The strategy was produced with the help of a number of stakeholders, including public bodies, agencies, communities and citizens. Lambeth Citizens, part of Citizens UK, were hired as an integral part of the strategy's production, using their knowledge and expertise of the area to create a strategy which would be most beneficial to residents.
During the process, Lambeth Citizens helped promote the Living Wage, increase the membership of the local credit union, as well as raising awareness of the greatest abuses by pay day lenders on the high streets.
Lambeth Citizens ran a listening campaign which showed how poverty and debt were a problem for people from all backgrounds and stages of life. The listening campaign took six months. Local leaders in community institutions, such as churches and schools, carried out one-to-one conversations and group discussions to understand the real concerns of Lambeth residents as well as their friends and neighbours.
As a result of these conversations they found that low pay and debt were major issues for residents in the area. They also co-hosted an employer event in order to promote the Living Wage to local businesses. Throughout the process Lambeth Citizens provided daily pastoral care and financial support for thousands of people in Lambeth.
As a result of the close collaboration with community organisers, Lambeth Council were able to create a detailed strategy, focusing on eight outcomes, which reflected the needs of their most financially unstable residents.
Lessons learned:
- Community organisers can be a key resource in forming links with residents who may not engage with local services but are part of community groups and faith institutions.
- Listening campaigns represent a form of engagement which is particularly effective at revealing the day-to-day realities of many citizens, and can feed into strategic decision making.
- With community organising, listening can quite naturally flow into community action – in this case holding an event to encourage local employers to sign up to pay the Living Wage. Citizens therefore not only feed in their experiences and ideas, but take action themselves.
- Hiring community organisers as key partners in policy development – in this case on household incomes, but it could also be applied to a wide range of devolution topics such as employment and skills – gives a legitimacy to council policy it might not otherwise have.