Let civil society take centre stage, says inquiry
The public mood is moving from a ‘me’ to a ‘we’ generation but a major shift from centralised power sources is needed to harness that change and to avoid future crises of finance, climate change and political trust.
These are the findings of an independent inquiry into civil society, published today.
Funded by the Carnegie UK Trust and headed by Young Foundation director Geoff Mulgan, the inquiry has spent the past two years researching and drawing on expertise from the charity, faith, business and political sectors.
Making good society calls on political leaders to move beyond rhetoric in their support for the voluntary sector and for civil society, and to back a shift of power to the neighbourhood level.
It says that civil society is ‘less than it could be’, having been pushed to the margins by commerce and the state.
‘It has been paid lip service but generally neglected. And it has lost ground in areas it was once strong, like finance and childhood,’ says Mr Mulgan in his introduction to the report.
The inquiry sets out an argument to put civil society ‘at the centre’, in particular for it to play a greater role in finance, the economy, the media and the environment.
It recommends an Office for Civil Society be established to support civil activity and a refashioning of parliament to allow for more dialogue and public engagement. It wants greater partnership with civil society and new financing tools to fund civil society activity.
It calls for a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy using the assets of civil society, and for the growth of local news media with financial support from government and philanthropic organisations.
Mr Mulgan said: ‘This report sets out a radical agenda to claim back power for civil society – calling for a definitive shift from doing things “to” and “for” people, to doing “with”. It is a much more radical agenda than any of the parties have yet engaged with.’
by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
