• Text Size
  • Contrast

Principles met

  • Community leadership and a new role for councillors

    We will explore ways for councils to act as a platform for helping the community to contribute to local outcomes, and to re-think the role of councillors as community connectors, brokers and leaders.

  • Innovation

    We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.

  • New models of meeting priority needs

    In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

  • Walking the talk

    As a membership organisation, we will make this statement of our principles operational by: • Co-operation among members: Our members work together to help each other implement our values, sharing experiences and learning. • Openness of membership: Full, Associate and Affiliate Membership is open to any qualifying Council, organisation or individual who shares our values and is committed to putting them into action. • Co-production of the Network’s work: Members help shape the Network’s work programme and the content of events and written products. • Action-focused: The network is a vehicle for helping councils translate co-operative values and principles into policy and practice. •Membership-based: The network is majority funded by modest membership subscriptions from its member Councils, Associates and Affiliates. •Non-party-political: Members share the belief that working co-operatively within and across communities holds the key to tackling today’s challenges.

Two new roles and an approach to tackling poverty and inequalities, built on the learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic of the need to work differently with council colleagues, health and community partners.

In September 2022, Hackney Council hired two ‘System Conveners,’ roles that were the first of their kind in the council. They came on the heels of the Council’s Poverty Reduction Framework that outlined as a priority the need to work differently to respond to the material needs of poverty and act preventatively.

During the pandemic Hackney, like many other councils, worked together with community and health partners in new ways to support residents most impacted by the pandemic. The System Conveners roles have been a way to acknowledge that learning and create roles specifically designed to continue working in a connected way.

The System Conveners’ First Steps

The initial brief to the two System Conveners was to ‘get out there’– be in the community meeting with organisations and council colleagues.

Map of services across Hackney that the System Conveners developed.

For further information contact:

Back to Case Studies
This site uses cookies Find out more