Reflections on Rotterdam as a Critical Turning Point

Our social, economic and political systems and the welfare-capitalism model could be re-designed and made to work much better: to be more inclusive, more responsive, more preventive, more resilient and, above all, more ‘human’. Transformative change is needed; but transformation of the needed scale and direction cannot come from within the established systems alone. Social innovations are needed to drive and enable transformative change. Social innovations change relations in society and offer new ways to address societal needs. They achieve these through bottom-up, decentralized processes. Social innovation actors are therefore crucial in securing effective systems changes that command citizen support. Of itself, this is empowering for social innovation organisations, but individual initiatives acting alone will always struggle. Social innovation practitioners from different initiatives need to work with each other and with other concerned actors, especially action researchers, to design and deliver solutions. Maximising transformative potential and power depends on coalescing around shared values and principles, on being vision-led and mission- driven, and on contributing to strategic actions that are bigger than can be achieved by any single organisation.

So the final TRANSIT conference that brought us all together at the end of a four-year learning process – social innovation practitioners, action researchers and other concerned parties – was an important milestone reached on our own transformative journeys. The learning achieved has been impressive, but the real legacy of TRANSIT as we move toward our next phase of collective working and co-production will be if the final conference and what was achieved in Rotterdam can be the springboard for strategic action. Rotterdam was an inspiring experience. It brought all our networks together, cemented the relationships built over the last four years, and built cross-network support for a strategic, political process that can frame and direct joint actions based upon shared values. Rotterdam marks a call to action. At Rotterdam we proclaimed our right to innovate, to construct alternatives and to co-create social change. Rotterdam can be a critical turning point for all our initiatives and for the future of our society and communities. It will be a critical turning point if we work together and others join us to realise our collective potential for transformative change.

You can contact Paul Weaver at pweaver.groundswell@gmail.com