What is Do:With?
The same piece of work can be done four very different ways. The difference is not how much people are asked - it is how much they can change. Watch the two circles move.
Do:To
We decided what you need.
Done to people. No say, often no warning.
Do:For
We'll do it on your behalf.
Well meant. Still decided somewhere else.
Do:With
Power is shared. Influence, not consultation.
Two equals. The overlap is where decisions are made.
Do:By
The community leads. We support when invited.
The roles have swapped. This is the goal.
We are focused on Do:With - because it is the honest step from where most of us actually are.
Do:With is not the destination. It is the step that is real today for organisations that currently do things to and for people, and it is a genuine shift: shared power means a community can change the answer, and can say no. But the point of sharing power is to keep going. Our hope and our expectation is that Do:By - communities leading, with institutions supporting when they are asked - becomes the ordinary way things are done. We would like this movement to make itself unnecessary.