Shared Assets CIC is a ‘think and do’ tank with a mission to make land work for everyone. We also act as a convenor of organisations working on land in different ways (parks, food, woodlands, housing etc.) nurturing networks and facilitating an exchange of knowledge, good practice, and skills. We see land as a systemic issue of social and economic justice and support the development of other organisations in the land justice network working to these aims, such as Land In Our Names (LION) who work on issues of land repatriation and racial justice.
Necessity is supporting our work to build a movement for land justice. As part of this, we are developing a Theories of Change process with peers in the movement to increase self-awareness of our respective pathways, understanding how we can collaborate and build stronger relationships between us. We are convening a series of online and in-person spaces for reflection, planning and action on land justice between land-based activists and organisations campaigning across land issues relating to housing, climate, agroecological food and farming, nature conservation, and migrant and traveller rights.
Interwoven with this work is our project to develop resources and creative comms which amplify emergent land narratives, bringing marginal voices to the fore in an attempt to dismantle old tropes around land ownership and scarcity. We are making it easier to share resources between land justice activists across the UK by setting up a common platform, as well as collectively reaching new audiences by transferring messages to new cultural spaces, e.g. through videos and podcasts.
The movement building work allows our influence in changing the land system to grow outwards, sparking interest through education, connection and creativity. We support local groups to become confident and self-sustaining by listening to needs and delivering workshops. We are also developing a toolkit for local action and a clear offer of support for those new to land justice activism.