DISCUSSION PAPER

MASSLOCALISM

A way to help small communitiessolve big social challenges

Laura Bunt and Michael Harris

FOREWORD2

FOREWORD

oday’s complex, global social and economic issuespresent a daunting challenge. Against such overwhelmingissues as climate change and declining public health,individual action can seem marginal. Small steps don’t seem togo ar enough in tackling issues o such scale.Yet during NESTA’s Big Green Challenge – our £1 million prizeor community-led responses to climate change – we havewitnessed the ingenuity, deep commitment and ambition ocommunities taking action on these issues together. Thoughindividually these actions may seem small, collectively theymake a signifcant impact.This report draws on practical lessons rom the Big GreenChallenge and the experiences o the local groups we havebeen ortunate to work with. It oers a set o principles or howgovernment can stimulate and support more local responses tobig problems, at manageable cost to the public purse.I have been struck by the number o organisations exploringingenious ways o supporting local solutions to big socialchallenges. This report sits within this wider movement andoutlines our approach – an approach we call ‘mass localism’.As ever, we welcome your input and views.

Jonathan Kestenbaum

Chie Executive, NESTAFebruary 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

olicymakers increasingly recognise that many o thesolutions to major social challenges – rom tacklingclimate change to improving public health – need to bemuch more local. Local solutions are requently very eective,as they reect the needs o specifc communities and engagecitizens in taking action. And they are oten cost-eective, sincethey provide a conduit or the resources o citizens, charities orsocial enterprises to complement those o the state. Given thegrowing pressure on government fnances, these are importantbenefts.But localism presents a dilemma. Government has traditionallyound it difcult to support genuine local solutions whileachieving national impact and scale.This report oers a solution: an approach by which central andlocal government can encourage widespread, high quality localresponses to big challenges. The approach draws on the lessonso NESTA’s Big Green Challenge – a successul programme tosupport communities to reduce carbon emissions.This approach might be applied across other challenge areas,rom public health to reducing re-oending, and has someimportant implications or how government can supportcommunities to take action at a lower cost than traditionalinitiatives. We call this approach ‘mass localism’.