Local changemakers seek new ideas
Be a Disruptive Explorer Over the last three years, a small group of dedicated local organisations have been meeting regularly to discuss how to change the who and how of decision-making in Barking and Dagenham. Now you can join them! Calling ourselves the Disruptive Explorers, we want to make sure everyone has a say in […]
Join us on a journey of disruptive exploration
Who are the Disruptive Explorers? The work started three years ago, as part of a learning journey started by the BD_Collective. Over the course of 18 months, organisations from across Barking and Dagenham met regularly to share their experiences of living and working in the borough. One of the things that we recognised was that […]
BD Giving Notes #53 – What Does Participation Look Like?
Participation is a word that we often hear in various contexts, such as education, work, politics, sports, and social activities. But what does it mean to participate? And who gets to decide how we participate? Our Head of Learning and Participation, Cameron Bray, looks to their past for an example of why we do not […]
BD Giving Notes #50 – Paying people for participation? Sounds like Greek to me.
Participation makes a big difference to those of us who have the privilege of supporting communities in their decision-making. Cameron Bray Rather than a contemporary contentious concern, the idea of paying people to participate in society is older than you might think, as Cameron Bray, Head of Learning and Participation explores. I’ve written previously about […]
BD Giving Notes #46 – ‘’Now THIS is podcasting‘’
Participation makes a big difference to those of us who have the privilege of supporting communities in their decision-making. Cameron Bray Have you been wondering about the history of the borough, why BD Giving talks so much about power, what makes the GROW Fund special, or maybe just what my dulcet tones sound like? Well, […]
BD Giving Notes #40 – “My weapon of choice‘’
A few weeks ago, our Head of Learning & Participation finally finished their Level 4 training in Lewis Deep Democracy (LDD), marking the culmination of a development process that started in September 2020. Here, Cameron, reflects on what they’ve learned and what this means for their work.
BD Giving Notes #35 – ‘’Putting Power Down‘’
It’s important that power is seen as something that ought to be stepped away from, in all walks of life. Getting there won’t be easy though as it’s both a cultural and a systemic shift that is needed. Cameron Bray In this Note, Cameron Bray offers up their thoughts on a very recent example of […]
BD Giving Notes #33 – ‘The trouble with funding (Part 3)’
The joy of making something collaborative and participatory is that you never have to be ‘done’ because you’re always open to the possibility of someone new making improvements and changes that are literally beyond the system’s current ability to make. Cameron Bray This is the third of a three-part series of blogs in reaction to […]
Brand brief: an invitation to tender for design work
Brand designers are invited to tender for Barking & Dagenham Giving’s visual identity development project. BD Giving is a local charity that champions ‘place-based’ working, relationship building and deeply believes in growing people’s agency. Our work is aimed at bringing new resources and approaches together in Barking and Dagenham and creating fairer solutions for the […]
BD Giving Notes #28 – ‘A Pot of Stew’
We are all products of the many socio-political systems we find ourselves caught in and we will, often ignorantly, act in ways that those systems have taught us to act. Cameron Bray This Note is by our Learning and Participation Manager, Cameron Bray. In this Note, they talk about their personal learning about Power (sharing, […]
