Five things I’ve learned about how we build coalitions

It was in 2016, on a two day residential ‘retreat’ for women’s sector leaders, when I was CEO of the charity Women in Prison (2015 – 2022) that I first met up with Rokaiya Khan (CEO, Together Women), Joy Doal (CEO, Anawim), Lisa Dando (Director, Brighton Women’s Centre), Rose Mahon (previously, The Nelson Trust) and other leaders. I could never have dreamed then that the result would be us co-founding the National Women’s Justice Coalition (NWJC). It was also around this time that I first discovered the words of Japanese philosopher, Ryunosuke Satoro, who said “Individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean”.

We were brought together because funders in the Corston Independent Funders Coalition (CIFC) felt leaders needed breathing space to think and connect amidst a ‘perfect storm’ of pressures in relation to change, particularly the fallout from the failed ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ agenda. This included the privatisation of the probation service that left years of chaos in its wake and resulted in the nationalisation of the service in 2021.

Co-founding the NWJC is one of the things I am most proud of in my working life. As I move onto a new leadership role in the charity Voice 21, I wanted to share the five things I have learned about what is needed for lasting coalitions to thrive:

1. Dedicated space and time together: I’ve noticed that every time leaders come together in a physical space (often meeting at different women’s centres and services) connections deepen, and significant progress is made in creating and growing partnerships. The online space has also been vital, especially during the weekly check-ins we arranged from the start of the pandemic, which helped us to see and connect with each other through the tough year that followed. The discipline of securing that time has been instrumental in helping leaders drive forward together. It also enabled the delivery of vital services to continue, reaching women and families that needed them most.
2. A shared vision, mission and strategy: Over the years there have been many differences of view but we have stuck fast to the vision that a formal coalition of women’s charities is the only way to ensure that specialist services are central to a radical reduction in the imprisonment of women (as first set out in Baroness Coston’s 2007 report). The coalition did not come together specifically to secure funds but to make the case for change and for sustainable funding to be secured over the long term. Practical tools like the Women’s Services Map were early dreams and I have found it quite emotional to see the Map itself become a reality, and so much better than I had ever imagined.
3. Disagreement, turbulence, flow and change: This is a harder lesson to write about because at times it has been tough to be in the midst of real conflict between coalition members, including some values clashes. Funding challenges, leaders moving on, new leaders arriving, different perspectives, varying levels of trust, organisations needing to step back from coalition work due to other challenges… There have been some challenging moments of change and risk but I’ve learned that not addressing this turbulence is worse, and that patience, acceptance and working through the challenges is generally worth the pain and builds the strongest partnership foundations.
4. Trust Plus: The nature of trust in coalitions is such a complex beast but it can never be taken for granted, which is one reason why space and time together (Lesson 1) is so important. We’ve learned the hard way that the ‘slow road’ of bringing on new member organisations is by far the best course of action, and that investment in the induction of leaders and relationship-building is absolutely vital. Openly talking about trust and difference (including experiences of disadvantage and discrimination), and making sure the governance, principles and working arrangements are constantly in sight and under review are all important. In a coalition that is not a free standing entity or charity, the responsibilities, accountabilities and powers of individual members becomes a key ingredient of success. While trust is key, it is never enough on its own without the processes and governance around it.
5. Someone’s Job: The single most important turning point for the coalition to become established was, in my view, our appointment of the NWJC’s dedicated Development Manager, Abbi Ayers, a role supported by various independent funders. For all the good intentions and dedication of us as co-founders, there comes a point when it has to be someone’s job to make things happen on the ground. Abbi has been instrumental in establishing strong communications and governance, with the rare combination of an eye for the detail, understanding complex partnerships and driving the overall strategy.

I have found that ‘divide and rule’ is one of the most powerful challenges faced by charities and leaders desperate for change. Coalition working can be long, gruelling and thankless graft and does not always bear fruit, but it is also full of joy, connection and hope. Without it I believe that in almost every area of social justice where change is needed, there will be an increasingly desperate spinning of wheels by leaders and their teams, getting nowhere fast.

June Jordan wrote the beautiful Poem for South African Women, commemorating 40,000 women and children who presented themselves together in bodily protest against apartheid in 1956:

“ … hurl into the universe
a moving force
irreversible as light years
traveling to the open
eye…”

It is widely agreed (including in the Government’s Strategy on Female Offending 2018) that addressing the root causes of women’s offending in communities, through women’s centres and related specialist services, will reduce harm to women, families and communities and save vast amounts of public money squandered on prisons. I believe the NWJC is the force that can currently drive this vital social justice change home.

In the words of the final line of Jordan’s poem, “we are the ones we have been waiting for“.