Dadihiye Somali Development Organisation (DSDO) is a small, grassroots, community-led organisation based in North Kensington. While the organisation has Somali roots, our services are open to everyone, and the people we support reflect the diverse communities of North Kensington, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham and the wider London area.
For more than 33 years, we have provided free, accessible and trusted advice and practical support to people experiencing housing difficulties and homelessness, welfare and benefits problems, cost-of-living pressures, difficulties accessing public services, employment and education issues and other forms of disadvantage.
Our approach is deliberately community-based. People come to Dadihiye because they know our staff and volunteers, trust us and feel comfortable explaining problems that they may not have been able to resolve elsewhere.
Like many small advice organisations, we face significant challenges in maintaining a stable and sustainable advice workforce including funding constraints.
We operate with a very small core team, supported by part-time staff and volunteers. This means that the loss or absence of even one experienced member of full staff can have a disproportionate impact on our capacity.
Our experienced advice workers develop knowledge not only of advice systems but also of the communities we serve. They understand the barriers faced by people who may have limited English, low digital confidence, language or cultural barriers, or who may feel unable to navigate statutory services on their own.
However, experienced advisers can be difficult to retain when small organisations cannot offer the same financial security, salaries or progression opportunities as larger organisations.
The wider funding environment also makes long-term workforce planning extremely difficult. Short-term or project-based funding may enable an organisation to deliver a particular service for a limited period, but it does not necessarily provide the security required to recruit, retain, train and develop experienced advice workers.
For a small organisation, uncertainty about future funding affects everything from recruitment and staff development to succession planning and the ability to plan services several years ahead.
The impact on clients
These workforce pressures ultimately affect the people who need advice.
Advice is not simply about providing information. Many of our clients have complex and interconnected problems. A housing problem, for example, may also involve benefits, employment, debt, immigration, health, family circumstances or difficulties accessing essential services.
Clients often need someone who can listen carefully, understand their circumstances, explain their options in accessible language and, where necessary, make casework, advocate with another organisation or public authority.
Technology can support this work, but it cannot replace the trusted relationship between an adviser and a client.
For some clients, particularly those with limited digital skills or confidence, directing them to an online service is simply not enough. They need a person who can help them understand what is happening, identify their options and take the necessary steps with them and also provide language support.
When advice capacity is reduced, clients may have to wait longer for support, problems can escalate and issues that might have been resolved at an early stage can become much more serious.
The value of investing in the advice workforce
Our experience demonstrates that investment in the advice sector is also an investment in prevention.
Early advice can help prevent homelessness, reduce financial hardship, support people to access benefits and services to which they are entitled, understand their rights, and prevent problems from escalating into more complex and costly crises situations.
It can also reduce pressure on other public services by helping people resolve problems before they reach crisis point.
For organisations such as Dadihiye, sustainable core funding is particularly important. Funding individual activities does not necessarily address the underlying workforce infrastructure required to deliver those services safely and effectively.
Investment needs to recognise the real cost of providing a quality advice service, including salaries, supervision, training, professional development, management, IT systems, safeguarding, monitoring and the time required to provide appropriate follow-up and advocacy.
Developing the next generation of advice workers
We also believe there is considerable potential in developing structured routes into advice work for people with lived experience and people who understand the communities being served.
Grassroots community organisations can provide an important pathway for people who understand local communities, languages and cultural barriers and who may themselves have experienced exclusion from mainstream services.
With appropriate training, supervision and progression opportunities, people with lived experience can develop into highly effective advice workers.
This could help address the longer-term workforce challenge by creating a pipeline of new advisers rather than relying solely on recruiting people who are already qualified and experienced.
Technology and AI
We already use technology to support our advice service, including digital case recording and information management. Our advice records are managed through Salesforce, which helps us record client interactions and monitor the support provided.
There is significant potential for technology and AI to help small advice organisations increase capacity – for example, through administration, information management, drafting, translation and helping advisers identify relevant information.
However, technology should support advisers rather than replace them.
The most valuable part of our service is the human relationship. Clients often need someone to listen to them, understand their individual circumstances, exercise professional judgement, explain complicated matters clearly and provide reassurance.
AI cannot replicate the trust built between a community adviser and someone experiencing a housing, financial or personal crisis.
The challenge for small organisations is that useful technology itself requires investment. Without sufficient core funding, it can be difficult to invest in appropriate systems, staff training, data protection, digital infrastructure and the time required to introduce new technology safely and effectively.
