Improving outcomes for children is never the responsibility of a single organisation. The factors influencing a child’s development include health, education, family circumstances, housing stability, emotional wellbeing, community support and access to services. Barking & Dagenham recognised that achieving meaningful change required a genuinely integrated response across the whole system.  

Like many complex partnerships, there was a need to: 

• Build a shared understanding of everyone’s role and contribution. 

• Create stronger connections between organisations and teams. 

• Develop a collective sense of purpose. 

• Translate ambition into clear actions and priorities. 

• Ensure partners felt ownership of the strategy rather than simply being consulted on it.  

The question was not simply “What should the strategy say?” but “How do we create a movement around giving every child the best possible start in life?” 

We partnered with Barking & Dagenham to design and facilitate a collaborative process that brought the strategy to life through conversation, participation and shared sense-making.  Our support focused on four key areas: 

Creating Engaging Resources 

We worked with partners to develop a visual language that made the complexity of the Best Start in Life programme easier to understand and discuss. By turning strategic thinking into engaging and accessible resources, we helped create a foundation for shared ownership.  

Designing and Facilitating the Partnership Event 

We co-designed a mini conference that provided space for partners to explore their collective contribution, strengthen relationships and shape future priorities together. The focus was on creating meaningful dialogue rather than one-way presentations.  

Capturing the Conversation Visually 

Through live visual minutes and real-time feedback, ideas were captured as they emerged. This helped participants see connections, recognise shared priorities and leave with a stronger sense of collective direction.  

Shaping a Roadmap for Action 

Following the event, we supported the development of an engaging report and roadmap that distilled conversations, insights and commitments into a practical resource for moving forward.  

The process helped partners move from seeing Best Start in Life as a collection of individual programmes to viewing it as a shared system-wide endeavour.  

A stronger collective narrative emerged around: 

• School readiness and early childhood development. 

• Tackling inequalities affecting children and families. 

• Building accessible, high-quality early years support. 

• Creating a more cohesive and integrated system response. 

• Strengthening partnership ownership of delivery.  

The strategic plan that emerged reflected not only evidence and data, but also the collective insight and commitment of partners from across the system. Its principles centred around collaboration, equity, prevention, transparency and co-production with parents and carers.  

Most importantly, the work helped create the conditions for organisations to see themselves as part of the same story, working towards the same outcome for children and families.  

Complex challenges rarely need more individual effort. They need more shared understanding. 

What stood out throughout this work was the power of creating space for people to connect their perspectives, make sense of complexity together and recognise how their individual contributions fit into a much bigger picture. 

When organisations share a vision but work in isolation, progress can feel fragmented. When they come together around a common purpose, new possibilities emerge. 

For us, Best Start in Life wasn’t just about strategy development. It was about helping a partnership see itself as a system, connected by a shared commitment to children, families and communities. 

At Collaborate Out Loud, we believe lasting change happens when people stop working alongside each other and start working with each other. This project showed what’s possible when collaboration becomes more than a principle and starts becoming a shared practice.