Building Together: the CBS Working Group
At BD_Collective, collaboration has always been the driving force of our work. Over the past five years, we’ve seen what’s possible when voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) groups in Barking and Dagenham come together to build something bigger than themselves.
Now, we’re taking a major step forward in this journey.
In October 2024, we registered as a Community Benefit Society (CBS) — Barking & Dagenham Collective Limited — under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act. This new structure reflects our commitment to working for the benefit of the whole community, not just the organisations involved. It’s democratic, values-led, and designed to be member-powered, with one-member-one-vote.
To help shape this next chapter, we’ve launched a CBS Working Group, recruited from our Collective community that represents a diverse mix of local leaders who live and breathe the values of community, trust, accountability, and power sharing.
Over the next six months, this group of community leaders contributing in their personal capacity will work with our Secretariat to develop the CBS into a self-governing, member-led body. They’ll help define the society’s governance, design our membership structure, and prepare for the election of a full leadership team. The Secretariat will be supported by the social infrastructure contract holder, BD Giving. This is a key phase in ensuring the CBS can deliver on its exciting new role to continue developing how we connect civil society organisations, creating and sharing opportunities as well as ensuring we bring equity and representation for voices to be heard.
Meet our Working Group
We’re excited to introduce the members of the CBS Working Group:
- Nassaba Guibá
- Matt Skinner
- Matt Scott
- Liliana Hristova
- Emma Middleton
- Anna Pollard
You can read more about them on this webpage.
Between them, they bring a wealth of experience spanning grassroots community organising, creative practice, health and care innovation, faith-based collaboration, academic insight, and VCSE leadership. Their combined expertise includes working closely with residents, growing new initiatives, simplifying complex processes, influencing local systems, and connecting people and organisations across the borough.
Together, they embody the BD_Collective values and represent a powerful cross-section of Barking and Dagenham’s community and social infrastructure.
Why This Matters
A CBS gives us a framework to sustain and grow the BD_Collective movement — not just as an idea, but as a democratic, community-owned structure. In an underfunded borough like ours, this approach means we can organise for shared resources, collaborative bids, and community-led priorities in a way that’s resilient and fair.
We’ll be sharing updates as the CBS Working Group progresses. Stay tuned to hear how you can get involved as we prepare to launch CBS membership later this year.
Got any questions?
See here for the selection criteria and Terms of Reference we published during recruitment period for the Working Group. If you’d like to know more, or have questions about the CBS, feel free to contact us at hello@bdcollective.co.uk. We’re building this together.
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