We Walworth

We Walworth was born out of the Walworth community’s response to the pandemic – which showed us that no single organisation, council or service can tackle the challenges our neighbourhood faces alone. 

Over 18 months, our emergency response mobilised 42 collaborating organisations and 400 volunteers to deliver 340 tonnes of food to over 2000 local residents. 

During this time, we saw what was possible: a new way of working together that could transform our neighbourhood. A collective vision was forming of a future where no one worried about where the next meal is coming from, and where everyone was able to bring their contribution to support a stronger and more resilient neighbourhood.

Through this experience we confirmed what we expected: if people didn’t have ‘social capital’ – strong relationships in the community, with family – they were more at risk of being impacted by the shocks of the pandemic. 

Social capital makes our neighbourhoods better: happier, wealthier, stronger, healthier. A lack of social capital increases disadvantage and inequality. 

So, we wanted to build on what the community had achieved before it disappeared.

We think that by bringing together a team to work on local challenges, we can find new ways of connecting and solving problems together. It will take all of us bringing our collective tools, skills and ideas to really make a difference. 

We Walworth is a new project to engage everyone in Walworth around local issues, and find out how we can work better together. It uses mass engagement to surface new leaders and their ideas through cross-sector teams, who take the ideas forward and build new visions for tackling issues together. 

The We Walworth model works in three stages:

• Mass Engagement:
  The work starts by setting a goal to talk to 80% of our neighbourhood about a particular issue. The neighbourhood context and density of engagement are the distinctive features of this phase. The goal isn’t about achieving community consensus, or priority setting – instead, it serves to surface ideas and animate the whole community and the institutions which give it structure. We do this by hosting neighbourhood events, activations and 1:1s.
  
  
• Working Groups:
  Once interested residents, local organisations and central and local government staff surface, they work together on an issue that has emerged during the first phase through a series of engagement and creation challenges. They then present the vision back to their community at a Ward Forum; then to local decision-makers in the council and central government.
  
  
• Implementation & Stewardship:
  Finally, the group works in collaboration with local decision-makers to implement their vision, bringing policy to life in practical solutions to local issues. In this phase, the cohort works directly with local decision-makers, and government representatives explore more effective ways of working together in local contexts.