On 30 October people from across civil society gathered to discuss an important question: how can we continue to address specific inequalities in our society without increasing divisions between communities and groups?
The meeting is one of dozens of independently organised Conversations being hosted around the country, the insights of which are playing an important role in shaping the Inquiry. Each conversation brings together people from different backgrounds to discuss the changes they are currently seeing in civil society, and to co-develop visions for what civil society might look like in the future.
While there have been some successes in achieving greater equality in recent decades, explicit divisions between some communities and groups remain. This is often amplified by commentary on marginalised communities which emphasises polarised viewpoints and experiences.
Where civil society does proactively seek to engage with communities that are most likely to experience inequalities, it is most often an invitation to ‘participate’ rather giving them the resources, the means and the power to design and deliver change for themselves.
So how can civil society play a leading role in reducing all social and economic inequalities and in building inclusive communities throughout England?
The Conversation touched on a wide range of issues, including how to overcome the problem of siloed working in civil society; methods of improving education; ways to empower communities; and the potential role that funders could play helping civil society organisations work with, rather than against, one another.
Watch the video to hear participants reflect on what was discussed:
3rd November 2017