Climate action charity Ashden is joining forces with community organisation Think & Do Camden to replicate their highly successful ‘Sharing Spaces.’
This project helps community groups join together to have fun sharing information and practical tips about living in a low-cost, low-impact way.
Communities around London are invited to attend the launch of Sharing Spaces on 1st November and apply to set up their own Sharing Space. Funding is available to communities across the city to help them set up their community spaces.
Think & Do began supporting local Camden residents in 2021 by establishing ‘Sharing Spaces’ – turning under-used spaces on local estates into community hubs for climate action. The original Think & Do pop-up was established in Somers Town, Camden, North London.
Over a two-week period 1,100 local residents were inspired to participate in refuse, reuse and recycling initiatives. Activities included clothes swaps and sharing surplus food meals, fix it sessions, energy saving advise, craftivism, and much more.
The collaboration with Ashden will support more Sharing Spaces to be established around London. This will help build community resilience to climate impacts by inspiring residents to share skills, stories, food and stuff!
“As we built connections and trust with local residents through community listening sessions, the idea of Sharing Spaces emerged,” says Ellie Bryant of Camden Think & Do. “We’re delighted that we can join forces with Ashden to share our successful approach with other communities in London – there’s no point reinventing the wheel and we’re happy to share our learning of what worked and what didn’t.”
Ashden, a charity which collaborates with organisations to scale up and replicate successful climate solutions, will support Think & Do to share its expertise and knowledge with other residents’ and community groups in the capital over a 2-year period from September 2023 to July 2025. This will be funded by The Kusuma Trust.
Community groups that often find it hard to get funding, can apply for a grant. It will cover the cost of paying community members to set up and run the Sharing Space sessions, creating workshops and communication materials to reach the local community, sharing learning with others doing similar work.
Cara Jenkinson, Head of Cities at Ashden, said “We have seen the incredible work that Camden Think & Do have done, working with residents in Somers Town estates, and wanted to capture that learning and help other communities expand on it.”
“Communities often come together on a voluntary basis but find it hard to maintain momentum and people get burnt out, or they find it hard working alone. This project will give local residents some financial and practical support to make a difference in their community – on the most vital issue of our time – climate change.”
Local Camden resident Halima Khan from Camden Think & Do’s Sharing Space says: “This is a place where all of the community get together, sharing new skills and bringing ideas that can help the climate.”
Chair of London Councils and Leader of Camden Council, Georgia Gould, says: “Sharing Spaces optimise everything citizen participation should represent. The scale of the Climate Crisis requires work like this to be happening across society and so I'd absolute love to see the energy we've seen from Camden's Sharing Spaces spreading across London, allowing us as a city to shape the collective future that we want to see.”
Organisations applying for the grant need to be a registered charity, voluntary group, not-for-profit organisation with the support of a local authority. Participating groups will receive a grant of £5,000, with up to an additional £1000 to support ongoing projects, plus the support of a Think & Do project officer, a toolkit and template materials that provide a step-by-step guide to setting up a Sharing Space in their community, based on all the learning from the Think & Do projects.
The new Sharing Space community groups will also become part of a network sharing information and learning through regular workshops facilitated by Ashden. Organisations taking part will need to commit to secure a suitable venue to host the Sharing Space and deliver workshops for and with the community between March-June 2024.
