In March 2026, at Wychavon District Council’s Community Network Conference, we worked with around 60–70 VCSE practitioners to explore how connection is built — and sometimes strained — in communities.
Across two workshop sessions, people were asked to place real examples from their local area on a spectrum between “unity” and “division”. What stood out wasn’t where things landed, but how difficult they were to place at all.
Very few examples sat clearly at one end. Community events, local campaigns and even moments of crisis could be seen as bringing people together by some, while creating tension or discomfort for others.
Our workshop — More in Common: Fostering connection across difference in your community — explored how people working in communities can navigate these differences in practice, and build confidence to engage with them.
Designing the session
The conference, themed “Knowing Your Neighbourhood, because strong communities start with strong connections”, brought together people from across the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in rural Worcestershire.
We were invited to design and deliver a workshop in response to this theme, building on over 10 years of working with community practitioners on social cohesion, including through the More in Common Network — a core project of The Jo Cox Foundation.
The workshop aimed to support community workers in thinking about how they navigate difference and division in their day-to-day practice, and was delivered twice during the conference by Zoe Cumberland — a Worcester-based facilitator specialising in community engagement.
At its core was a simple but challenging question: how do we hold difference, without letting it become division?
What we explored together
We started by asking people what unity and division actually look like in their communities, before asking for their gut reactions to a few scenarios.
Using a “washing line” exercise, people then mapped real examples from across Wychavon along a spectrum between unity and division. These included things like community celebrations (food festivals, VE Day events and Christmas lights), support during crises (such as flooding and missing person searches), Afghan refugee families joining local BBQs, and counter-protests in support of refugees. Alongside this were more contested issues such as tensions around flags and national identity, responses to asylum hotels, housing developments and funding decisions, and antisocial behaviour and social media conflict.
These sparked discussion about how the same activity can create a sense of belonging for some, while feeling divisive or uncomfortable for others.
What people told us
People spoke about the value of stepping outside their own assumptions and approaching difficult conversations in a different way. As one participant put it, “You can’t plan for every scenario but being prepared in general for difficult conversations is possible.” Others reflected on the importance of perspective and pause — “park your personal views and try not to react immediately from your gut feeling response” — and on not feeling alone in these situations.
Many also talked about leaving with a new sense of perspective and energy, with words like “hopeful” used to describe how they felt.
Did we meet our aims?
87% said their understanding of unity and division had improved, 87% felt more confident to play a role in their community, and 94% left with practical tools or ideas they could use.
While most people reported increased confidence, for some the session highlighted gaps rather than immediately building it. We see that as a useful outcome in itself — helping to show where further support or space for reflection may be needed.
Beyond the numbers
Participants talked about how unity often shows up most clearly in moments of crisis, and how quickly perspectives can diverge depending on people’s experiences. There was also reflection on how something described as “community-led” can feel very different from something being “done to” a community.
Overall, a consistent theme was complexity — that experiences of unity and division depend on context, perspective and lived experience.
What’s next
There was strong interest in continuing the conversation, with participants keen to explore how this work could apply in their own contexts.
A few weeks after the event, Cllr Rob Adams, Executive Board Member for Strong Communities, Culture and Sport, said:
“At a time when national conversations can feel increasingly polarised, our local voluntary and community organisations valued the chance to pause, reflect, and think differently about their neighbourhoods. Sessions like this help people recognise their own role in building stronger, more connected communities — something that matters deeply to us in Wychavon.”
What this session reinforced is that building connection across difference doesn’t start with simple answers. It often starts with recognising that people may experience the same issue in very different ways.
For those working in communities, that means creating space to explore that complexity, rather than assuming shared perspectives. The level of engagement on the day suggests there’s a strong appetite for more spaces like this — where people can reflect, test assumptions and build confidence to engage with difference in practice.
If you’re interested in developing something similar — whether for a conference, event, or local programme — we’d love to hear from you. Contact us via [email protected].
