At PPL, we strongly believe that outcomes are best created through collaboration and co-design. We don’t see this as simply a ‘nicer’ way to do things, in our experience it is the only thing that works in practice.
We think that the spaces for people to come together and have real conversations, where they are able to listen to each other’s perspective, to build understanding and to think deeply about how to do things differently, are critical to catalysing and creating real, practical change.
As a social enterprise, we reinvest over 50% of our operating profit each year in supporting our broader social mission – to improve health and wellbeing. We invest in a variety of organisations and outcomes and the New Local conference forms a part of our strategy for investment this year, which is to make sure that, amidst the turmoil we are living through, there is space for people to come together to have the really important conversations about how we rebuild and recover.
It is important to us that the conference is free to attend, so we know that the widest possible range of people will be there – members of the VCSE, local government and NHS colleagues, policymakers and, above all, people who live and work within our communities.
We know that radical change is required to support our recovery and we believe that effective collaboration will be at its heart. We are looking forward to playing our part in shaping and catalysing that collaboration.
What issues will PPL focus on at the conference?
We have a broad organisational focus. We are probably best known for our work around integration, and we hope our clients and partners would say that we have a powerful ability to convene conversations and create programmes of work that are honest, connected and get to the heart of the issue. We also have a lot of expertise in making things change in practice. But that isn’t all that we do – we have a strong record of partnership with the VCSE and expertise around volunteering within communities. We are also excited and interested in the opportunities for responsible and sustainable business to play an important part in the COVID-19 Recovery.
For us, the conference is an opportunity to convene important conversations which will not only bring together some of our ‘fellow travellers’ into a shared setting to discuss exciting ideas for the future, but also open up the conversations to fellow travellers we haven’t yet met and to connect with new voices and perspectives.
What can you talk to PPL about after the conference?
We would love to connect with people doing interesting work in health and care, and those who are interested in finding ways to make real, practical change. We would also like to learn from those who have achieved real change, and to talk to people across all sectors who have exciting ideas about rethinking traditional models of delivery to meet new challenges.
We think that most ‘good’ answers are simple, but their implementation is often complex – we like people who like ideas, and who enjoy testing and developing new concepts. We are keen to connect with people across the VCSE, public and policy-making sectors who share this perspective, and who are interested in practical innovation.