Listen, Value, Invest Conference

Subject: Listen, Value, Invest conference
Date of event: 3 weeks ago
Organised by: VSNW
Venue: Manchester Conference Centre
Report by: Rob Squires

This conference was attended by lots of emminent people from the Voluntary and Community Sector. One of the main objectives of the day was about how the profile of the sector
can be raised in these difficult times.

During the day I gate crashed the ED's workshop, which was jammed with EDs and other gate crashers like me. The main topic of conversation was EDs expressing dismay at the "Big Society", and the various threats it presents for their organisations.

However, at the end of the day, Neil McInroy from CLES really stole the show with a very witty, relevant and ultimately optimistic presentation on the role the Voluntary and Community Sector has to play.

All the presentations from the day are available here.

The Benefits of Collaboration

Date of the event: 27th October + 3rd November 2009
Organised by: Target: Wellbeing & GMCVO
Venue: St.Thomas Centre, Manchester
Reported by: Rob Squires, Network Co-ordinator (Third Sector)

For some time now I have been touting the benefits of the national Collaboration programme of support offered by bassac, which includes free training and support from consultants. For many Target: Wellbeing projects, collaborative working may prove to be an important aspect of their exit strategies from the current BIG Lottery funding, whether this be through more joined up and comprehensive services, funding bids, or collaborative contracts from funders. In light of this, I arranged for Morag Rose from Greater manchester Council For Voluntary Services, to deliver the two day bassac Collaborative Benefits training.

The aim of the training was to give participants a good grounding in all things to do with collaboration, but also where possible, to establish collaboration 'champions' who can go on to stimulate and catalyse increased collaboration in their Target: Wellbeing programmes. To that end the training was well attended by 13 people from Target: Wellbeing projects or programmes.

The feedback from the trainig was generally very positive, with many participants reporting that they plan to think hard about how they can strengthen the collaborations that are happening with their projects and programmes. One outcome of this is that the Knowsley Programme leads (Mary Farrell and Shirley King) have arranged for Anne Harpur, who is a bassac consultant, to attend their next meeting in December, and facilitate a three hour collaborative planning workshop. The workshop will involve Target: Wellbeing projects, plus other 3rd sector providers in the area, and will look at collaborative possibilities for the future. It will be very interesting to see what comes out of this workshop, as Knowsley may well be showing the way for similar positive developments in other programme areas.

Another interesting aspect of the training was that Niel Walbrum from GMCVO provided a presentation on the work he is doing to establish a large consortium of commissioning ready third sector providers, for the Greater Manchester sub region. The thinking is that through establishing the consortium, members will be in a position to respond rapidly, and successfully to health and wellbeing commissioning contracts in the 9 boroughs as and when they become available. This is an interesting model that I am looking at, which Target: Wellbeing and its various programmes may be able to learn from, in relation to future collaboration.

In the Shadow

PART I - GUEST BLOG

Date of event: 9th September 2009
Organised by: NCVO
Venue: Groundwork Northwest
Report by: Mike Chambers, Head of Local Government Information and Analysis

It happened while I was on leave in August. While I was sunning myself in the mountains, Government Office was busily volunteering me for a day shadowing Rob Squires. I could have complained and, I guess, they could have apologised, but either of these would have been a first (honest!). But why complain? I have always been curious about the inside story of a cluster of projects delivering our vision for the North West.

It's not been what I expected. I don't know why but I was expecting brass tacks and lots of detail but instead I have spent the time looking at philosophy, ethics and the futures for the region's communities. I imagined we would occupy seperate worlds with different priorities and imperatives but in fact we have lots in common; not least the goals, frustrations and mysteries of health inequalities and life chances.

At the back of my mind is the haunting question of whether there will really be wider benefits than the joys of a mushroom melt lunch and some delightful chats with a collection of smart people. Well, there are. I hadn't appreciated that the mound of information we are sat on in Government Office could be useful to others, or the potential of Target: Wellbeing to give us a wealth of examples of initiatives to illustrate what can be done. So we will be extending our networks by looking at sharing information and analytical tools.

Its still only half time in the shadowing process. The second leg will be in Government Office next week. So watch this space.


PART II

Date of event: 16th September 2009
Organised by: NCVO
Venue: Government Office North West
Report by: Rob Squires, Wellbeing Network Co-ordinator (Third Sector)

It all began whilst everyone else at Target: Wellbeing was on holiday. In a quiet momment in the office I nonchalantly applied to a NCVO scheme called A Day In the Life, in which I would shadow somone in local government for a day, and in return they would shadow me. My reason for applying was that I wanted to discover what the human side of a government agency was like. When Mike arrived in our office last week, my first impressions of him were that he was very cool and confident. He also turned out to be quite fascinating, with a rich depth of experience, and a broad outlook on life.

During my afternoon in Government Office with Mike, we talked quite a lot about issues to do with data analysis and dissemination. He introduced me to his information and analysis manager, Mark Ellison, and we looked at some of the reporting formats they are developing for their data. They are keen to develop a closer partnership with Groundwork Northwest, and Target: Wellbeing as an outcome of A Day In the Life. Mark has offered to come into our office soon and give us some support in shaping up the evaluation data that we are getting from the 95 projects in Target: Wellbeing.

Blues Skies

Date of event: 15/07/09
Organised by: Target: Wellbeing Regional Support Network
Venue: Mansion House Active Age Centre, Age Concern Halton and St.Helens
Report by: Rob Squires, Network Co-ordinator - Third Sector

This was the second Target: Wellbeing networking event and this time the aim was to connect projects across the region that work on mental health issues.

The venue for the event was the stunning Age Concern Mansion House, located in Victoria Park outside St Helens town centre. The event was a trip down memory lane for me, as I used to work at the Mansion House as the gardener back in 1996. When I joined the Target: Wellbeing team I was intrigued to learn that the Trust Matters 50+ Counselling service is based there, and when I met Paul Chadwick who runs the project, I was very impressed with the work they are doing and was keen to visit the Mansion House again.

After the networking event I had a little look round, and was pleased to see that the house and gardens have maintained their splendour. Upon entering the kitchen gardens I was amazed to see that some willow snaps I had planted back in ’96 have grown into beautiful 30ft high trees.

Paul gave a great presentation about their counselling service, and told a really touching story about a client, who had been feeling suicidal until receiving services from Paul and his team, who put him back on track. The client told Paul that he had put the rope in his hands that saved his life, and that it was Paul's team that pulled him out of the hole. The client gave Paul a copy of a Fathers' Day card from his children, telling him how much they loved and appreciated him. He told Paul that without the help of Trust Matters he probably would not have been alive to this day, to receive the card.

Stories like this are the real stuff, and they cut straight through all the frustrations we feel, as we struggle to evidence the impact that Target: Wellbeing is having, and motivate us to carry on doing what we do.

In addition to Paul, there was a fascinating presentation from Jude Stansfield, Public Mental Health and Wellbeing lead with Government Office North West, who gave us the low down on policy issues in the region.

Amongst other things, Jude gave us a sneak preview of New Horizons from the Department of Health, which is a new vision and programme of work to improve the mental wellbeing of everyone, as well as continuing to improve the quality and accessibility of mental health services. It aims to address the inequalities that different groups in society experience, both in accessing services and in levels of mental health. It will set out the national direction from 2010.

Jude also told us about PROMiSE, which is a new third sector regional mental health network, being pulled together by Voluntary Sector North West and NHS North West, in order to link the sector in with the region’s Mental Health Improvement Programme. PROMiSE are having their launch event on September 7^th in Preston (see the VSNW website for more information), and they will be looking for representatives from the sector to sit on the MHIP’s steering and stakeholder boards. Target: wellbeing intends to put forward an applicant to this position, to make sure that mental health projects within our network have an influence within decision making in this area.

Jude also happened to drop into the conversation, that she has organised it for Target: Wellbeing to provide a workshop at the Northwest Wellbeing Conference 2009. This is a important event which will incorporate the 6^th annual Northwest Public Health Conference and the 17^th annual conference of the WHO Regions For Health Network. The theme of our workshop will be around ‘Lessons learned’. We are keen to involve projects in the delivery of this workshop and will be circulating more information soon. Thank you to Jude for pulling this workshop out of a bag, and giving us this opportunity to make an impression.

There were around 20 people at our networking event in all, representing different projects and programmes from across the region. I took the opportunity therefore, to run a workshop and get information from people about how we can strengthen the Target: Wellbeing network. I asked the same 4 questions as I did at the Running with the Times networking event, at the National Wildflower Centre, last week (see previous blog to see what these are). As with this event, I will be collating the information generated from Networking events, and producing a summary report later in the year.

Thanks to everybody that came to the Mansion House, you are all stars, and I look forward to seeing you at future events.

Compact in the Northwest – creating better outcomes for citizens, and stronger communities

Date of event: Wednesday 21st January 2009, 1pm – 3.30pm
Organised by: VSNW, CftC
Venue: Gujarat Centre, Preston
Report by: Rob Squires, Network Co-ordinator – Third Sector
Link to event webpage: http://www.vsnw.org.uk/events/past

Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) in collaboration with Commission for the Compact (CftC), recently hosted a workshop in Preston, to explain the Compact, and how it can strengthen the Third Sector.

About Compacts:
Compacts are essentially agreements that shape the relationship between government, and the third sector, with the aim of creating betting outcomes for citizens, and stronger communities. They exist at three levels: local, regional, and the national Compact .At the local level, Compacts exist between the local authority and the third sector. Also in some areas additional Compacts have been developed between PCTs and the third sector. Smaller organisations, working in one locality can benefit from local Compacts, whilst the regional and national versions are designed to support larger organisations with a wider reach.

About CftC:
CftC is a ‘Non-departmental public body’ (NDPB), established in 2007, and is sponsored by the Office of the Third Sector in consultation with the voluntary and community sector. The purpose of the Commission is to promote effective partnership working between the public and the third sector through the application of the Compact and its five codes of practice. It is not a regulatory body and does not have any legal powers. Its programme of work includes promoting awareness and implementation of the Compact, undertaking research and policy projects, developing an evidence base on the Compact's progress, sharing good practice and exploring key themes that affect the relationship between the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Other organisations involved in developing the Compact include Compact Voice which is an independent body representing the Third Sector, the Office of the Third Sector, and the Local Government Association. More information on the roles of these partners in the Compact can be found on the Commission’s website at http://www.thecompact.org.uk . There is also a database on thecompact.org.uk with a complete listing of local Compacts, and up to date contact details.

The Regional Compact for the Northwest is currently out for consultation, and can be downloaded from http://www.vsnw.org.uk/compact. The closing date for the consultation is Friday February 27th. Richard Caulfield, Chief Executive of VSNW says: “I am confident that this Compact will lead to improved partnership working and relationships between the public and third sectors in the region. This is crucial to the economic and social well-being in the region and it is timely that the production of this Compact coincides with the development of an integrated [economic] strategy for the region”.

What I learnt at this event:
An interesting discovery from the workshop in Preston is that there is a high level of expertise in the Compact in the Wirral area, where local government have been working closely with the Third Sector, to develop a strong and effective local Compact. The opinions of the Third Sector were vocalised skilfully during the workshop by Clint Agard from Wirral Change, which is a black and racial minorities outreach service.

The workshop in Preston was very much a two-way process, in which CftC explained how the Compact structure works, plus consulted with participants about how it can all be improved. One outcome from the workshop was that it became evident that it would be good to do similar workshops, at the local level, which is an activity that CftC are keen to support.. If you would like to link up with the Commission, to host a Compact workshops in your area, then contact Ruth Fennemore: email ruth.fennemore@thecompact.org.uk ; phone 0121 237 5912.