Get the New Year off to a good start by joining our webinar on 8 January 2025!  We will start at 8am London/ 11am Nairobi, and the topic will be: CARE IS A SOCIETAL ISSUE – AN ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVE TO “SELFISH CAPITALISM”. With speakers Bob Rhodes, Chris Brown (both LivesthroughFriends and the Forest Voluntary Action Network), and Chris Evans (The Butterfly Garden).

The Lives through Friends Summer Institute in September 2024 brought together experts from around the globe - experts by experience and experts in allyship - to discuss the shortcomings of current care systems and explore alternative approaches. The goal was to promote effective practices and inspire a new international narrative for change. (See Home page at www.livesthroughfriends.org)

Participants from 3 continents concluded that:

“In collaboration with like-minded individuals and organisations from across the globe, we collectively envision a world where care for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism is rooted in human connection, interdependence, and kindness. This shared vision can be achieved through an intelligent combination of person-centred, locally designed services and the fostering of resilient, caring social networks”

Through a case study centred upon the story of The Butterfly Garden (IACD Practice Insights Magazine – Issue 21, March 2024) and the parallel experiences of LivesthroughFriends and FVAF we will lead a conversation ‘unpacking’ our concerns that the marketization of how we care for each other throughout our lives is becoming a global phenomenon that both fails people and misuses the wealth of nations.

These are not new ideas – droves of thinkers and practitioners have been sounding the alarm for decades (e.g):

“…the expansion of markets into areas where they don’t belong.” Michael J Sandel

“Our institutions can only offer service - not care. We cannot purchase care. Care is the freely given commitment from the heart of one to another. As neighbours, we can care for each other. We can care for our children. We can care for our elders. And it is this care that is the basic power of a community of associated citizens.” John McKnight

“By Selfish Capitalism I mean four things… The fourth is the conviction that consumption and market forces can meet human needs of almost every kind.” Oliver James

But they are swamped by the cacophony of consumerism, authoritarianism and centralisation. The fundamental question seems to centre upon, “how can we build a popular alternative – person-centred and locally relevant – narrative”?