Jenny Brotchie argues that in difficult times the third sector has a critical role in the shift toward a successful enabling state

Kathy Evans, chief executive of Children England said in a recent article that in tough financial times its easy for the third sector to get caught up in financial Hunger Games. This is very true, and it’s important that charities resist the urge to let economic concerns dictate the way they operate and to sell themselves short.

Widening inequalities, austerity, increasing pressures on our public services and declining trust in government and institutions are creating a perfect storm that can feel overwhelming – how can the third sector hope to turn the tide?

There is a glimmer of optimism. The same storm has encouraged governments and others to examine how they operate, to question why even when times were good and resources plentiful we still failed to improve things for some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Part of the answer seems to be the way we have traditionally designed and delivered public services with the efficiency of the service deliverer in mind rather than the preferences of the individual or community.

A paradigm shift is occurring that the Carnegie UK Trust have termed the rise of the Enabling State

Jenny Brotchie

These top-down models of service delivery do not accommodate aspects of our wellbeing very well: things like our sense of control over our environment, the strength of our familial and social networks and the degree to which we are involved in our local communities or volunteer.

These are not things that the state or any deliverer of public services can provide directly for us. To nurture our wellbeing in these areas, the state and service providers must rather act as an enabler and facilitator.

Governments and others are increasingly aware of the limitations of traditional approaches to service delivery and we are seeing a growing interest in more responsive public services that give communities and individuals greater control over their own wellbeing.

A paradigm shift is occurring that the Carnegie UK Trust have termed the rise of the Enabling State.

Yet while many of us can intellectually agree that services that better support our desire for control and facilitate mutual help can offer real benefits we are also struggling to implement these new types of services successfully.

And here lies the critical role for third sector organisations both collectively and individually.

The third sector is already strong in many of the areas that we would expect to see in a more enabling state such as mutuality, prevention and co-production. It operates in a manner quite distinct from the public and private sector and retains a high degree of trust (unlike other public institutions). At our recent workshops at the Gathering we asked third sector attendees what they were doing within their own organisations to give communities and individuals more control and what they thought the role of the third sector might be in leading the change toward a successful enabling state.

The answers we received were diverse and hopeful. They reflected the ways in which the third sector operates and interact with beneficiaries and the opportunities that exist to give citizens and communities more control. They identified the important and distinct role that the third sector has to play in improving wellbeing and influencing change but they also did not shy away on some of the challenges that third sector organisations can have in ensuring that it remains in touch with beneficiaries and is working for the user rather than provider interest. Therefore we must be proud of what we have achieved and the role that we can play but not complacent about the scale of the challenge.

At Carnegie UK Trust we will continue to support moves for greater power for communities and citizens. We will be launching a new prize later this year to showcase excellent practice in enabling and empowering citizens and communities.

Find out more about the Trust’s Enabling State work in its Route Map to an Enabling State that sets out eight steps that governments and others can take to successfully give communities and individuals more control here.

Jenny Brotchie is a policy officer at the Carnegie UK Trust