A number of organisations have been working in the field of new economics for much longer than us. We have been connecting with them and looking to share learning, collaborate and offer mutual support, recognising of course that working together will help all of us achieve the changes we want to see in the world.
This is the first in a potential series of posts that will share our perspective on collaboration and partnering with the other players in this space – who are they, what do they do, how does our work complement or overlap, and how might we work together…
Tony Greenham, Head of Finance and Business at nef
For example, we are delighted to name the new economics foundation (nef) as one of our partners, but what does this really mean?
Founded in 1986, nef is a highly respected think-and-do-tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. Tony Greenham, nef’s Head of Finance and Business, leads the programme of research into reforming the financial sector and aligning the interests of society and business.
Tony is also a trustee of the Transition Network. nef is involved in Transition local currency projects and offers a number of great tools and guides already linked elsewhere. They ran a ‘Reimagining your high street’ event at the REconomy day in London in September, and we have spent time together understanding each others’ work.
In this 10 minute audio file (sorry for the slightly dodgy quality, it was recorded over skype from a hotel room in Croatia and it has been highly edited to get it so short – we are learning as we go here!), we talk informally about the current and potential connections between our work, and nef’s view of REconomy as a critical part of the solution to our economic woes.
The key points for me is that nef can provide the capacity and connections to shape and influence government policy, and also credible means to measure the impacts of our work, especially in terms of well-being; clearly these 2 things are connected. REconomy (via the Transition network) provides access to the practical, community-led activity that is taking place to transform our local economies.
Both these aspects are critical to both our success, and together we have capacity to be truly transformative. The influence/policy and measurement work can help to remove the barriers that get in our way on the ground, and help ensure central powers understand the enormous potential of our work. But we need more formal interaction in terms of shared projects or activity in order to bring about the best outcomes – this is something we are continuing to work on together, and we will keep you posted.
An invitation – if you are an organisation doing similar work in the UK (i.e. supporting the transformation of our economic system from the local/community level), please get in touch. A number of us, including nef, are organising ourselves into a coalition of some type so we can more easily connect, collaborate and support each other.
Credits: main photo Laura Whitehead. nef’s ‘Re-imagining the High Street’ activity at the REconomy Day in London, Sep 2012.
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