain a CAN... which could grow into a tool/guide book at some point.
What do you (and others) think?
Kayleigh Fri 16 Oct 2020 5:51PM
I think that would be really beneficial, I would very much be up for that
jay tompt Sat 17 Oct 2020 9:14AM
I hope you don't mind my contributing to this thread. I've been part of Transition Town Totnes for 10 years and have had opportunities to meet and learn from community-level initiatives all over the world. What I've learned is that your experience, @Kayleigh , is very common and follows patterns that have afflicted other projects that have failed to get off the ground. There are a lot of resources out there that can help you and others get off on the right foot when trying to launch something new in a place. Do some searching on the web and you'll find them. I second @Maria's suggestion that It would be useful to assemble for those interested in starting and developing CANs the best lessons and 'how tos' that already exist for the citizen-led organising, then tweak and augment as necessary. :-)
David Wilcox Sat 17 Oct 2020 11:19AM
Picking up @jay tompt suggestion seconding @Maria - I would be interested in helping assemble lessons and howtos. I'm looking at tools for collaborative resource gathering and sharing (and liking https://wakelet.com/ as one example widely adopted in schools and universities) and also, as mentioned, how citizens can use tech for organising. It looks as if we are going to be reliant on tech for some time, so maybe we can help build on the personal tech lessons people have had to learn so far as one strand of development.
Phil Green Mon 19 Oct 2020 9:28AM
Hi David, great to see you here! Hope all goes well with you.
I love the idea of some sort of general resource guide for getting community action started.
I've had a quick look at Wakelet, and noticed "Does The Owner Of The Space Have Control Over What Is Posted?"
If I were to get involved in something like this I'd probably start collating stuff on CASwiki
under some sort of general heading such as as "How to get community acton started" and see how this developed. Of course as all CASwiki stuff is creative commons it'd be shareable by anyone else who wanted to reuse it.
I'd probably get into for example looking at the usefulness of country specific info and how best to collate with that in mind.
David Wilcox Mon 19 Oct 2020 9:48AM
Hi Phil - great to reconnect! Let’s see if others are interested and explore how to join up and build on resources we have in this field
David
Phil Green · Tue 6 Oct 2020 5:07PM
Hi Kayleigh , thanks very much for this update. Maybe a bit like you, I'd love to help get something like a community action network going in the area where I live. In spite of a variety of experience in networks from local to national to global over many years, I simply haven't yet managed to find a way to engage anyone in something like a community action network where I live. So your post is really helpful for someone like me.
Have you thought about online communications more generally and what you'd like to use? I wonder if one could use loomio at all for this sort of thing, what do you think? (My heart wouldn't be in using fb)
I wonder if it can help to ask the question what sorts of information or advice would best help any individual wanting to start or contribute towards setting up a community action network? So a sort of earlier step than supporting (emerging) networks?