Connecting RCOs for solidarity and campaigning

RCOs are small, grass-roots, user-led organisations, so often have difficulties collaborating with other equalities organisations to affect change due to their resources, locations and policies.

Mapping RCOs and connecting them with other voluntary and community organisations in London could help them to know each other, build relationships, share information, experience, best practice and resources. Most importantly, the project will explore ways in which RCOs could build the networks and partnerships they need to build solidarity and creating systems change for the benefit of their communities.

The Project will explore ways to enable RCOs to:

  • Reach out to each other; build relationships, share information, experience, best practice and resources and to learn from each other.
  • Increase their capacity to work together to overcome barriers hence improving their access to information, support, and access to tools, models, and resources.
  • Increase their capacity to find innovative and effective ways to build solidarity, develop joint solutions and supporting each other’s campaigns to achieve systems change.
  • Increase their capacity to share their good work and success more widely, and to share resources.

Specifically, the project will:

  • Create a social network map of user-led community organisations in London including RCOs.
  • Explore how organisations can use social network mapping and connected resources to build solidarity and to bring about systems change.

RCOs on the social network map will be able:

  • To profile their organisation by sharing information on their services, collaborations and partnerships, relationships and networks including with policy and decision makers.
  • To provide information on community resources available within their organisation or their community to make them accessible and, if possible, shared.
  • Based on identified commonalities and possible synergies, to collaborate on systems change by finding leverage points to deal with issues and achieve maximum impact.