Nothing about us – without us

Across the social and environmental sectors, we have made great strides in recognising the value of community voices and life experiences. 

More organisations are now realising that those most affected by the crises of inequality, climate change and nature loss need to be involved in shaping the decisions that affect their lives. Community voices are no longer a niche but an increasingly important part of how charities, funders and policymakers think about change. 

The challenge has shifted. 

It is no longer whether we listen. It is whether we are willing to share power. 

Because there is a difference between inviting people into a conversation and giving them influence over the decisions that follow. 

From voice to power

Many organisations now have participation built into their work. 

They have consultations, advisory groups, workshops and feedback from communities. These are all important and often well-intentioned. 

But participation is not the same as influence. 

Often, communities are asked what they think after priorities have been set, or have been asked to comment on solutions that have already been designed. Their stories help illustrate a problem, but rarely shape how the problem is defined. 

Voice matters. But voice without power can leave people feeling unheard, despite being consulted.

The test of meaningful participation is whether people were invited to contribute and whether their contribution changed anything. 

Listening, hearing and acting are not the same thing

We often use the language of listening as if it automatically leads to change, but there are differences between listening, hearing and acting. 

Listening is making the space for people to share their views and experiences. Hearing is genuinely understanding what is said, even when it challenges ours, priorities, or ways of working. Acting is allowing what we have heard to influence decisions, priorities, funding, and strategies. Many organisations are getting better at listening, some at hearing, the real challenge is in acting. 

Often, community voices are welcomed into the room, but have little influence over what happens once the meeting ends. People are consulted, their insights are acknowledged, but decisions continue to change little. This risks participation being extractive rather than empowering. 

Meaningful voice requires a shift from collecting feedback to redistributing influence – it is about being willing to answer difficult questions such as: 

• what decisions can communities genuinely shape?
• what power are we willing to share?
• what would we do differently as a result of what we have heard?
• how will people know their contribution made a difference?

The measure of success is not how many people were consulted but whether people can point to a decision, policy, campaign or investment and say “We helped shape that.”

Communities hold expertise, not just experience

One of the biggest barriers to sharing power is the way we think about expertise. 

The value of formal qualifications, policy knowledge, and technical evidence is rightly celebrated but community knowledge is often seen as something else. Lived experience is often seen as something that provides colour, context or testimony. 

At its heart, this is about the fact that life experiences are not simply stories. They are expertise. Communities know the realities that numbers cannot tell us. They know how rising costs, housing conditions, access to green space, flooding, transport and health intersect in everyday life. When this expertise is treated as evidence rather than anecdote, decision-making becomes stronger, fairer, and more effective. 

Those who experience the challenges know more about it than others. 

They know which services people trust, what barriers exist in everyday life, why some initiatives work, and what solutions may work. Meaningful engagement recognises that expertise does not only lie in boardrooms, policy teams and academia. It is in communities, families and neighbourhoods. If we believe that better decisions are made when diverse sources of knowledge are brought together, then community expertise has to influence not only delivery, but strategy, policy, and governance too. 

Start with what matters to people

Another lesson from community engagement work is that people rarely start talking about the climate policy, net zero targets, or biodiversity frameworks. They start by talking about their lives. 

Their hopes for the future. Their health. Their family, housing, community, access to opportunity, the things they care about and want to protect. 

Too often organisations start by setting out an environmental objective and then ask communities how they can help achieve them. A more effective approach is sometimes the other way round. 

When people talk about the future they want it is often about safe places for their children to play, affordable energy bills, good jobs, clean neighbourhoods, healthy homes, accessible green spaces and strong communities. Climate and nature issues matter when they are connected to these priorities. 

Climate and nature issues rarely appear in people’s lives as standalone issues. They are experienced through housing, health, transport, jobs, energy costs, access to nature, and the quality of local places. Lasting change happens when the environmental action is attached to these priorities and when communities help to define what success looks like. 

This is not about diluting environmental ambition but it is about recognising that lasting change is more likely if it reflects people’s lived realities and aspirations. 

Meaningful voice means allowing communities to shape not just the solutions, but the questions and priorities.

Building fairer systems through collaboration

Building fairer systems requires more than strengthening relationships between organisations. It requires strengthening relationships between institutions and communities. 

Too often national organisations, funders, policymakers and grassroots groups work in parallel rather than partnership. Yet each has something valuable to offer. Communities have trust, local knowledge and legitimacy. Institutions have resources, access, and decision-making authority.  

Lasting change requires building better pathways between communities and decision-makers. 

It is about building the relationships, tools, and connections that enable community expertise to influence local and national decisions, not just consult. The strongest partnerships are not those where organisations speak for communities, but those where organisations use their influence to open doors, share a platform and create opportunities for communities to exercise influence themselves. This requires investing in relationships, trust, and long term collaboration. It requires seeing participation as essential infrastructure rather than an optional extra. And it requires a willingness to rethink how decisions are made, who is involved in making them, and who is ultimately accountable. 

Why this matters now

This conversation comes at a time when trust in institutions is under pressure and many people feel disconnected from the decisions that affect their lives. At the same time, society faces challenges that cannot be solved by any one organisation or sector alone. Climate change, inequality, health, housing, nature and economic security are deeply interconnected. Addressing them requires solutions rooted in people’s lived realities, not just policy frameworks. 

Born from the disability rights movement, ‘Nothing about us, without us’ remains a powerful call for shared power today. 

Not because participation is a nice thing. Not because organisations need more stories to tell. But because the people closest to problems are often closest to the solutions as well. 

We often talk about giving people a voice, but voice is only the beginning. 

First we listen. Then we hear. Then we act. Too often systems stop at the first stage. Meaningful participation requires all three, and asks organisations to move beyond consultation and influence, and beyond representation and power. 

The principle of ‘Nothing about us, without us’ is about changing who is involved in decisions about the climate, nature, and our futures. It is about recognising community voices and life experiences as expertise. It is about the conditions for people to influence the decisions that affect their lives. Because fairer, greener futures will only be built when the people most affected by decisions are able to help shape them. 

These are the questions we’ll be discussing at NPC Ignites 2026, where leaders from across the impact economy will explore how communities can help shape decisions, not just inform them.