We start the workshop with hosts Cassie Robinson and Farah Elahi in conversation, establishing context and introducing us to some of the questions they've been exploring in their work.

Farah Elahi is the Acting Head of Community Engagement at the Greater London Authority. She has led on the Civil Society Strategy at City Hall, with a focus on new methodologies for working in partnership with communities and work to develop civic capacity and strength. This includes projects such as Civic Futures, Civil Society Roots and the London Community Response Survey.

Farah’s previous roles include Research and Policy Analyst at the Runnymede Trust and the Family and Childcare Trust. Published reports include a number of local Race Equality Scorecards and policy briefings, Islamophobia: Still a challenge for us all, and Ethnic Inequalities in London: Capital for All. Farah holds trusteeships with the Runnymede Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Cassie Robinson is co-founder of the Point People and Deputy Director of Funding Strategy at The National Lottery Community Fund where she’s responsible for Innovation, Policy and Practice, and a £60 Million budget. She’s also a Fellow at Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge University, a Policy Fellow at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL, founder of Stewarding Loss and Co-founder of Funder Ecosystems. Cassie is a Nesta Creative Pioneer, she sits on the Board of Organise HQ, and teaches on the MSc in Ecological Design and the Ecologies + Technologies programme at Schumacher College. She is on the Faculty of States of Change, and is one of the International Futures Forum Clan.