Here We Stand, the NCIA Inquiry into local activism and dissent has now reported its findings. The Inquiry, carried out with Manchester Metropolitan University, documents how local activists exert an active democratic and egalitarian influence. We found growing resistance to cuts and austerity, with local people organising around what matters to them: safeguarding public services, fighting privatisation, enforcing community rights, protecting the natural world, creating alternatives to neoliberalism and offering solidarity to each other and their communities. This action is mostly unpaid activism through self-organising networks. A world of action and energy rarely glimpsed through mainstream media. People tackling concrete problems together. The Inquiry found a notable absence of professionalised voluntary agencies in these local struggles. So where are they? Too frightened to bite the hand that feeds them, to stand alongside local communities?

A common thread amongst those taking action was the willingness to think critically, confront and challenge authority, and to follow their own path. Some openly challenged injustice. Some subverted from within the system. Others dissent through self-reliance. And some – mostly the professional voluntary agencies – are still trying to decide whether or not to speak out. Local voluntary umbrella groups do not offer a home for activism, or dissenters.

The role of the dissenting activist, of whatever form, has now become critical for our collective health and wellbeing. Download the summary Here We Stand summary and the full report Here We Stand full report

And read what the guardian says about our findings here