I’m really tired and I could do with some help.
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There is a ton of stuff going on everywhere right now. Everyone has loads on their plate mentally & emotionally. It feels awfully presumptuous daring to ask for help when other people have it much worse, y’know? And yet, I have to suck up my internal self-doubt and put this out there. If it’s not to be, so be it. But if it could resonate with the right person/people, then I’d be a fool not to speak about this.
Tl;dr?
If you’re a funder who can find some money down the back of the metaphorical sofa (anything up to £3,000), or if you have some time to spare (maybe you’re furloughed or work is a bit slower for you right now) and:
- you have time to write a funding application for the Network, or
- you are fluent in digital events (we’re planning our annual conference in September as well as running things every Monday), or
- you have an analytical mind to synthesise and see a path through the data we are collecting from our events, or
- you’re good at designing digital documents that are nice and clear and on brand…
We need you right now. Hell, let me own this: *I* need you right now.
What’s going on?
The Co-production Network for Wales has reorganised substantially in the past few months, as we have no core funding and we’ve been hit pretty hard by the Covid-19 circumstances — we’ve had to lose our two employees (myself as director and Rachel as community coordinator). I’m now freelance and continuing to deliver consultancy and training under the umbrella of the Network brand, along with a few other associate consultants. I’m working on client delivery 4 days per week in order to be able to dedicate one day, on a voluntary basis, to the community of practice & the members of the Network — organising weekly events and generally doing community management and the stuff that core funding would have covered. Rachel is also helping out on a voluntary basis and covering the communication channels. (Edit: Rachel is also raising a nearly-toddler and looking for a new job, both of which are full-time activities. If you have a part-time job available now or soon, Rachel is *brilliant*. Talk to me about it.)
Co-production and the new normal
Right now our events are bringing people together to have conversations about what the new future could look like, the role that co-production will have to play if we stand a chance of making things better together, and what we can all do in our respective areas (of work and geographic), and how we can take action as well as support each other as a community. We’re also providing training in transferring our engagement online, and spaces for people to connect, check-in and self-reflect — on top of the regular networking events and member expert sessions.
It feels like the need is pressing right now to have a space for these conversations to happen as we work across sectors and professions, with people from a wide range of backgrounds. At the moment I am running about 6 hours of online events of different kinds every Monday, which participants tell me are valuable and important to them, which keeps me putting them on. They vary from 3–4 people in a reflection group to 70-odd people talking about “the new normal”. So far I estimate we’ve spoken in the past 5 weeks with about 200-odd people in person, and about 100 more through email and the event write-ups and newsletters that we are publishing.
It feels urgent and important to have a space for this furious thinking and conversations and re-framing to happen, and I know if I didn’t do everything I could possibly do to provide these spaces for our community of practice, which is all in response to what they are telling us they need and want — if I wasn’t doing it right now I would look back in 3 or 6 months’ time with regret that we wasted an opportunity to talk about what matters and take action and make change happen as a community — and let someone else do the deciding of what’s right to happen, without our collective voice being part of the mix.
Part of this Network time is also spent connecting with other organisations also holding these “new normal” conversations in their respective sectors and areas of influence, both in Wales and across the UK. We’re not doing this in isolation, and we’re talking to (in no particular order) Social Care Wales, the Centre for Public Innovation, the Relationships Observatory, the Vanguard Network in Wales, the Democratic Society, Y Lab and the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. I’ve probably forgotten a few. We’re also sharing findings with Welsh Government research teams, at their request, to inform future policy.
I’m just knackered
Doing 6 hours of digital events on the one day that I contribute pro bono to the Network, involves at least 6 hours of planning behind the scenes if not more. And other things need to happen that would normally be distributed across Mondays like back office and governance functions. In practical terms I am spending 2–3 days a week volunteering for the Network, and delivering client work to pay the mortgage on 4 days. The housework is suffering, let me tell you ^_^
I am really, really tired. I will keep doing this for as long as it takes, and things will no doubt change over the next 2, 3 or 6 months. I joked to a friend/colleague the other day that I’ll sleep when I’m dead, this is too important to not do right now. But that’s why I’m writing this.
£3,000 would make a hell of a difference for me to take the foot off the pedal in terms of client work so that I can refocus some more of my time on the Network without impacting my ability to pay the bills. £2,000 would. Or even £1,000. Frankly I would take anything.
All the funders I have seen so far are supporting only their current grantees through the coronavirus crisis. I mean, I’m not begrudging them that. But I do not have the time — or quite frankly the mental resource — to write a fresh application which may or may not get anywhere. (Most funding streams have been paused at the moment anyway.) I’m looking for a small amount that wouldn’t require a disproportionate amount of paperwork, to enable us to carry on having these urgent conversations as a community of practice, and creating the spaces where we can talk about the new ways of working and how to make them a reality:
person-centred
relationship-focused
strengths-based
outcomes-focused
complexity-informed …
This isn’t going to happen by wishing for it. A ton of people have to come together and thrash it out and make it happen. We’re holding the space for this. It is important and urgent.
Can you help me do this?
If you’re in a position to sign off a small (in the greater scheme of things) amount of money to support this work, that would be a godsend. I promise I will bake you muffins with the first bit of non-work time that I get as a result.
I do realise this is fairly unlikely to happen. There are other things that would help a lot, if you can spare some time and skills. Maybe you’re furloughed, or maybe you’ve got a lighter workload right now, or maybe you just can for whatever reason. And want to.
Do you have time to write a funding application for the Network?
Are you good with digital events (we’re planning our annual conference in September on top of running things every Monday)?
Do you have an analytical mind to synthesise and see a path through the data we are collecting from our events?
Are you good at designing digital documents that are nice and clear and on brand?
If you can spare between one and a few hours I need you right now.
Please wave, thank you.
You can find me on noreen@copronet.wales or @noreenblanluet on twitter.
