William Ernest Henley’s Poem, Invictus, clearly portrays the power of a human being when determined to achieve their goal, despite the odds, humans overcome. It captures too the quintessential British characteristic that has and can produce the best of human endeavor, but in a quiet, steady and progressive way where movement produces a forward momentum that draws in those around it. Although this poem focuses on the individual’s power to overcome, I believe it could too be reflective of our society. What is categorically clear from British society, provenly displayed by the enormous number of charitable organisations, is our history of British people willing and wanting to help others human beings. Covid-19 has shown this to be true. Again, hundreds of thousands of people stood up to be counted; scrubs were sewn, neighbours shopped for and the nation reached out to help the carers.
However, the fabric that holds our society together, a society of charity and willingness to help others, can become torn. Political polarisation, change in family structures, increase in economic turbulence, extreme weather events and local and national disruption can tear this fabric. Government (meant in the whole sense of the word) can become stretched and disparate from those it represents, creating a cycle of mistrust, misunderstanding and poor communication followed by a failure to be relevant to those it governs and represents, disappointing them in a response they may see as critical but may not be fully understood by central goverment, thus coming around full circle. This author suggests the following solutions, all interlinking that produce stronger communities:
1. The creation of a National Resilience Organisation (NRO) that provides tangible direct communication and support from Government with a lean organisational structure, each region would have a National Resilience coordinator, with communities able to form their own Civil Resilience groups that meet the needs of their community (however big or small). The organisations, or Civil Resilience Groups (CRG) existing at grass-root level with local support and knowledge, literally village to village or town to county fulfill their own needs through fund raising etc but are able to access financial grants, equipment packages and training that is standardised across the UK. Each statutory body (police, fire rescue etc) would have a liaison officer, so when an incident occurs and communities are affected and the need for civil Resilience arises, these statutory bodies are tapping into a vast amount of local intelligence understanding and communication, benefitting all parties and the response to the incident. The National body would also control procurement of central equipment, meaning CRGs can utilise their own equipment, but also tap into or purchase from this central body.
2. The development of a set of national resilience qualifications, delivered by pre-existing training providers (these providers being paid to deliver), that provide a series of free qualifications for these CRG’s, but also for individuals out of work, or for those who wish to be able to help, these could also be provided to pre-existing charities such as swift water rescue, first aid providers etc thus helping with interoperability and deployabilty. This could work in tandem with Joint emergency services interoperability program (JESIP), and create a passport of competency allowing the CRGs to safely and legitimately support their communities. Furthermore the consider for a national resilience and emergency training facility could be considered creating a large scale, world class facility that provides a whole spectrum of support for CRGs and community project’s. These courses could vary from basic administration, to operating chain saws, to first aid, food hygiene or management of a food bank to coordination in flood response.
3. The passing of law or statute for CRG and samaritan acts with a national insurance Act that protects and encourages support to legitimate CRG or charities that step up in times of need.
Key aspects of the national resilience organisation, and its support is that the CRG must remain as bureaucracy free as possible. This will allow communities to “feel” the government working for them and their community allowing effective communication in both directions.
The NRO should seek to facilitate rather than coordinate. It would be a gateway to the government and the goverment gateway to communities.
Allowing CRGs to have “light” structures allows flexible and rapid response to challenges they meet, whilst courses that allow them to become a recognized CRG help professionalise and standardize them so they in turn can be effectively resourced in times of need.
The NRO can tie together all aspects of public and private sector, working across almost all sectors, it would allow a natural and beneficial economic partnership and by default strengthening of communities. Two working examples of this are, an unemployed individual gains free qualification paid for through the NRO, his community is strengthened, the local trainer is renumerated (thus employing more people), and the individual has an NGO qualification which should be promoted as a positive CV qualification that may lead to eventual employment. The second example is a business with heavy plant machinery, which could offer training to its employees through NRO to be able to use this equipment in emergency situations.
The NRO could offer placements, research grants and practical advice to communities and sectors it is supporting.
CRGs could be particularly effective at involving wide variety of society as they are made up of individuals from the community and utilise their specific areas of expertise, passions, and charitable spirit.
It is hoped these groups, focused on supporting their community, would allow individuals to become part of the bigger picture, whatever an individual’s views, religion, or favourite football team, a shared purpose and sense of ownership, of being invested and being able to respond in a way that suits them, should not only strengthen communities practically and economically, but bring them together too.
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