Communities are doing it for themselves: Lessons from the mutual aid experience
The Covid-19 pandemic created an extraordinary wave of social solidarity and ‘good neighbourliness’ throughout communities in the UK. Even before the announcement of national lockdown, pro- active neighbours began to organise themselves in preparation for potential social restrictions.
The Mobilising Volunteers Effectively (MoVE) project worked with mutual aid groups in England and Wales to examine: •• what drove this response; •• what motivated people to get involved and to stay involved; •• how groups organised and responded to community needs; •• whether and how they worked in collaboration with other partners; •• what support might be needed for future mutual aid activity.
Shared values across the groups in sample: •• solidarity (not charity): mutual aid is distinct from traditional charitable models, focusing on building bottom-up structures of co-operation. •• support with humanity and without judgement: mutual aid offered friendly and non-judgemental support to anybody who needed it. •• social justice/political collective action: many saw mutual aid as a political movement to build community power and neighbourhood democracy and challenge social injustices.
The report is based on findings from extensive research with 59 mutual aid participants across the UK between January and September 2021, including: •• 31 one-to-one interviews •• 8 focus groups •• representing 29 different mutual aid groups •• covering 12 local authorities (7 within one large regional authority) in England (10) and Wales (2)
