Working with our learning partner, Collaborate CIC, we’ve been exploring what relationships make possible within community research, what they need to flourish, and what happens when things aren’t straightforward.
Relationships are fundamental to how The Ideas Fund works. They have shaped how communities and researchers work together, how local partners support those collaborations, and how both the programme and our role as a funder have evolved. Our latest learning looks at relationships as a foundation, a practice and part of the infrastructure around the work, as well as what it really means to invest in them. It raises some important questions about trust and accountability, flexibility and structure, and what needs to change for this way of working to last.
This has led us to ask: what does it really mean to invest in relationships? Is it simply about providing more time and money, or is it also about creating the conditions for relationships to genuinely shape how the work develops?
Our short learning paper shares the emerging insights, tensions to navigate and the questions we’re continuing to explore.
Read our emerging learning paper - summary version
Read emerging learning paper – extended version
This is the start of the next stage of our learning. Over the coming months, we’ll be opening up these ideas and learning with others, including with the Relationships Project, who we have recently published a blog on this topic with. Watch this space for updates on our learning journey!
