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Mission Critical 03: Mission-Driven Partnerships with Civil Society

Mission Critical 03: Mission-Driven Partnerships with Civil Society

Mission Critical 03: Mission-Driven Partnerships with Civil Society

Friday, February 7, 2025

A new report was published today by The Future Governance Forum (FGF), with New Philanthropy Capital and The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.

Read ‘Mission Critical 03: Mission-Driven Partnerships with Civil Society’ here. 

The report explores how mission-driven government can meet the challenges of 21st century public service, and sets out how government can work with civil society organisations, such as charities, to achieve their goals and promises in transforming society. It states: 

The Labour Government elected in July 2024 has committed to a mission-driven approach to national renewal, focused on growth, net zero, public health, safer streets, and breaking down the barriers to opportunity. 

Missions can be understood as evidence-based leadership and policy making from the top-down, combined with a culture of innovation - to test and learn - from the bottom up. The best of civil society organisations are therefore critical partners throughout that spectrum: their knowledge, evidence and insights - often the first to identify a problem which the government is not yet aware of - are central to the direction setting and defining of mission goals.  

And at their best, their trusted relationships with communities, innovative design practices and culture of learning position them as crucial partners in prototyping new approaches to test and learn. Civil society organisations play a critical role in the delivery of services and the design of policy; but they are much more than just a delivery partner or a set of stakeholders to be managed and engaged with by the government. 

If it wants its missions to succeed, Government must recognise civil society as an equal partner alongside business, giving the sector a seat at the table in both shaping and delivering those missions. 

Mission Critical 03 therefore offers a blueprint for how to get there, offering 6 key recommendations. It calls on Government to: 

  • Create a transparent ‘front door’ for engagement at the centre of government, facilitating meaningful, two-way dialogue 
  • Embed civil society’s insights and expertise into every stage of the policy process by working in the open, offering more opportunities for informal engagement and engaging from day one rather than as a late-stage formality. 
  • Breed a new culture of collaboration across the civil service, encouraging and equipping officials to work more effectively in partnership, and establishing a new, two-way ‘Missions Secondment Programme’ to strengthen links with civil society. 
  • Team up with charities and social enterprises to develop bottom-up, locally-driven solutions and innovate towards missions 
  • ️Embrace challenge and disagreement as a key part of effective policymaking. In turn, civil society organisations should be sensitive to the context officials operate in, approaching conversations with discretion and acknowledging political risk. 
  • Gather new data on the social sector’s economic impact, using insights to guide better decision-making. 

The government’s new Civil Society Covenant, published last year, signals a real intent to restore trust. But to translate good intentions into meaningful action, Govt must move beyond traditional forms of stakeholder engagement and build a new culture of collaboration across Whitehall. 

Read ‘Mission Critical 03: Mission-Driven Partnerships with Civil Society’ here. 

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