Belong – The Cohesion & Integration Network
Belong’s focus is on how community events – festivals, parades, ceremonies and fun-runs – can strengthen social cohesion. The project was supported by an advisory panel, drawn from government, academics from four different disciplines, Spirit of 2012 staff and its founder the National Lottery Community Fund, community organisations and think-tanks.
Belong – the Cohesion and Integration Network is the UK’s leading membership organisation on social cohesion. They work with local government, private sector and civil society organisations to develop, implement and evaluate work that brings people together across difference and builds stronger communities.
In September 2024, Belong published The Power of Events written by Dr. Jeni Vine & Dr. Marion Oveson. The report synthesised learning from Spirit’s archive to encourage and support event organisers to maximise their benefits to social cohesion and connection. It asked the question: ‘What makes an event that results in people feeling more connected to their communities and that builds social cohesion?’
The report made a series of recommendations:
- Co-design approaches are used to ensure buy-in from local communities and groups;
- Funders encourage time to be spent building networks where these are under-developed through additional funding with mentoring opportunities for less experienced groups;
- Budgets are available for upskilling to embrace social cohesion aims with all those involved in delivery;
- All events are evaluated using measurement techniques that are fully accessible e.g. for disabled people or people with English as a second language and monitoring is designed to capture the wider community benefits and organic developments that contribute to social cohesion;
- Steps towards bridging divides and encouragement to connect with decision-makers, both at the local and national levels, are recorded and evaluated as part of the potential wider gains of events;
- More process evaluation is conducted so that the way in which skilled and experienced community;
- Event organisers work can be more fully appreciated and understood;
- Funders provide support and guidance in different methods of evaluation to maximise the social value of events;
- Exploring barriers to participation and how they can be overcome is carried out at both design and delivery stages and that this involves both economic and physical barriers;
- Organisers consider how they can include people who want to ‘help out’ rather than volunteer, or volunteer but on a flexible basis;
- Recording whether an event is being accessed by those who need it most in any particular location;
- Building into events safe spaces for interactions across difference;
- Other funding bodies open their archive to share learning;
- Training and peer networks developed through events are encouraged to build in social connections and supported to do so;
- The partnerships developed are supported and built into the infrastructure of each locality so that the relationships and knowledge can be passed on and developed;
- Events that contribute to building and supporting cultural memory that is relevant to all the communities of a place need to be encouraged.
Next, Belong will develop these rich findings into a resource for community event organisers. Whether it’s a small neighbourhood gathering or a regional event, their resource will help organisers use arts, culture, sports or volunteering to unite communities and help support lasting connections.
The resource will be available online and suitable for those using the arts, culture, sport and physical activity and volunteering as a means to celebrate, unite, and sustain communities coming together for a shared purpose. Potential users include those organising an event in their local neighbourhood, or strategic leads developing events at a regional and national level.
