Our vision and values

The significant inequality in Southwark holds our whole community back. We are determined to ensure everyone can access the opportunities, resources and power they need to thrive. To live a good life, we all need things like a decent job and a warm home. But, right now, we don’t all have the same access to these essentials. There is a growing body of evidence that almost everything – from life expectancy to mental illness, violence to illiteracy – is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is. The harmony and prosperity we all look for in Southwark relies on a more equal society.

There are huge strengths and assets in the people and organisations across our borough. We want to empower these strengths in everyone – from growing skills and resilience to enabling participation and leadership. This principle puts residents in the driving seat of their own lives. With a small amount of support, we know that people will be better able to put their strengths in to practice and create better outcomes. We want to focus on supporting people in areas that will make their lives better, such as healthy living and caring for their children. We know we will empower people if we help develop skills to support employment, coach budding entrepreneurs, and provide opportunities for people to be involved in their neighbourhoods. So we will focus on the work that will empower people to live a good life.

Too much of our time and funding is currently spent on solving problems that have already happened – acute illness, crime, worklessness. We will invest our time, capacity and resources towards early help so that residents can live empowered, healthy and fulfilling lives. We want to focus our resources towards helping people to live a good life. This means creating the conditions in which people and places thrive, and where communities and organisations can access support, relationships and practical help when they need it. Decisions about resources will be directed towards support and interventions that prevent rather than respond to crises.