ASK-Solutions

Collaborating around social objectives

Social issues often involve several organisations at the same time. A municipality may be involved through policy or implementation, a social welfare organisation may know local residents and local needs, an education or care professional may look at the issue from their own field, and a practical initiative may see every day what does and does not work in practice.

Collaboration can be particularly valuable when these different perspectives are brought together. It does not always have to begin with a fully developed programme. Collaboration may arise from a concrete question, an existing activity, a project that can be developed further or an opportunity that several parties can realise together.

ASK-Solutions can itself be involved in implementation, but can also help connect knowledge, practical experience, people and opportunities. Which form is appropriate depends on the subject and on the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved.

Participation

Collaboration can concern people for whom participation in suitable public-benefit work may be valuable. This does not automatically have to be a work-oriented reintegration programme. For someone, it may for example be important to have somewhere to go again, be present at an agreed time, meet other people, engage in practical activity and gradually rebuild confidence and routine.

Where possible, this involves meaningful participation in work that genuinely exists within ASK-Solutions or one of its projects. What someone produces does not have to be the measure of success. The activity can also have value because someone becomes involved again, uses existing knowledge, learns something new or has low-threshold contact with other people.

Where a care, education or other professional is also involved, the different roles remain distinct. Coordination can take place around what is practically appropriate without ASK-Solutions taking over treatment, education or another professional responsibility.

Sharing knowledge and connecting practical experience

Sharing and promoting knowledge is itself one of the public-benefit objectives of ASK-Solutions. Collaboration with public authorities and civil society organisations therefore does not have to revolve solely around funding, facilities or individual participation.

Policymakers, professionals involved in implementation, civil society organisations, residents and other parties can also exchange experience and knowledge. A subject can be explored together, experiences from different practical situations can be compared, or knowledge from different fields can be connected.

ASK-Solutions does not have to be the subject-matter expert on every topic. Its contribution may instead lie in bringing together people and practical knowledge, enabling exchange and helping record or further disseminate what emerges from that collaboration.

Enabling projects and development

A public or civil-society organisation can also contribute to existing or new work within a project. This can be financial, but may also involve subject-specific knowledge, networks, materials, equipment, premises or practical support.

Where funding enables development within an existing project, that development becomes part of the project itself. The contribution therefore does not have to result in a separate product or an exclusive custom solution for the funding party.

A social question can also provide a reason to explore together whether existing work can be expanded or whether a new activity or project fits within the objectives of ASK-Solutions. We first look at the public-benefit objective and the work needed to pursue it, and then at how different parties can contribute to that work.

Funding belongs to the work it makes possible

Grants, contributions from funds, municipal funding and other forms of public or civil-society support can be used directly for the work to which the contribution relates. This may, for example, include project development, materials, equipment, support around activities, communication, documentation, premises or other facilities needed for implementation.

The starting point is not that commercial income is first earned and then used to fund public-benefit work elsewhere. The funded activity or project implementation can itself be the public-benefit work made possible by the contribution.

Which arrangements are needed depends on the nature of the collaboration, the designated purpose of the contribution and the responsibilities of the parties involved.

Space and long-term premises

Suitable premises can directly contribute to public-benefit work. Municipalities, civil society organisations, housing associations, property owners and other parties may, for example, make space available temporarily or for the longer term. Which form is useful depends strongly on the work that needs to be carried out there.

Temporary space can work well for light activities that require little fixed infrastructure. An activity involving a few tables, computers or easily movable materials can be set up relatively quickly and, when necessary, moved again without major disruption.

Technical and practical work is often different. Workbenches, machines, shelving, stocks of materials, computers and technical equipment require not only physical space but also considerable time to position, connect, arrange and organise properly. Adjustments to electrical installations, ventilation, safety provisions, storage or other building-related facilities may also be necessary.

For such implementations, long-term premises can therefore be considerably more valuable than temporarily available vacant space. A long-term lease with sufficient security makes it possible to invest responsibly in fitting out the premises and installing the necessary facilities. Where the scale and continuity of the work justify it, purchasing suitable premises may also be an appropriate solution.

A public or civil-society party can therefore contribute not only by making premises available itself. Funding long-term rent, fitting out the premises, necessary adaptations or the acquisition of a suitable property can also directly help make public-benefit work possible on a lasting basis.

Visibility, accessibility and a public-facing function

For some activities, not only the size or technical quality of the available space matters. Its location can also be part of the way in which the work fulfils its social function.

This is particularly relevant to the shareable work model of the project The Owl’s Nest. The model assumes implementation at a publicly accessible and visible location in an area where people also come for other reasons, for example in or near a residential neighbourhood, shopping area or another place that forms part of everyday public life.

That presence makes spontaneous encounters possible. Someone does not first have to know exactly what happens there or deliberately travel to a remote destination with a specific plan. A passer-by can see that work is taking place, become curious, ask a question or discover that knowledge, tools and practical possibilities are more accessible than they had previously thought.

A space on a remote industrial estate can therefore be less suitable for such an implementation despite offering sufficient floor area and technical possibilities. If almost everyone has to know the location in advance and travel there deliberately, an important part of the visibility, spontaneous walk-in contact and low-threshold knowledge sharing on which the work model is partly based is lost.

Making technology visible and understandable

This public-facing function also connects with subjects such as right to repair and right to ownership. Many technical devices are experienced by users as closed products: they are purchased as complete products and, when something goes wrong, returning them to the manufacturer or supplier can seem more natural than investigating what is happening inside the device.

Knowledge sharing can help reduce that distance. During repair, it can therefore be at least as important that an owner sees and understands what is happening as it is that the device eventually works again. Within suitable implementations of the shareable work model of the project The Owl’s Nest, repair is therefore carried out together with the owner wherever possible, rather than simply taking equipment in and repairing it out of sight.

The owner does not need a technical background for this. Seeing a device opened, recognising components, following measurements and seeing how a fault is investigated can make technology feel less closed and mysterious. A device becomes something that can be understood, maintained and, where possible, repaired.

A visible, publicly accessible location contributes directly to this. Knowledge about repair and ownership then does not remain hidden in a specialised environment but becomes part of a place where people can also encounter it unexpectedly.

The project The Owl’s Nest as an example

The project The Owl’s Nest illustrates why space, location, funding and continuity cannot be considered separately. The project is built around a shareable work model that can be implemented by different operators at different locations.

A small-scale implementation requiring few fixed facilities can sometimes work well in temporary premises. A larger technical implementation may, however, require workbenches, machines, material storage, computers and building-related facilities. Such an implementation requires substantially more time and investment to establish and cannot simply be moved at short notice.

For such a concrete implementation, security of long-term premises can therefore itself be an important condition. Collaboration may involve making suitable space available, but can also involve financially enabling rent, fitting out the premises, building-related facilities or the acquisition of a location.

Because the work model also has a public-facing function, the location must fit the way in which the relevant operator implements the model. A technically suitable space is therefore not automatically a suitable location for every implementation.

View information for professionals on the project website of The Owl’s Nest

Local networks, referrals and visibility

Public and civil society organisations can also contribute by connecting people and initiatives. This may, for example, involve making relevant opportunities known within a network, passing on information, pointing people towards suitable work or including an initiative in a local social or community resource directory.

This does not mean that every referral has to form part of a formal programme. Sometimes it is already valuable for a neighbourhood team, education professional, social worker or other involved party simply to know which possibilities exist and be able to point someone towards them.

Conversely, practical experience from ASK-Solutions and its projects can also flow back into local and social networks. Collaboration can therefore not only connect people but also contribute to a better understanding of what is needed or possible in concrete situations.

Not every collaboration has to take the same form

A municipality may be involved through participation, premises or funding. A housing association may have suitable space or useful property-related contacts. A social welfare organisation may know people and local needs well. A fund may make a concrete development or facility possible, while a knowledge organisation may contribute expertise.

These roles do not have to be forced into a single standard model. Different parties can each contribute from their own position to the same social objective or to different parts of its implementation.

Where the collaboration relates to a specific project, we then look at which arrangements and responsibilities are needed within that project. If a project has different concrete implementations, as is the case with the project The Owl’s Nest, further coordination can take place with the operator responsible for the relevant implementation.

Exploring a collaboration

A collaboration does not have to begin with a fully developed scheme or funding structure. A social question, available premises, a funding opportunity, a local problem or an idea for knowledge sharing can be enough reason to explore whether there is a meaningful connection.

We first look at the public-benefit objective, the work needed to pursue it and the role each party can play. It can then be determined whether connecting with existing work or an existing project makes sense, which resources or facilities are needed and how the concrete implementation can be organised responsibly.