Learning from two years of partnership working to increase social integration in London.
The Citizenship and Integration Initiative (CII) is a
pooled fund of £1 million to support work on citizenship and integration in
London. The Initiative brought together independent foundations and civil
society organisations with the Mayor of London to advance shared goals on
social integration.
As learning partner for the Initiative since 2017, Renaisi
has explored the question: can we achieve more together than we can as
individual organisations?
Renaisi’s role as the Learning Partner for the Initiative
had three main aims:
- Understanding how the new partnership model works and
the activities taking place. - Exploring the impact of the Initiative on policy and
practice. - Providing ongoing feedback and development support to
partners.
At an event today (15 October 2019) we shared learning on the challenges and potential of this model of working together. Read the full learning report.
Did partners achieve more together?
Achievements of the
CII include a campaign and guidance for young people with insecure status, the
EU Londoners Portal in multiple languages, the first London Voter Registration
Week, and the first EU Settled Status Ceremony.
Our report found
that collaboration helped increase the impact of the CII activities in the
following ways:
Improved
quality of activities: the
GLA could have delivered certain activities alone, but the quality was enriched
by the secondee’s frontline knowledge.
Greater
exposure and/or prestige of activities: civil society organisations could have delivered certain activities
alone, but the reach and influence would not have been as great without the
GLA.
Improved
policy making: secondees were
able to contribute their expertise to wider GLA policymaking.
It is
expected that the long-term impact of the CII will be:
- Stronger relationships between civil
society and the GLA and a better understanding of how to work together. - Activities and approaches developed
by the secondees will be embedded in the GLA’s work.
What next?
The
CII partners are developing the Initiative for 2020 onward. Contact Trust
for London for more information.