Collaboratively mapping and understanding stakeholders
Whether its a focus on Young People, Sport or the Arts, shared goals are often held by a broad mix of statutory services, organisations, the voluntary sector and residents.
People put in a huge amount of energy to move mixed communities of profession and practice like this forward, navigating finance, power and culture disparities as best they can.
Without a way of seeing the broader picture, people work in the only ways they know, further embedding bias, power imbalances and dysfunction.
“Often mapping exercises are separated from reality, but with this toolkit we are actually showing what's happening on the ground- because its built by the stakeholder community, it’s real.
I’m particularly interested in how the financing of initiatives is disconnected from the actually effective and bespoke community-led activity. By mapping the Stakeholders’ true offer to communities this work makes a really strong case for how initiatives and services should be commissioned and gives us the evidence to say that without these invaluable and highly nuanced community connections, nothing meaningful would get done”.
- Paul Macey. Co-ordinator, Pillgwenlly Masterplan, Newport City Council
The Relational Mapping Toolkit helps with strategic community building whilst offering insights to the community themselves
For the stakeholder community, the maps show:
Who is there and what everyone is working on
For a sector working on provision to the general public (such as Sport or the Arts), the maps show where
collaborations could happen and where the gaps are.
For those resourcing and building the community, the maps show:
A broader section of the community - and often more of the grassroots - because the community leads on who should be included
Who is holding a lot of relationships at the centre, and who could be drawn in from the margins
Who bridges the essential work of key organisations
How joined up the working is around areas of provision or purpose
Who has been a stable part of the community for a long time, but is under-resourced and overlooked
