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Investigates the growing significance of project‐based work in the public library sector, using as an example the field of reader development. Drawing on the Branching Out national reader development initiative (1998‐2001), and on input provided by staff in participating authorities and members of the project management team, it examines the role of the project manager. It looks specifically at the requirement of project managers to co‐ordinate a piece of work from a central position in the organisational structure. The paper acknowledges the difficulties of managing change, and suggests means of overcoming these, using the Branching Out model. It concludes that cultural and structural change will only be achieved in the longer term with the support and commitment of all staff, which will only be achieved through widespread project dissemination.

With the launch of the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), the Canadian government named solidarity as a shared value and a driving motivation behind the FIAP. This paper explores how development workers understand and apply solidarity to their work, uncovering the opportunities and constraints they face.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 development workers from Canada’s federal development agency between 2019 and 2020. Transcribed data were coded by the author to identify how workers made sense of solidarity within the development industry.

The majority of workers were unsure of how to define or operationalize solidarity, demonstrating confusion. Commonality was routinely mentioned as a facet of solidarity, but workers understood this term in diverse ways, with some considering commonality as a precondition that inhibited a sense of solidarity with development partners in the global South due to differences in living conditions. About a quarter identified power and privilege as necessary considerations in the process of building solidarity, showing potential for bonds across the inequalities that define development. About 40% of workers identified the institutional structure of the organization as an obstacle to solidarity.

This paper presents original data from Canadian development workers, providing the first study of their understanding of solidarity as a development ethic. It shows the gaps between rhetoric and practice while recommending ways for development organizations to meaningfully engage with solidarity in their work.

This article outlines the housing situation facing families with disabled children, and particularly draws attention to the additional disadvantage experienced by families with disabled children from black and minority ethnic groups. It is a summary of a workshop presented by the author to the Race Equality Foundation conference in November 2007 on the theme of extending choice and participation for black and minority ethnic communities.