A recent blog by the World Economic Forum shared ten lessons for a post-pandemic world. Among economic trends on consumer behaviour and redefinitions of fear and risk, one lesson stood out. “Lesson #6: we’re getting more insular”.

Grand Avenues seeks to co-produce better outcomes for people on probation in Cardiff and, in the process, redesign the future of probation in the UK. We’re delighted to be working on this project, bringing together probation officers and community organisations with expertise in restorative justice to design these new approaches.

We, like many people, can not quite believe that we are nearly two years into the global pandemic. Little did we think that come Christmas 2021, our public services would still be under so much pressure, and we would still be worrying so much about lockdowns, positive tests and keeping our loved ones safe. Despite our best hopes for a return to normality, we’re still hearing stories of the challenges on the frontline.

As in many public services, the ongoing conflict between university lecturers and Universities UK (UUK) is complex, covering issues related to pensions, low pay, and insecure fixed-term contracts. Fifty-eight university staff bodies backed three days of strikes starting today as part of the escalating dispute.

As the dust settles from COP26, we’re thinking about the intersectionality of climate justice, and the importance of hearing those seldom heard voices.Throughout the conference, feminist climate activists like Kavita Naidu spoke up to acknowledge the injustices of the Global North/South inequalities that have led us to where our climate is today.

We are now halfway through COP26, the UN summit where leaders from across the world have spent the past week discussing their commitments to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and avert runaway climate change. While some big announcements have been made, the second week is where negotiators will be tasked with thrashing out international agreements and technical details for how we meet these targets.

Collaborating with other systems changers helps everyone thrive - and shows that the current model of competition isn’t always the right way to work. We can create the greatest change by allowing our work to be open source and available to everyone. The more we all share, the more we can draw the threads together and spread this way of working across society.

“Upfront has been a turning point in my journey of self-confidence. I no longer question my abilities and stopped feeling embarrassed when trying something new. I am determined to continue this journey, as “confidence is fluid” and thus it can always be worked on.”

Through our programmes and our Learning Community, we want to encourage everyone to feel they have the agency to challenge how the things we do are structured. If those of us who are lucky enough to have some power really want to start changing outcomes for users, we have to use our own agency to question why things are the way they are. Or at the very least, we have to push back and provide the space for users to give their opinion, before too many decisions are made.

One of our core beliefs at Telescope is that in order to build a more inclusive society we must bring together policy makers and those on the frontline with lived experience and that empathy can power this change. We were delighted to talk to John McGlone, Crisis volunteer and expert by experience, in more detail about the power of lived experience and how these insights can be used to improve public services.

Our focus for the coming months is on how best to support our participants in the longer-term, when they leave our programme and return to their workplaces. They often have great ideas and are optimistic, but need support to overcome the obstacles we’ve outlined above. So our Learning Community aims to focus on empowering changemakers, both within their organisations and in other contexts.

As a hijabi woman of colour, I feel disheartened to say that I have lived experience of the deep-rooted racism present in our society. We recognise that racism is integrated into our systems and society and thus something that would require time and effort in order to see change. We must make personal commitments to this cause in order to sincerely become the changemakers that society needs to tackle inequality.

Bringing together 12 people passionate about ending homelessness to run a fast-paced engaging programme over the course of the January-March 2021 lockdown is something we will always reflect on with pride. It is testament to the passion, expertise and knowledge of our participants that we have far too many insights and ideas to share in the space of a short blog post.

Telescope board member & Connect programme participant Sarah Edwards worked in probation for ten years, supporting offenders to build confidence and restart their lives. This year, she quit to start her own tutoring company, Edwards Tutoring. We chatted with her about her journey from public servant to enterprise founder.

Partnerships, collaborations and inspiration from others are all vital to our continuing work at Telescope. As we reach the end of January, we were delighted to hear from Simon Ancona, Chief Executive of WIG. He shares his thoughts on learning from lockdown, as well as the dangers for society of a binary debate between economics and COVID resilience.

As 2020 comes to a close, we're reflecting on our work, and in particular on three questions that have come to the fore for us this year, around our long-term impact, the language we use to talk about what we do, and how to structure our learning journeys.

One of our core beliefs at Telescope is that meaningful social change can and must start with tapping into our most basic human ability to empathise with one another. We were delighted to chat with Claire Yorke in September, to really dig deep into the role and potential of empathy within the policymaking sphere.

We’re spurred on by the fact that, as a small social enterprise, we have the opportunity to build our systems and processes on a truly anti-racist foundation. This will ensure we continue to fight for equality and dismantle the deep-rooted racism and inequality in our society as we grow our business and our impact.

One year ago, on 30th July 2019, Telescope was officially born. Ruth, Sarah and I had joined Year Here, the London-based social innovation programme, from different countries, with different backgrounds and for different reasons. We wanted to find ways for people serving in government to work more closely with those serving on the frontline. And so we founded Telescope.

Last month we hosted a participatory workshop called ‘Voices for Change’ as part of the online Learning Festival created by States of Change, a collective supporting public innovation learning. Workshop participants shared insights and explored innovative opportunities for improving services in the context of Covid and beyond.