Merry Christmas one and all (seven actually)

A very Merry Christmas to all of my 7 followers and anyone else who happens to stumble upon this humble blog.

This snowman was made by Maya to wish you all a Happy Christmas!

On Wednesday Children Unite got it’s own Christmas present in the form of a grant to be able to take six child domestic workers to Geneva in June to lobby the International Labour Organization!  (see post of 11 November).....Hooray! 

Slavery, servitude and committing sin (NGO style)

Us NGO types have an aversion to using emotive language when discussing our issue.  This week, however, I found myself talking about ‘domestic servitude’ and ‘slavery’ in efforts to explain what I meant by ‘child domestic work’.

I had to make an ‘elevator’ pitch on Tuesday for Children Unite.  This supposes you are in the ‘elevator’ with someone you want to influence and you only have the time it takes to get from the ground floor to whichever floor this person is getting out to ‘pitch’ your idea – no more than a minute for most people.  So, I had one minute to explain what Children Unite does (and squeeze in a bit about why) to a room full of social entrepreneurs and finance industry staff.  I also had to do a bit of ‘speed networking’ where you have 4 minutes to chat to the person next to you (about your organisation) before you move on to the next person.  The whole event was organised by UnLtd (an organisation that promotes social enterprises) and Actis (a private equity investment firm) to match up social entrepreneurs (me and 20 others running small organisations that benefit the community in some way) with business mentors (from Actis).

When I listened to all the other elevator pitches, mine sounded the most like a ‘charity case’…it didn’t feel like a business idea in comparison.  (Paradoxically, setting up Children Unite over the past eighteen months has felt much more like setting up a business than a charity.) And, it took a while for people to realise that I wasn’t talking about children who just do a few chores around their own house.  In the speed networking – by the time I’d got to the fourth person, I was bypassing the description of the conditions in which children work (i.e. living with their employers, their vulnerabilities to abuse by employers, long hours, no pay) and went straight to saying it was a contemporary form of slavery!

So, I committed the ultimate sin for NGO types (in terms of damaging your credibility) of using sensational language.  Forgive me! But when I compared child domestic workers’ lives (thinking in particular of children I met Togo this year) to the other beneficiaries being talked about in the room – I realised child domestic workers do live in slavery-like conditions; trapped and in servitude.  Also, that there is a danger when trying not to be seen as a scare-mongerer – that you down play children’s exploitation too much.  The situations in which I saw children working, in Peru and Togo this year, when I visited two of our partner organisations, were intolerable.  So, I’m going to allow myself to use appropriate language to explain why child domestic workers deserve to be empowered.  To borrow a phrase developed for a cosmetic company – because they’re worth it.

A question of commitment?

An opportunity arose this week that made Jonathan and I re-think our development of Children Unite.  I guess this happens periodically when you’re setting something new up….various opportunities arise and you have to decide whether to take them and change direction slightly, or not and keep on the same path. The opportunity is only a possibility – so I can’t talk about it openly but it would mean Jonathan being away for six months next year.

I’ve been thinking about it non-stop of course.  It’s forced Jonathan and I to look again at our roles and our professional partnership within Children Unite and we’ve come to a few conclusions:

• The set-up stage (this first year) is slower than both of us anticipated;
• My interests lie in the awareness raising and advocacy work we plan to do;
• Jonathan’s interests lie in the consultancy services we plan to offer;
• We don’t need to be equally involved in running the organisation;
• We are both equally committed to Children Unite;

This feels like some big conclusions to me.  And articulating them here helps me to feel that I will put this learning into practice.  So this blog is enabling me to do what I’d hoped…to reflect on and learn from the twisting path Children Unite is on.

When two people are setting up an initiative it is hard for either of them, at some point or another, not to question the commitment of the other. The last two points should really read: ‘we don’t need to be equally involved in running the organisation to prove that we are both equally committed to Children Unite!’

I’ve been surprised at how often we have had to look at these fundamental issues over the past year.  I’d naively assumed that you get an idea for how you want to run an organisation and you stick to it but this hasn’t been the case at all.  I have a picture in my mind of Children Unite as an amoeba-like structure with a very thin and permeable skin. Through osmosis various ideas change the structure of the organisation, some are ‘keepers’ and stay and some get pushed out again.

I think it’s because I was so heavily involved in writing the legal structure of Children Unite (our Memorandum and Articles of Association) and articulating this to the Charity Commission that I have had a bit of an immovable picture of the organisation.  Certainly, the visual image I have of Children Unite as a legal entity (and you’ll have probably noticed I seem to think in a visual way) is of a ladder and it’s very logical step-by-step order.

An amoeba and a ladder are very different images! Hopefully we’ll get somewhere in the middle (and I can’t come up with an example here – not even a joke one – please supply your own!). Visualising our future is something we all do I suppose – whether this is literally a ‘snapshot’ image or some words that sum up where, who or how you want to be.  And it is not wrong to adjust that image but, when it comes to Children Unite, I believe I have a duty to share my updated thoughts with the people closest to the organisation – to Jonathan and to the trustees.

House of the Lord of the Rings!

Looking back over a few of my posts I seem to have spent most of my time trying to motivate myself to keep going. This week, however, I knew I wouldn’t need to as five of our partner organisations are visiting London. Children Unite’s partners are local organisations working directly with child domestic workers. They are: Kivulini in Tanzania, Asociación Grupo de Trabajo Redes in Peru, Defensa de los Niños International Costa Rica, the National Domestic Workers Movement in India and last but by no means least Visayan Forum Foundation in the Philippines. Jonathan and I have been meeting up with them to discuss how our two organisations could work together. It’s always inspiring to listen to everything they have achieved but one of the things that has energized me the most (and is probably what attracts me to this work) is a feeling of solidarity amongst us. Child domestic workers are an invisible group of children, working behind closed doors and the very few organisations that work with these children are pretty invisible too. I feel proud to be associated with their years and years of excellent work and excited by the future possibilities of all different kinds of partnerships between us. And funnily enough the invisibility we are fighting against is a challenge that motivates me too.

Another thing that I’ve learned this week is that small is beautiful. (I know, I know it’s the same old stuff I’m learning every week!) In my panic last week about funding I wanted to rush ahead into a big funding proposal and Jonathan had to reign me in and remind me that we are a tiny organisation and we should take things slowly but surely. So, our first project will not be a multi-country, mega buck, complex programme of activities. It will need to focus on developing a strong relationship between ourselves and our partners, making sure we’re on the right track and that we understand our different roles. Meeting our partners this week has helped me to see that small steps do get you somewhere and that the first of these small steps are the relationships we develop.

And, just for posterity I want to record a scene from last night that makes me smile.

Picture, if you will, me handing my first business card as ‘Director’ of Children Unite to the UN Special Rapporteur on Slavery at the House of Lords. Earlier in the day I had printed off a sheet of the cards and had cut them into ‘card shapes’ whilst watching ‘Dick and Dom’ a children’s TV show.

Jonathan and I attended our first event as Children Unite, at the House of Lords (or the House of the Lord of the Rings as our daughter Maya called it!!). It was a very well attended event, organised by Anti-Slavery International with most of the partner organisations present. Gulnara Shahinian, the UN Special Rapporteur spoke eloquently about domestic slavery. In turn, Aidan McQuade of Anti-Slavery International articulated the issues very well…and I managed to get the guts to ask a question!

Wise words from an old time backpacker?

Apologies for the delay this week – I blame it wholeheartedly on the bloke on the next mat to mine in my yoga class who made the shoulder stand look easy and the extension of the shoulder stand (where your legs bend right over your head and torso and your toes touch the ground) even easier. Despite or maybe because of the fact that I couldn’t breathe properly at this point (the combined mass of my chest and stomach being squashed into my face) I didn’t notice that I’d done my back in. I spent yesterday at the osteopaths. 



I should really report on the big thing I was waiting for (in my post a couple of weeks ago) which was some news about a funding proposal Children Unite had submitted. However, it was rather vague news, it wasn’t a no to the bid but it wasn’t a yes either! We need to re-think the project, think bigger and more long-term about it and re-submit. But because the answer wasn’t an outright ‘yes’ I panicked and have been working on a fundraising strategy ever since. In fact I’ve been tinkering with all the plans I’ve made – strategic plan, fundraising plan, 3 month work plan, colour coding them and turning them into tables with tick boxes I can tick off! I’m learning to be patient, that there are no quick wins. 



On a separate note, a friend and I were talking about ‘the best days of our lives', hers was her time at college, mine was the two years I spent travelling and working around the world. What I valued more than anything about my travelling time was the freedom and the challenge of doing new things. The conversation made me wonder if I would look back on my time now – setting up Children Unite - as the best time of my life. It doesn’t feel like it at the moment! But the more I think about it the more similarities I find. I didn’t have a plan when I was travelling – I bought one way tickets and went where the wind took me. I did everything on the cheap, took up every free offer and learned to trust my instincts not my prejudices. Also I was quite miserable a lot of the time (I am English after all), so although I count it as the best time of my life this wasn’t because I was deliriously happy. I think it was because I did some things I thought I’d never have the guts to do, I challenged myself and learned a lot.

So, to bring this back to my current predicament I am left wondering if I am in a similar place now – facing a big adventure, doing everything on the cheap (that hasn’t changed I have to admit)? I do have a plan now, I have lots of plans! But they’re a bit useless at the moment, they change daily so I’ve decided not to tinker with them anymore and not to panic, to embrace the adventure and trust my instincts. So, yes, I think it helps me to think of setting up Children Unite as a big road triip. And as I’m an old time backpacker I hope I can learn from the fact that I’ve been here before and, despite being miserable some of the time, I know that it worked out alright, in fact it worked out brilliantly.

Words of wisdom from an old time backpacker?

Apologies for the delay this week – I blame it wholeheartedly on the bloke on the next mat to mine in my yoga class who made the shoulder stand look easy and the extension of the shoulder stand (where your legs bend right over your head and torso and your toes touch the ground) even easier. Despite or maybe because of the fact that I couldn’t breathe properly at this point (the combined mass of my chest and stomach being squashed into my face) I didn’t notice that I’d done my back in. I spent yesterday at the osteopaths.

I should really report on the big thing I was waiting for (in my post a couple of weeks ago) which was some news about a funding proposal Children Unite had submitted. However, it was rather vague news, it wasn’t a no to the bid but it wasn’t a yes either! We need to re-think the project, think bigger and more long-term about it and re-submit. But because the answer wasn’t an outright ‘yes’ I panicked and have been working on a fundraising strategy ever since. In fact I’ve been tinkering with all the plans I’ve made – strategic plan, fundraising plan, 3 month work plan, colour coding them and turning them into tables with tick boxes I can tick off! I’m learning to be patient, that there are no quick wins.

On a separate note, a friend and I were talking about ‘the best days of our lives', hers was her time at college, mine was the two years I spent travelling and working around the world. What I valued more than anything about my travelling time was the freedom and the challenge of doing new things. The conversation made me wonder if I would look back on my time now – setting up Children Unite - as the best time of my life. It doesn’t feel like it at the moment! But the more I think about it the more similarities I find. I didn’t have a plan when I was travelling – I bought one way tickets and went where the wind took me. I did everything on the cheap, took up every free offer and learned to trust my instincts not my prejudices. Also I was quite miserable a lot of the time (I am English after all), so although I count it as the best time of my life this wasn’t because I was deliriously happy. I think it was because I did some things I thought I’d never have the guts to do, I challenged myself and learned a lot.

So, to bring this back to my current predicament I am left wondering if I am in a similar place now – facing a big adventure, doing everything on the cheap (that hasn’t changed I have to admit)?  I do have a plan now, I have lots of plans! But they’re a bit useless at the moment, they change daily so I’ve decided not to tinker with them anymore and not to panic, to embrace the adventure and trust my instincts. So, yes, I think it helps me to think of setting up Children Unite as a big road triip. And as I’m an old time backpacker I hope I can learn from the fact that I’ve been here before and, despite being miserable some of the time, I know that it worked out alright, in fact it worked out brilliantly.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

I don’t want to write this post today… so I’ve already decided it will be short.  The mini crisis of last week has turned into a whole downer week. There is news of sorts on the big thing I’ve been waiting for – funding of a 3 year project, but it’s complicated and will take a long time to figure out (I won’t bore you with the details). 

To be brief, I feel like I’m wading through mud, thick oozy mud.  In fact, this reminds me of a children’s song where a group of kids go on a bear hunt and have to wade through thick, oozy mud, long wavy grass and scary woods to get to the bear….at each obstacle they say ‘can’t go over it, can’t go under it, oh no, got to go through it’…..squelch, squerch, squelch, squerch (that’s the sound of wading through thick oozy mud by the way - it was my favourite bit).

So, as I’ve committed myself to setting up Children Unite I suppose I will have to enjoy the downer (it’s only a downer after all, nothing catastrophic has happened) and squelch my way through the week ahead.

Tackling Modern Slavery and Domestic Servitude: Priorities of the UN Special Rapporteur on Slavery

I will be attending this event and wanted to extend the invitation to anyone interested in finding out more about domestic servitude.

Thursday 2nd December, 4.30 - 5.30pm

Committee Room 4, House of Lords

Hosted by Baroness Young of Hornsey, in association with Anti-Slavery International, please join us on the UN International Day for the Abolition of Slavery to hear the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Ms Gulnara Shahinian, discuss the challenges faced in eradicating modern slavery and domestic servitude worldwide.

Please RSVP to Louis Reynolds at l.reynolds@antislavery.org or 020 7737 9436

A mantra of small steps

I feel elated, but it’s only over a small thing really.  I think it’s because I’m waiting for a bigger thing and the longer I wait the more I’m becoming superstitious so a bit of good news gives me hope.  I shall explain – briefly.  The big thing is that I’m waiting to find out if a funding bid we have submitted has got through the first stage…and I’ve been waiting for 3 months.  The small thing is more complicated. Children Unite has six fantastic supportive individuals who have agreed to become Trustees – and have taken on this role for the past year.  But all this time, one of these fantastic supportive people has not ‘officially’ been a Trustee (because of a ‘technical’ barrier). This technical hurdle has been successfully straddled and Children Unite now has its full complement of fantastic, supportive Trustees….and I’m elated, I feel like breaking open the champagne!

But I still seem to be in some kind of wider crisis of confidence – it feels as though all the ‘trappings’ of a solid organisation are being built up (website is on it’s way, I’m renting a small office etc.) but we need a good solid piece of work.  We need someone who isn’t necessarily fantastic and supportive to say  “yep, you seem to know what you’re talking about.  I’ll invest in you”.  There is a game show in the UK called ‘Dragon’s Den’ where people who have business ideas present these ideas to a panel of ‘investors’ who decide whether or not to invest their money.  My children love it.  I don’t, because I can too easily put myself in the position of a contestant in the show, waiting to go on, desperately trying to remember why my organisation is worth investing in!

I suppose, when you’re playing the waiting game, it’s a good time to get your house in order.  I should use this time to ensure that Children Unite has solid foundations so that when I face ‘investors’ my numbers make sense and my thinking is straight.  But I guess I’ve realised that my wider crisis of confidence comes from feeling daunted by the scale of the foundation stones I need to lay.  At our recent Trustees meeting we agreed a three year strategic plan, which was a good step but Children Unite still needs a business plan and a fundraising strategy.  We need to articulate our ‘theory of change’ and develop an outcomes framework….all BIG things.   OK - now I don’t feel so elated!!

However, on reading through this post again I'm reminded of a mantra that a colleague once whispered to me when I was feeling overwhelmed ("small steps, small steps") and that I do like to write lists.  If I can break these big things into smaller steps I can create a list of tasks which I can tick off gradually and feel like I’m making headway.  

AND I’ve just realised I can tick one thing off already - Children Unite now has a full complement of (fantastic supportive) Trustees! 

Now to get onto the second item on the list – the champagne!! (only kidding).

Mindnumbingly dull versus overnight sensation?

Setting up Children Unite has, so far, felt more like setting up a business than a charity….but in a good way. From step one, when Jonathan and I realised there was no international organisation that focused solely on the issue of child domestic work, an old friend of ours has been there to guide us through.

Charlie is now a business communications coach for Think Feel Know. He has been coaching us every month for the past year and a half. We had a coaching session with him this week where we looked at Children Unite’s ‘positioning’. Charlie uses a business model that he is adapting to the charity sector; ‘positioning’ is about figuring out, in a nutshell, what Children Unite is and does - Market, Service, Product and Value. Charlie has translated this into Who, How, What and Benefit.

A year and a half ago we found it hard to articulate exactly what Children Unite is and does because we weren’t doing it yet. I realised that a lot of people involved in ‘charitable’ work (including myself) are easily able to talk about ‘why’ we’re involved in this sector but are less articulate on the rest – particularly the ‘benefit’ (added value) of people working with us as opposed to working with another charity. This benefit issue adds an element of competition to the whole game and we don’t really like to think we’re in competition with each other in the charity sector.

This time however, when we went through Children Unite’s positioning we were clear and fast about the who’s and what’s and we had a breakthrough with ‘benefit’. Charlie has helped us to be clear in our communication and our thinking behind this communication. This has taken time and I’m very grateful that we have, what now feels like, a solid foundation to Children Unite.

Although I’m naturally more spontaneous than Jonathan I never wanted to set up Children Unite overnight. Many people have an attitude of ‘just get going, start up anything…just do it!’ But I’m pleased we haven’t done this. This is mainly because of professional pride – I don’t want to be part of an organisation that is not well thought out, or doesn’t really do what it says it does. It is also because I don’t want to let down people who have encouraged us or who are investing their time and energy (and money) in Children Unite.

For the last two days I’ve been looking at the role of Trustee and have written a briefing for our Trustees on their duties and responsibilities. I’ve been putting off this task as I assumed it would be mindnumbingly dull (and some of it was) but strangely enough, I now feel quite empowered that I KNOW what the role of Trustee is. I was rather vague about it before.

So, what do I learn from all this? I guess I can widen this point out to Children Unite as a whole – there will undoubtedly be more mindnumbingly dull tasks ahead. But, if I can put the work in, do them thoroughly, it is much more satisfying and empowering than ‘blagging’ it and letting people down as a result.

Living with the unknown

I've only spent one day this week working on Children Unite and it's been a bit frustrating. It's half term so I've spent most of my time looking after my tow daughters - Evi and Maya as Jonathan is working. The irony is that he has to take on all the consultancy projects he can - as Children Unite has no sustainable funding yet. This means I can't spend as much time as I'd like looking for sustainable funding. The Trustees meeting we'd planned for next week looks like it will be postponed as not enough people can make it. We've found out the rent on my office is double what we'd thought so can't afford to stay. Aaarrg - good think I only worked one day!

I suppose I’m experiencing the flip side of exciting – unsettling.  Setting up an organisation sounds exciting and sometimes it is…but there’s a lot of boring stuff you have to force yourself to do and there’s also living with the unknown.  Living with the ‘unknown’ reminds me of a horror movie (and there are a lot of those on at the moment as we’re approaching Halloween), a malevolent force that undermines your self-confidence, questions your decisions and repetitively whispers “You can’t do it”.

So, I’m not going to listen to the ‘You can’t do it’ voice…but equally I’m not going put on my superhero suit and fight it (or ask some of my superhero friends to fight it for me).  I’m just going to ignore it…as it’s a creepy kind of fear rather than a clear and present danger…it’s the kind of creepiness that you can sing away.  Indulge me if you will and imagine someone with their fingers in their ears singing:

 “LA, LA, LA I can’t hear you”

I like that image. It makes me laugh and that’s a very good start.  I will be thinking of it next week as I do all the boring stuff; re-arrange the trustees meeting, research rent prices for a new office etc. etc. etc….

PS Thank you Roland for becoming my 6th follower - I've reached my target YeeeHa!

A superhero crack team of perspective givers

This week I’ve been diving deep into the evaluation of a project called Giving Voice to Child Domestic Workers (of which the film on this blog is part).  As the ‘evaluator’ for the project I was writing the evaluation report for the best part of the week and found that I was getting annoyed by petty things that hadn’t gone as perfectly as I’d have liked.  I organised a meeting to discuss the report with the ‘UK team’ – which consists of Jonathan (my partner in Children Unite), Audrey and Mariela from Anti-Slavery International.  As soon as they walked through the door we were laughing and joking and eager to discuss the nitty-gritty of the report.  And I realised that my petty annoyances were just that – petty, not worth mentioning. 

I finalised the report today in a very different mood. I had been given some perspective on the project by my team mates and just by meeting up with the team again I was reminded of how smooth and successful, inspiring and enjoyable this project has been.  I trust my team's judgement and their views because, all along, we have been honest about how our feelings are affecting our work…and this has allowed us to build our team through trust.

I learned this process through working with Living Lens earlier on in the project. Rose and Keren at Living Lens are not afraid to talk about ‘love’ in the working environment!  Not soppy romantic love (eeuuww as my children would say!) but a ‘loving’ way of working that is honest and open and builds trust.  I’ve been trying to work in the same way ever since (but it’s harder than it sounds!).

So, in a spirit of ‘loving’ this morning I decided to add an ‘acknowledgement’ section to the report where I thanked various people on behalf of the UK team.  However, it was not long before I realised the pendulum had swung too far in the opposite direction, I was again diving deep but this time into a kind of ‘nostalgia’ for the project - writing reams of flowery acknowledgements to every person involved! 

Just thinking about how my team-mates would laugh at this and take the ‘mickey’ out of me put a stop to it.  I reduced the paragraphs down to a sentence each!   When you’re working on your own it’s all too easy to get carried away and lost in your own world view. I’m sure Jonathan, Audrey and Mariela don’t see themselves as a ‘superhero crack team of perspective givers’ but this week, for me, they have been just that!  (Thanks guys!)

Hunt down the baddies and punish them!

I promised I wouldn’t rant so this is an ‘observation’ that I will endeavour to learn from.  Jonathan went to the launch yesterday of Child Slavery Now – a publication outlining child slavery across the world – as he had written a chapter on child domestic work.  However, the launch was dominated by debate on the trafficking of children to the UK and the existence of complex criminal networks of traffickers.

Jonathan came back from the event frustrated that the focus was on the UK rather than the rest of the world and we discussed the seemingly inexhaustible need to identify a ‘baddy’ to tackle child slavery.  From both mine and Jonathan’s experience the ‘baddy’ is invariably poverty. Or, more accurately, there are a number of baddies that tend to be structural issues such as gender inequality or societal attitudes towards children that can’t be hunted down by a group of burly police officers and punished.

In the near future Children Unite will develop an advocacy campaign of it’s own on child domestic work and, as campaigning is my background, I’m impatient to set it up. Everyone knows that the simplest ideas tend to be the best.  However, I’m conscious of the need to develop a campaign that is not simply ‘raising awareness’ about child domestic work but equally is not just pointing the finger at a ‘baddy’ and saying “punish him”.  Additionally, as Children Unite is an international organisation, any campaign we run will need to be relevant across the globe.

I think I need to remind myself of what a good campaign is…the word is used to mean all sorts of things.  So, without googling it, I reckon that a good advocacy campaign gives ‘normal’ people an opportunity to change the bigger picture.  Of course it has to be well researched, targeted and monitored etc.  But it also has to be engaging and, essentially a positive experience for people....they are, after all, changing the bigger picture for the better.  I feel like I’m rambling now so I’ll stop…before I prove how little I actually know about advocacy campaigns.

This is a bit of a random way to end my post but I find it terribly depressing when people have no hope, when people aren't striving for something better.  A good advocacy campaign locks into that nugget of 'hope' within us all that things can be better.  And reassures us that together we are stronger and can make a difference. 

So, anyone got any ideas!?

Rugs, baklava and food fights over life partnership

Jonathan and I have been on a ‘romantic getaway’ in Istanbul for four days (a 40^th birthday present) and whilst eating our body weight in aubergine (me) and baklava (Jonathan) we spent two days of it discussing whether to buy a gorgeous Kurdish carpet for my office – or his.

Having worked from home for two days a week for most of the last year – setting up Children Unite - I’ve now moved full-time to a small office that I share with Living Lens (who made the film on this blog).  Jonathan works at home in a tiny office at the bottom of our very small garden (it is literally four steps from our back door to his office door!!).  This arrangement seems to be working well – us working separately in our little offices.

But I need a rug for my office. And in discussing alternatives to where this rug could go we ended up talking (over kebabs and falafel) about how Children Unite might grow.  One of our ideas was to turn Jonathan’s office into a cushion (and rug) filled reading room and he move into my office.

This meant we talked a lot about ‘partnership’ (we were on to baklava and coffee by then). When you are working with the person you’re living with and you are both bringing up two daughters – it can all get a bit much!  There are a lot of partnerships in that sentence!!  Our time in Istanbul was about our personal partnership – we never talk about each other as husband and wife to other professionals (and I have to admit to regularly talking about ‘my partner’ and not saying ‘he’ or ‘she’ to people just to create some ambiguity about the relationship!).

Children Unite is a ‘professional’ partnership between Jonathan and myself - although we have realised when you create an organisation it tends to be an extension of yourselves in some way. So, when there are two of you involved in this creation it is much easier if you can agree on how you see it growing and your respective roles in this process.  And I’m pleased to report that we didn’t have a huge food fight on holiday (we were too full!) – we agree on this.  We don’t see Children Unite growing much in size, we’re not interested in creating a huge organisation or even a medium sized organisation because we want to be part of the action at the grassroots level.  Also, I think, we want the organisation to fit with our other partnerships…with our children and with ourselves.  We need separate ‘professional’ roles or our professional partnership will become too ‘blurred’. So, Jonathan is a technical adviser to Children Unite, and I’m the organiser and campaigner.

And, for the moment, we need separate offices (I got the rug)!

Don't click on the FOLLOW button!

This week I’ve found some more buttons I could add to the blog and discovered the ‘stats’ page which I was very excited about (looking at the spread of countries my friends come from and trying to guess who was where!).  I’ve added a ‘follow’ button and, despite the title, I would like you to click on the follow button (five of you anyway, just for vanity’s sake – I need at least six followers and then I’ll have reached my target!).  What struck me about the ‘follow’ button was that it was the wrong word.  I would prefer ‘communicate’, ‘engage’ or possibly even ‘lead’ as my dream for the blog is the same dream for Children Unite – that it helps develop a community.

Last year, for a project we were involved in (of which the film on this blog is part) I visited Peru, Togo and India and met with our partner organisations (organisations who are working directly with child domestic workers in various countries around the world).  I was introducing the idea of Children Unite to the staff and children of these organisations and talked of wanting to ‘set up a network’.  But, because I met such committed and inspiring people, I gradually changed my terminology – network felt too dry and mechanical, I started to talk of wanting to ‘build a community’.

Community feels more appropriate because it’s focus is on relationships and the most moving times during my time in Peru, Togo and India were when there was a connection between everyone (despite the language and cultural barriers).  Thinking about this, I guess this idea does link to the ‘don’t just donate – engage’ of my first post…but the onus is on me to make the first move, to develop relationships and facilitate connections.

This point was reinforced for me earlier this week when I left the house and said my usual hello to a neighbour…but two men were walking past at the time, deep in conversation (in Polish it sounded like). They thought I’d said hello to them so they stopped talking and said a very friendly hello back to me as if I knew them!  I wondered whether I should say hello to everyone I met – but I knew I’d only feel like another 'nutter' so I smiled instead (and in my local area, Hackney, just a smile can get you into a lot of trouble so I consider myself quite brave!).

I recognise that I’m going to have to be quite brave in introducing Children Unite to the world, and in particular, articulating the vision we have of a community of activists (i.e. people who want to take action). Some people may well think I’m a nutter or the more pilot version of nutter – naïve.  But, I guess the payoff is worth it – when you connect with people and you feel part of a community it’s amazing!  And that’s a word I used a lot when I was with our partner organisations.

Don't click on the DONATE button

Over the past year I, together with my partner Jonathan, have been setting up a charity.  When friends and colleagues hear of our plans some of them suggest we go to the Big Lottery, Children in Need….or a rich celebrity for money.

Charity has become synonymous with raising funds and my first job in setting one up is assumed to be raising as much money as possible. If you’re a registered charity you must be a worthy cause so, in the immortal (and slightly adapted) words of the Pet Shop Boys ‘Lets raise lots of money (money, money)’.

It’s easy to get caught up in this way of thinking – even though Jonathan and I have been working as charity ‘campaigners’ for the past 20 years.  Children Unite is, legally, a registered charity but we see it as a campaign as its purpose is about change.

The initial reason I started this blog was because people were asking what we were planning to do to raise the profile of Children Unite (and a higher profile is often assumed to bring in more money).  But then I read some blogs and some blogs about blogging and I have to say I wasn’t really very inspired. They all seemed to be either a narcisstic rant, or tips on how to make oodles of money from your blog, such as stick a whopping great DONATE button on your charity blog and get as many people as possible to click on it.  So, I went off the idea.

From my experience giving money is sometimes the easiest option – it can assuage guilt and ease our conscience and we feel like we’ve taken action (although we haven’t actually changed anything we do).  I’ve done it many times for all those reasons.

But you may notice that we don’t have a donate button yet (admittedly this may be simply due to a lack of organisation).  Perhaps we could take the radical step of NOT having a donate button?  Would that encourage people to take action?  Would people even notice? (Will more than 6 of my friends ever read this blog?)

In setting up this charity I want to think long and hard about these kinds of issues.  This, I’ve decided, is why I should write a blog – to give me a disciplined space each week to reflect on building an organisation that, ultimately, I am proud of.  So, it doesn’t really matter if only 6 of my friends read it! 

So, here goes. I do solemnly swear to do my best to write a weekly blog that reflects on my experiences in setting up a charity…I will try to be honest and punctual, I will try not to be narcissistic or to rant or to beg for money!