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The Council on Social Action brings together innovators from every sector to generate ideas and initiatives through which Government and other key stakeholders can catalyse, celebrate and develop social action.
We consider ‘social action’ to include the wide range of ways in which individuals, communities, organisations and businesses can seek through their choices, actions and commitments to address the social issues they care about.
The Council on Social Action makes recommendations to government and to others in its capacity as an advisory body, independent of government.
David Robinson, Community Links
Kay Allen, Royal Mail
Oli Barrett, Connected Capital
Shankari Chandran, Allen & Overy
Olga Heaven, Hibiscus
Geoff Mulgan, Young Foundation
Julia Ogilvy, Project Scotland
Rob Owen, St. Giles Trust
Tim Smit, Eden Project
Kevin Steele, Inspired Campaigns
David Thomlinson, Accenture
Sophi Tranchell, Divine Chocolate Ltd.
Paul Twivy, Communications Consultant
Julia Unwin, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Peter Wheeler, Investment and Philanthropy Specialist
The Council on Social Action has produced the following series of publications which are available to download:
The Council on Social Action (CoSA) first met in December 2007. Since then its work has included the following themes:
One-to-one – At our first meeting the Prime Minister challenged CoSA to imagine a society where everyone feels they have someone to turn to, especially in times of challenge and transition. CoSA has worked with government departments and experienced practitioners. We have been the catalyst for new relationships, identified policy and delivery options for government, and put in motion a series of initiatives that we think will take this work forward in powerful ways. Side By Side is our report on this work.
Social technology – The use of technology to support and stimulate social action. We launched the Catalyst Awards, which celebrate simple and effective web-based solutions for social issues.
Social leadership – The role of collaborative, value-driven leadership in driving social change. Chain Reaction is a two day event bringing together 500 social leaders from from government, business and local communities
New models for financing social action – We have been exploring alternative ways to fund prevention and early intervention, in the form of the Social Impact Bond.
Collaborative Commitments – A new way of developing powerful collaborations between private, public and voluntary sectors. We commissioned a ‘think piece’ from The Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility to develop this further.
On
the 17th and 18th November 2008, the inaugural Chain Reaction event
brought together over 1000 participants from 16 countries and from
across the public, private and third sectors including social leaders,
community activists, policy makers, business leaders, CSR
practitioners, ministers and young people. The aim of the event was to
share learning and to generate new ideas for social change locally,
nationally and globally. Learn more on the website about how people
came together to ‘connect, collaborate, commit’ for social change: www.chain-reaction.org [External website].
Chain Reaction is a project of Community Links [External website] and forms part of the programme of the Council on Social Action. Chain Reaction was supported by the Department of International Development [External website], the Department of Communities and Local Government [External website], Prospectus [External website], IBM UK [External website] and Triodos Bank [External website] with additional support from many other organisations including the Office of the Third Sector, Accenture UK [External website], Serenity IT [External website], iPhelion [External website] and Business in the Community [External website]. View the full list of supporters here [External website].
The UK Catalyst Awards ceremony was held on 24th July 2008 marking the first anniversary of the Prime Minister's speech announcing the Council on Social Action. The UK Catalyst Awards was set up “to recognise everyday heroes who use technology to make a positive impact on the world around them.”
This initiative is a collaboration between the Council on Social Action, Make Your Mark [External website], the Office of the Third Sector, UnLtd [External website] and Polecat [External website] and was sponsored by NESTA [External website] and BERR [External website].
Read more about the awards on the UK Catalyst awards website plus links to all the winning websites: The UK Catalyst Awards [External website].
For more information on the Council on Social Action or to get involved in the Council's work please contact us on: