Kevin Dawson - Applied Psychologist & Community Development Specialist

Co-production is a term we are hearing quite frequently in the third sector these days. Caerphilly Council has said that it is now committed to working with communities to solve local problems using the co-production framework. So what is coproduction?

Co-production: the definition
Co-production is an asset-based approach to public services that enables people providing and people receiving services to share power and responsibility, and to work together in equal, reciprocal and caring relationships. It creates opportunities for people to access support when they need it, and to contribute to social change.

Co-production is underpinned by 5 principles:
1. Value all participants, and build on their strengths. 2. Develop networks of mutual support. 3. Do what matters for all the people involved. 4. Build relationships of trust; share power and responsibility. 5. People can be change makers, and organisations enable this.

Once again the UK Prime Minister brags on TV that UK growth is amongst the highest for industrialised nations. It sounds great, but what does it really mean for most of us?

The UK has been in austerity since 2008, with wages stagnated well below the cost of living, yet the wealthiest 10% have seen their wealth increase by around three trillion dollars since the start of the pandemic.

So who does growth really benefit and should we be focussing on growth and consumption during a climate crisis?

Inequality causes serious social problems such as; health, social mobility, social trust, imprisonment, teenage pregnancy, life-expectancy, poor literacy and numeracy, infant mortality, homicides, drug and alcohol abuse, metal illness and obesity (see the Spirit Level by Pickett and Wilkinson).

What we need now is not business as usual, with the traditional focus on growth and GDP, but instead a focus on more regenerative forms of wealth that will serve to reduce inequality and improve well-being and quality of life for everyone!

Zombies - consuming without consciousness

Research shows that much of consumerism is driven by social comparisons. We have a psychological need for others to judge us positively: as successful, attractive and intelligent etc. So we buy expensive cars, large houses and branded apparel in order to make a an impression.

Inequality in our society actually makes it more likely that those who can least afford it will purchase expensive products they can't afford in order to increase the likelihood of being evaluated favourably by others, exacerbating problems with debt and contributing to causes of depression and anxiety.

Local councils are ideally paced to help with community wealth building. Unlike large private companies they are unable to relocate elsewhere during tough times, and are also large employers and procurers of services with a large supply chain.

Even during these financially challenging times, with ever shrinking budgets, local councils, acting as 'anchor' institutions, can seek social value by procuring services equitably, ensuring that their suppliers provide a high quality service to the community and provide good working conditions and pay a living wage. This way, everyone benefits!

We are all part of the community, users of services and the employees providing those services. If these services are delivered by local providers who provide quality services, treat their staff well and pay a living wage, that wealth stays in the community.

This circular economy benefits everyone. Preston City Council adopted the Community Wealth Building model in 2012 and halved its unemployment rate in five years, whilst increasing wealth and prosperity and reducing poverty and social deprivation, significantly. So successful was the Community Wealth Building approach, that Preston was voted as the most successful city by Price Waterhouse Cooper.

Since Preston the Community Wealth Building Model has been successfully applied in Manchester, Wigan, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Scotland, Belfast and Denbigh to name a few.

The Third Sector is at the heart of Community Wealth Building, with Statutory Sector Anchor Institutions precure directly from Third Sector service providers, ensuring that communities are supported by those organisations that understand local need, best.

This model has worked extremely in the UK, and Scotland even has a Minister dedicated to Community Wealth Building. It is now time we adopted this approach in the Caerphilly county borough.

Community Well-being Economies: A new Paradigm for Community Development:

Currently we are using one and half times the planet’s capacity to sustain us, with 10 percent of the wealthiest people using 50 percent of the planets natural resources. This is completely unsustainable and by 2030 we will be using twice the resources that our planet is able to produce. If we carry on this way we will run out of resources to exploit in the not too distant future, with devastating consequences for the planet we all live on. However, just to declare a climate emergency and tinker around the edges is not enough. What is needed is a complete rethinking of the way we do things, internationally, nationally and locally.

The current circular flows economic model assumes gross domestic product (GDP) is a good measure of a nation’s wealth. This economic model assumes that wealth will trickle down from the richest to the poorest in society, automatically creating social value. However, the evidence is very much against this perspective.

The gap between the richest and poorest people in society has actually increased as GDP has increased. The most deprived people in our society have poorer health at an early age and a shorter life span than those least deprived, and people living in poverty in the UK tend to have poorer health and live 19 years less than their more affluent neighbours. So GDP is really not the answer, because wealth does not trickle down or create social value.

The point is, if we want to protect the environment and at the same time all have a good standard of living then we need to change the way we do things now, today, in the present!

With the passing of the Well-being of Future Generations Act in 2015 Welsh Government has set the agenda for change. Doughnut Economics and Community Wealth Building provide the framework for a new paradigm in economics and for Community Development, one that truly benefits people by keeping wealth within communities. The Community Wealth Building approach has been successfully applied in the UK in; Preston, Islington, Greater Manchester, Mid Wales, York, Leeds, Burlington and Birmingham, and in the USA in; New York City, Portland, Oregon, Vermont and others.

The Community Wealth Building model proposes that economic power should be returned to local people through plural ownership of the local economy by promoting social enterprise creation, cooperatives and municipal ownership models which are more economically generative.

Financial power should be made to work for local places through flows of investment within local economies by harnessing the wealth that exists locally, rather than looking to external sources, through mutually owned banks and credit unions for example.

Fair employment and just labour markets should be promoted through a living wage and employing local people, particularly from low income areas and building progression routes for workers. If an organisation can’t afford to pay its workforce a living wage then it is not a viable business.

Statutory service providers should ensure the progressive procurement of goods and services by developing local supply chains with SMEs, employee owned businesses, social enterprise and cooperatives. These kinds of businesses are more likely to employ local people and directly support the community.

Any wealth derived from the use of local assets directly benefit the community through the socially productive use of land and property. There should be a move to develop and extend the use of these assets for community use (for example, public sector land) (Centre for Local Economic Strategies CLES).

In order to promote social and economic well-being there is a need to ensure that we have an equal society, where people have affordable access to life’s basic necessities, such as nourishing food, clean water, energy and housing as well as access to high quality education, health services and meaningful well-paid jobs, without overusing natural planetary resources. Organisations and communities should seek to promote sustainability in all activities through recycling, reusing, repurposing and upcycling. This is the premise underlying Oxford economist, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economic model of sustainable development.

The Doughnut Economic model has been successfully used to map socio-economic performance in Wales, Scotland, South Africa, China and the Netherlands for example. Taken together, the Well-being of Future Generations agenda, Community Wealth Building and Doughnut Economics provides a robust socio-economic framework for sustainable development that facilitates grass-roots socio-economic development and potentially empowers people to build resilience and sustainability in their own communities.

Significant wealth is generated by the third sector in Wales, and is worth around £3.8 billion to the Welsh economy, annually. Community Development has a key role in supporting third sector organisations and community groups to build community resilience and sustainability within a Well-being Economy. This may be achieved by developing and supporting social enterprise and developing community ‘well-being economy’ partnerships in which local people are able to engage directly in the decision making process regarding what happens economically and socially in the community.

Community Development professionals can work closely with key statutory sector partnerships, such as the Public Service Boards in Wales to promote a well-being economy and identify opportunities for generative procurement between statutory and third sector service providers. Anchor institutions like local authorities and large scale employers in the community can serve as economic drivers, procuring services locally from third sector organisations, social firms and SME’s, pay a living wage, provide good working conditions and keep the cash within the community.

The UK has never truly emerged from austerity after the financial crisis in 2008, and is now economically and socially depressed by the current Covid-19 pandemic. Given these tangible economic challenges and that we are also in the throes of a climate crisis, we need to look for new and innovative ways to build economic and social resilience. Change is never easy, but to do nothing is not an option. Well-being Economics may be the best way forward in order to save the planet and retain democracy in a world where ordinary people are increasingly becoming economically and socially disempowered and marginalised in favour of authoritarian government and big business.

Post Covid we have an opportunity to decide what kind of social culture we really wish to live in!

My wife is currently writing up her research that looked at our attitudes to the rules laid down by the government to tackle Covid-19.

She used Moral Foundation Theory which asks questions about our moral values; are we libertarian, authoritarian, caring, fair-minded or loyal in our attitudes toward obeying Covid rules in a social context.

Her findings are very interesting and may have implications for our current social values in general, as it seems that we may be facing a major challenge in the future when it comes to our sense of social cohesion and community.

It seems that those of us under the age of forty tend to be very libertarian and individualistic in our moral values. We may not possess the same level of loyalty to social norms as previous generations have and tend to think that fairness only relates to us as an individual, rather than collectively as a community and society.

It seems that we tend to consider our own freedoms more than that of the good of others and the community in which we live.

The reasons for this are potentially many, forty years of neoliberal monetarist/consumerist politics being one.

However, the question is, if we want to live in compassionate, cohesive and caring communities with high levels of support and social capital that actually serve to significantly improve our wellbeing, then everyone has to consider everyone else.

If we are always being encouraged to put our own personal interests fist then we may never achieve a true sense of community and be able to take advantage of the very real social benefits that comes from living in a community that is compassionate, cohesive and caring.

Be the Difference that Makes a Difference in Your Community:

If you are part of, or thinking of setting up a community group, club or society then your local County Voluntary Council (CVC) should be your first port of call.

A CVC is there to provide direct support to help you get your group off the ground. They can help with finding volunteers to help you run your group, finding the right means for managing your group, and building your group's capacity to be able to sustain itself in the long-term. They can also help you to find funding, the money you may need for your group to achieve it's aims and aspirations.

Your local CVC for the Caerphilly County Borough is the Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO). They provide the full range of services from volunteering to community development.

It is also well worth joining GAVO. As a member you get the free Voluntary Voice magazine as well as access to all kinds of useful information.

All the staff at GAVO are extremely friendly and approachable, so don't be shy, get in touch and start being the difference that makes a difference in your community!

You can contact GAVO via their website at: https://www.gavo.org.uk/

GAVO Our Mission: To improve the lives and opportunities of communities through partnership and collaboration.

Could Preston be the model for saving our highstreets?

The Lancashire city of Preston is blazing a trail by shunning privatisation and creating worker-owned co-ops to provide local services instead. Like nearby Liverpool and Manchester, the city has a strong history of radicalisation but 15 years ago, found itself full of empty shops and with the highest su***de rate in England.

When plans for a new £700m shopping centre fell through, Preston took a different tack. The idea now is to keep the city’s money as close to home as possible so that, despite major spending cuts nationally, the amount spent locally goes up.

According to research by Guardian journalist Aditya Chakrabortty, just £1 of every £20 spent in Preston in 2013 remained in the city. Much of the rest went to building firms headquartered in London, or globally.

Now, Preston City Council is helping public bodies and major local employers to change their procurement policies, protecting businesses and jobs.

In 2013, six local public bodies spent £38m in Preston and £292m in all of Lancashire. By 2017, those totals were £111m in Preston and £486m throughout Lancashire. (Article taken from Positive News - Guerrilla Localism in Preston).

It seems that this micro-economic development approach to community regeneration is more sustainable, protects local jobs and keeps wealth in communities. Which is exactly what is needed in Wales, especially in our post-industrial valleys communities.

What Is Economic Localism?

Dozens of studies and countless living examples demonstrate that communities are strongest when they are localized.

In localized communities:

Economic development is focused on job creation through entrepreneurship and worker ownership rather than outside job attraction and financial incentives.

Economic success is measured less by production than by providing a decent standard of living for the most people while living in harmony with natural systems.

Economic resilience comes from greater self-reliance and from diversity. It takes many different skill sets to support a community. Localized economies are not dependent on any one industry.

Economic attraction comes from a persuasive sense of place.

Localized communities have their own unique, compelling identity.

Localism is about building communities that are more healthy and sustainable – backed by local economies that are stronger and more resilient. It means we use regional resources to meet our needs – reconnecting eaters with farmers, investors with entrepreneurs, and business owners with the communities and natural places on which they depend.

— Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (B***E)

(Taken from Communityallies.net)

The third sector can play a major role in helping to develop community leaders who then empower others in their communities!

A true leader empowers others to achieve for themselves!

Psychology and Community Development:

Psychology is the study of behaviour and cognition. The value of psychology to community development is often overlooked or completely disregarded, with Community Development being largely considered as being closely related to sociology. However, an understanding of psychology can provide highly relevant context in the practice of community development.

Social Psychology for example can be a real asset in developing a better understanding of:

• Social Cognition – how we think about the social world
• Social Attribution – how we ascribe causality to the social world
• Self and Identity – how we see ourselves and others
• Attitudes, Persuasion and Attitude Change – how we form attitudes, persuade others and how our attitudes might be changed
• Social Influence – how we might intentionally or unintentionally change other peoples beliefs
• People in Groups and Intergroup Behaviour – how we behave in groups, our shared identity, beliefs, values and norms
• Leadership and Group Decision Making – leadership style and how groups make decisions
• Prejudice and Discrimination – what psychosocial factors tend to drive prejudice and discrimination
• Aggression – what drives aggressive behaviour and how we might resolve it
• Prosocial Behaviour – what underlies prosocial behaviour and how we might cultivate it
• Language and Communication – how language underlies social cognition and the importance of non-verbal cues in discourse
• Culture – how culture effects social thinking, conformity, socialisation and self-identity

Understanding the role of personality in communities and community groups is also useful, as is other areas of psychology including cognitive psychology, abnormal (clinical) psychology and positive psychology.

When we better understand why people in communities behave the way we do, then as practitioners, we are able to better facilitate the community development process. In this context, an understanding of psychology may prove to be a very useful transferable skill in the process of facilitating grassroots community well-being development.

This has certainly been true for me, where I have used my knowledge of psychology to build the capacity, capability, confidence and self-efficacy of individuals to form coherent groups that achieve collective goals.

One Size Does Not Fit All:
It is generally the case that when poverty and social deprivation is on the increase, the demands on the third sector also increase. Developing communities for social and economic resilience is never an easy task and there have been many attempts to facilitate grassroots community regeneration.

I have been involved in facilitating community development for many years and if there is one thing I have learned is that there is no “one size fits all” approach, each community is unique!

There are of course many different approaches to developing communities toward resilience and sustainability. Some of the more typical examples are the Community Planning, Skills in Neighbourhood Work and Community Organising models. Currently Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is very popular, and it is a very effective approach. However, Transformational Education is rarely used, but is an approach that can provide rich information and a means to better understand the culture of communities and the lived experience.

Any of these approaches can produce meaningful results. However, combining them can be even more effective.

My approach has always been to utilize whatever tools are most appropriate for the job, so I tend not to use only one approach. Typically, I will use a combination of Transformational Education, ABCD and Positive Psychology. Because of the way we tend to work in partnerships using elements of the Community Planning approach is often unavoidable.

Having a background in psychology really helps with understanding how people tend to think and behave in social settings and how personality factors can influence groups and leadership dynamics within communities and community groups.

Positive Psychology fits perfectly within a Community Development framework as it provides effective, evidence-based tools for building psychosocial resilience, confidence, self-efficacy and subjective well-being.

I call my approach Positive Community Development (PCD), because it primarily builds on what is good about people and communities. I must point out though that does not mean that identifying and understanding barriers is unimportant, it is often essential for meaningful progress.

I think the key though is to be reflective of what the community actually wants to achieve for itself, and to work with them to re-establish community coherence, build individual and collective capacity, social networks and strong third sector organisations.

VOLUNTEERING IS GOOD FOR YOUR WELL-BEING

Volunteering is defined as: “any freely undertaken activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, a close relative”.

The research clearly shows that people who volunteer have better mental and physical health than those who do not volunteer.

Those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression in later life than those who don’t.

Volunteering has a positive effect on social psychological factors, such as one’s sense of purpose and autonomy, and increases a person’s sense of happiness.

The health benefits of volunteering increase with age and the act of volunteering itself may help individuals to maintain their independence as they grow older and face increased health challenges.

There is a causal relationship between volunteering and wellbeing. Better health leads to continued volunteering, but volunteering itself also leads to improved physical and mental health.

Several studies have found that when those with chronic or serious illness volunteer, they receive benefits beyond those that can be achieved through medical care.

Volunteering opportunities for young people helped them to develop ‘soft’ skills linked to well-being, such as confidence and self-esteem, raised aspirations, enhanced social skills and networks, amongst others.

So the take home message is “volunteering is good for you” If you live in the Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouth or Newport county boroughs then contact https://lnkd.in/dcnshiy and get help with finding a suitable volunteering opportunity in your communit

GAVO Volunteering The GAVO Volunteering Team can help you! We provide support, advice, guidance and recognition across Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire & Newport.

My vision for a better way of living is based on localism and a donut economy. Localism is all about compassionate, self-supporting and cohesive communities possessing high levels of social capital and well-being.

For example, if a much valued and needed local business, shop or other community asset closes or is in danger of being lost to the community, the community can pull together to buy/rent/lease the asset and re-establish it as a social enterprise, worker coop or community organisation. In doing this the community asset is retained for the benefit of the community.

We have examples of how this might work in practice with housing associations, friendly societies and other forms of social enterprise.

Welsh Government, WCVA and local CVCs can support this process, which will stimulate the local micro-economy and create reciprocal capital and mutual benefit for communities, which in turn can promote economic and social resilience by creating jobs and protecting assets.

What is it about possessing expensive stuff that makes us feel superior if we have things others can't afford?

I play keyboards and I own quite a few top of the range ones, but does that make me a better player than someone who only owns one budget keyboard?

Of course not, that's absurd! So why do we do it?

Is wellbeing an idea whose time has come?

Here in the UK we have recognised that national wealth is no indication of wellbeing since the late 1950s. International consensus politics in the form of the Bretton Woods Agreement - a response to the financial crisis of the 1930s, saw huge improvements in individual income and standards of living for many.

In 1957 British Prime Minister Harold McMillan famously stated “most of our people have never had it so good”. However, even with the advent of the welfare state and rising affluence in the UK, poverty and inequality were still relatively widespread and there was concern regarding the distributional shortcomings of the ‘affluent society’ and the potential for civil unrest due to increasing racial tensions.

However despite this, in 1970 the Conservative minister for the Arts and Paymaster General - Viscount Eccles published a pamphlet stating "Life does not taste as it should. The quality does not come up to what they (the people) feel they could achieve for themselves if some obstacles were removed and wider opportunities were available".

Sadly the whole notion of wellbeing went out of political fashion in the late 1970s due to recession, returned reinvigorated in the mid 1990s, only to be constrained in 2008 by worldwide austerity due to yet another financial crisis, which we are still very much caught up in.

Given the current devastating impact of Covid-19 on the worlds economies, in lives lost and consequential mental health problems, we need an agenda for improved wellbeing more than ever.

If ever there was an idea whose time has come, wellbeing is that idea and now is the time!

During these frequent lock downs have you considered taking up a new hobby? If so how about something a bit different?

Amateur Radio is a fantastic hobby, one where you will never be lonely because there is always someone to have a chat with, either locally or somewhere else in world.

I have been a licensed radio amateur since 1998, my callsign is MW0KEV. My wife took her foundation examination in the summer of 2020 and she is now a Foundation Licensee and holds the callsign MW7LOV.

If you think you might be interested have a look at the video below, it will give you a good insight into what the amateur radio is all about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCWpP9i8u8w

Introduction to Amateur Radio This short video is designed to give an overview of amateur radio in the UK, and how to get started in the hobby. It's been produced as part of training mate...

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

I took this from a Gwent Wellbeing Champions post that I was unable to share directly. I have been using this breathing technique for many years and it really is excellent. Give it a try every day for a month and notice the difference!

Here in the UK we have recognised that national wealth is no indication of wellbeing since the late 1950s. International consensus politics in the form of the Bretton Woods Agreement - a response to the financial crisis of the 1930s, saw huge improvements in individual income and standards of living for many.

However despite this, in 1970 the Conservative minister for the Arts and Paymaster General - Viscount Eccles published a pamphlet stating "Life does not taste as it should. The quality does not come up to what they (the people) feel they could achieve for themselves if some obstacles were removed and wider opportunities were available"(picture below).

Sadly the whole notion of wellbeing went out of political fashion in the late 1970s due to recession, returned reinvigorated in the mid 1990s, only to be constrained in 2008 by worldwide austerity due to yet another financial crisis, which we are still very much caught up in.

Given the current devastating impact of Covid-19 on the worlds economies, in lives lost and consequential mental health problems, we need an agenda for improved wellbeing more than ever.

If ever there was an idea whose time has come, wellbeing is that idea and now is the time!

Could this be the future for all new housing developments, social and private?

https://www.linc-cymru.co.uk/our-news-latest-covid-19-updates/work-to-begin-on-new-health-and-housing-development-sunnyside-wellness-village/

Work to begin on new health and housing development, Sunnyside Wellness Village The £23 million scheme is being developed by Linc Cymru Housing Association in partnership with Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, and Bridgend County Borough Council. This unique housing and health development is being supported by £18 million of funding from Welsh Government.

Community Development Approaches to Well-being in Wales:

In Wales Compassionate Communities has been pioneered by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board through their Integrated Well-being Networks (IWN). The project aims to activate community members to become champions of well-being, through knowing what goes on in their community. This is achieved through:

1) Place-based collaboration
2) Community-based Hubs
3) People who deliver services and support
4) Easy access to well-being Information

1. Place Based Collaboration – Collaborating with partners in communities, building relationships and working together better to make best use of what we have

2. Community Based Hubs – Hubs connect people with health and well-being resources, activities, and other people

There are 3 main types of hubs:

Health and social care hubs
Local authority hubs
Other Community hubs

Hubs provide information, advice and assistance in an integrated way. Hubs are linked to maximise their well-being role and improve access to the right services and support.

3. People Who Deliver Services and Support – Everyone working in a community has the potential to support the well-being of the community:

Maximising thousands of daily connections, making every contact count.

Enabling people to build on their strengths, and use their family, friends and community resources to find their own solutions.

Working co-productively with people to explore the options available to them, so they can make informed choices about their well-being.

Supporting Primary Care teams to work in a holistic way and connecting them to community resources through dedicated link workers.

4. Easy Access to Well-being Information – Integrated Well-being Networks help people to help themselves; by providing ways for people to access reliable information about things in their community that they can use to keep well

These can be through:

- Family, friends or a service
- A dedicated link worker
- A hub in the community
- Technology (including Dewis Cymru – a web based information -
portal providing information around objective well-being)

As we will discover in the next section, the term well-being is a construct that is not so easy to define. Welsh Government and the Public Service Boards have chosen to mainly focus on hard indicators of well-being, of which they have included 46.

These include for example:

healthy life expectancy
healthy lifestyle behaviours
air pollution
child development
eligibility for free school meals
gross disposable household income
national ecological footprint
gender pay difference
level of household material deprivation
number of people in education
employment or training
access to services
average mental well-being score
participation in sports
biological diversity and so on

Most, if not all, of these indicators refer to objective well-being, which in the context of happiness and and life satisfaction does not tell the whole story.

For example we may have full employment with a decent income, exercise regularly, eat healthily, have a nice home in a clean and unpolluted environment but that does not necessarily mean that they will be happy or satisfied with our lives.

This raises an important distinction between material, objective, well-being and subjective well-being and happiness!

Research has consistently shown that even material well-being does not fully account for feelings of life satisfaction and happiness once basic needs have been met. This is why many nations are moving away from gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of national progress and focusing their attention instead, on subjective well-being as a more meaningful measure.

Of course this is not to suggest that material, objective well-being is not important, it most certainly is! If you do not have enough money to live on, a warm and well maintained home to live or enough food on the table, or you live in a highly polluted, noisy and dirty environment, your satisfaction with life may be significantly lower that someone who is experiencing better living conditions.

In reality we need to experience good material and subjective well-being if we are to flourish individually and collectively.

So the take home message here is that, if we want to promote happiness and life satisfaction within communities, we need to focus as much on subjective well-being as we do on objective well-being for meaningful progress.

(Taken from Ignite CVO Community Well-being Development Training Course (Wales Version), September 2020).