The Alliance is an independent membership organisation based in Wales. Our members and partners understand the importance of essential goods and services and are working to improve liveability, which requires not just services but also social infrastructure and residual income after paying for essentials.
We have a programme of events that are free and open to all. These include lunchtime Zoom meetings on a variety of themes and an annual Cardiff conference, which in March 2026 was on “How to Make a Difference”. The focus of our work changes in response to events and changing circumstances, and in 2026–27 our focus will be on liveability.
At present, we have two active housing-related work streams, each with an organiser, an active permanent working group, and support from FERL researchers. Both groups are concerned with giving voice and agency to disempowered social groups and communities. We are aiming this year to start a third work stream with a food group, led by Professor Kevin Morgan.
- Our housing group is led by Keith Edwards. Its main achievement so far has been the sponsorship of National Independent Tenant Voice, led by tenants for tenants in social housing. We are also bringing together social housing tenants and managers in round-table discussions to explore ways forward at a time when it is increasingly difficult to reconcile rents that are affordable for tenants with rents that are sustainable for landlords.
- Our community tourism group is led by Joanna Hatch and Jess Sylvester and is part of a nascent UK-wide movement for community-benefiting tourism. Our activity is focused on the slate valleys of North Wales and the £1 million, five-year Dolennu project, which supports action research by groups of community researchers, alongside a parallel expert group working on investable projects.
To find out more you can visit the Foundational Economy Alliance Wales website and contact our administrator, Joanna Hatch, at: joq@foundationaleconomy.wales
The Foundational Economy 