Commissioning with communities and complexity
Our Director Helen Sharp reflects on her early experiences with commissioning, and how she came to the realisation that things needed to be done differently.
“Overnight, our commissioning came to life – it sprung out from the spreadsheet, it demanded creativity and fresh ideas and it challenged us at every step as we continually asked ourselves ‘why have we been doing it this way?’”
“Go where people are”: Local Motion on the power of lived experience co-production
Oldham Positive Action Network had been doing a great job at co-production through trial and error. They had built a group of fifteen local lived experience advisers, and had been running community conversations and testing a range of workshop formats. They just needed some help with the structure.
Ideas Alliance’s Kerry Bertram worked with them through a series of online and in-person coaching sessions. Here’s how it went.
“The best mistake I ever made at work…”
We’ve been asking our Associates to share their best work mistakes. It’s been wonderful to see so many insightful stories coming from initial moments of “oops”!
This wonderful reflection from Amelia Wakeford is a great example of how a small, human mistake can open up something much bigger – shifting relationships and reshaping how people work together.
“The culture of community action is different from the culture of local government”: Collaborating for the future of our places across ontological divides
This piece was written by Dr Jody Aked, an associate of Ideas Alliance, drawing on her work alongside communities and local government across the UK. She reflects on the often unspoken cultural divides between community and local government that shape how collaboration does and does not happen.
Our 2025 moments of joy
We asked a few of the people we’ve been working alongside this year to share their joyful moments from 2025. Not necessarily their major achievements, just some of the positive bits that stayed with them. Reading their stories has reminded us how much good rises out of simple conversations, shared tables, lively workshops and teams who look out for each other.
Building confidence in participation: What we learned from Adur and Worthing’s Participation Labs
Everyone wants to involve people more deeply in shaping decisions that affect them. It’s now widely recognised as the right thing to do. But for many councils and organisations, participation still feels unmanageable. That’s why we created Participation Labs – a practical way for organisations to build the skill and confidence to make participation a normal and embedded part of how they work.
Using Digital Tools to Build Local Democracy
How can councils really hear from their residents – not just the loudest voices, but everyone? With Thriving Together, we mixed online and offline ways of listening to help build stronger connections with local people and find out what matters most to them.
Supporting local partnerships in developing and delivering impactful Best Start in Life strategies and Family Hubs offers
Ideas Alliance are delighted to be working with Dartington Service Design Lab and Collaborate CIC on a new collaboration to help every child get the best start in life
Co-producing a National Parent Infant Relationship (PAIR) Framework
Ideas Alliance are thrilled to be joining with The Parent-Infant Foundation as the co-production delivery partner on their new National Lottery funded initiative!