Devon Consortium - Organisations working together for the voluntary and community sector

PROGRAMME MANAGER

28 hours/week

SO1 pt 29

£24,402 pa pro rata

Based in Newton Abbot 

We are looking to recruit a dynamic,motivated and enthusiastic person to work with the Devon Consortium partnership in managing their Devon-wide Total Support Programme.  The role will include management of the Programme to ensure delivery against milestones and outcomes agreed. The Programme will provide capacity building support to the voluntary and community sector of

Devon.  You will have proven experience in project management, working to achieve targets and of partnership working. This programme is funded to June 2012. Application Packs available on www.teigncvs.org.uk or telephone 01626 203050Closing date:  17^th July 2009 Interviews:  w/c 3^rd August 2009 Teignbridge CVS is the lead body for the delivery of this programme, on behalf of the Devon Consortium.Teignbridge CVS is working towards being an equal opportunities employer  Forde House, Teign Road, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 4XX

The online application for grants from the Real Help for Communities: Modernisation Fund, is now open. Between now and 17 July, frontline third sector organisations with an annual turnover of between £150,000 - £750,000 are invited to apply for a £1,000 bursary from the Modernisation Fund Grants Programme which is being delivered by Capacitybuilders.

The fund is for those wholly or primarily engaged in one or more of the following areas: Wellbeing and health,  Advice, information and guidance, and Loss of income, training and skill.  

The Local Delivery Agent is Community Council of Devon (CCD) on behalf of Devon Consortium. CCD is covering Plymouth, Torbay and Devon, with the help of local partners in Plymouth and Torbay.

£1000 bursaries available now.
Using their bursary, organisations will be able to buy at least two days of advice and support to explore how they can become more resilient and work more closely with others, including through collaboration or merger.

From the Autumn, £10,000 grants will be available to help organisations that have gone through Phase One of the programme and would like to take further significant steps towards collaboration or merger. To find out more and apply online, please visit the website http://www.modernisationfund.org.uk/

First bursary awards
The first batch of bursary awards have now been provisionally approved.  Early indications show demand from a range of organisations serving those worst hit by the recession, particularly those providing training and employment support, debt, housing and legal advice and those working to reduce poverty. Demand has been pretty evenly spread across regions and nationally around 275 awards were made in the first tranche.

These included 8 in Plymouth, Torbay and Devon (3 in Plymouth, 1 in Torbay and 5 in Devon). The themes included Citizens Advice, housing advice, youth and arts, community finance, refugee and asylum. The next stage is to check eligibility and match advisers to those receiving awards.

Locally we have 11 advisers on our list, all experienced in working with the Third Sector, and including a solicitor and an architect and many with business planning and change management backgrounds.

Remember the closing date is 17 July for Phase 1 and early applications are encouraged. The larger phase 2 grants are only available for those successful in Phase 1.

Local contacts:

Jay Talbot, Community Council of Devon, jay@devonrcc.org.uk

George Plenderleith, Plymouth Guild, george@plymouthguild.org.uk

Rebecca Pearse, Torbay Voluntary Service, rebecca@torbayvs.co.uk

We have recently been successful in obtaining some funding from NAVCA nationally to help the representation element of the ‘Collaboration, Partnership and Representation’ project. This will result in the rolling out of a course for voluntary and community sector representatives called ‘Representation: Skilling Up for Stronger Voices’. The course has already run twice and will be repeated another two times during June. It is open to all representatives who feel they would like to investigate how they go about achieving success. A community engagement course has  been put in place as a result of feedback from people who have attended the course. It is also possible to take the courses out to areas that are geographically cut off. A number of these have already been arranged.

 As a result of the NAVCA support (we are now a designated NAVCA project too) we are able to offer training in mentorship to voluntary and community sector representatives. An action learning set is due to get under way. This will be run by Charlotte Croffie who has worked nationally for the Improvement and Development Agency. The group will be open to representatives who wish to commit to meeting monthly in order to aid, challenge and support each other with difficult shared issues. The group will run, in the first instance, from July until December of this year.

People First in Tiverton and Barnstaple have agreed to work on the representation course in order to make it accessible to people with learning difficulties. They are going to investigate the possibilities of using film or drama to convey the course’s five core messages.

 If you are interested in any of these developments please contact the CPR project lead, David Waddilove, at david.waddilove@exetercvs.org.uk
 

Spirituality, Economics and Ecology

Author and broadcaster Satish Kumar will be speaking at the Devon Faiths Forum AGM on the theme of ‘Spirituality, Economics and Ecology: Challenges for our Time’.  This will take place on Tuesday 7th July at the Council Chamber, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter. Refreshments available from 6.30pm.

 Further details: Martyn Goss (01392-294924)
 

There will be a 1 day course for Voluntary & Community Sector Representatives held on Wednesday 17 June & again on Tuesday 30 June, 9.30am-3pm.

This course is for anyone who is involved in representation or who wants to be: that includes representatives on the local strategic partnership, carers’ and service users’ representatives; neighbourhood or community group representatives.

The course will be held at
Exeter CVS, Wat Tyler House,
King William Street, Exeter EX4 6PD

For further information or to book a place
please contact David Waddilove, CPR Programme Coordinator:  david.waddilove@exetercvs.org.uk
Tel: 01392 202055

‘What is Community Engagement?’

A free half-day course for people involved in working with community and neighbourhood groups looking at theory and practice of community engagement and tactics to make it work.

Monday 15 June 2009 - 9.30am - 1pm

Exeter CVS, Wat Tyler House,

King William Street, Exeter EX4 6PD

For further info please contact David Waddilove, Collaboration, Partnership & Representation Programme Coordinator - david.waddilove@exetercvs.org.uk / 01392 202055

We are delighted to have been awarded 3 year funding from the BIG Lottery under their BASIS2 funding stream to deliver our Total Support Project across Devon. BASIS2 funding is available to voluntary sector infrastructure organisations to support the voluntary and community sector (VCS). The success of this application further confirms Devon Consortium’s successful role in ensuring the delivery of high quality, co-ordinated and sustainable support for Devon’s voluntary sector.

It has been agreed that DACVS (with Teignbridge CVS) as the lead agency will deliver both strands of the project. This is still subject to formal confirmation of the BIG Lottery. Further information will be issued shortly.
 

The Total Support Project was developed in response to identified need. It will do what it says – aim to meet the Total Support needs of frontline organisations in the VCS across Devon.

The project has two strands, both targeting rural areas:

Frontline Support – aims to ensure that capacity building support effectively reaches frontline VCS organisations. The intention is to create an environment where VCS organisations can deliver key services creatively and cost-effectively, using appropriate technology, sharing resources and benefiting from good practice models. We will focus on self-help potential and mutual support to create sustainable outcomes. The impact will be that frontline organisations are well positioned to participate in the delivery of valuable local services and can access commissioning and procurement opportunities. 

Rural Volunteering – aims to provide opportunities for individuals to actively engage in community life, to build stronger communities and reduce social exclusion. The key focus will be the deep rural parishes. Developing community capacity and volunteering is disproportionately important in rural areas due to key factors including social exclusion, isolation, poor transport links, rural poverty and racism.  Traditional models of support currently available to individuals considering volunteering need to evolve and adapt in rural areas. This strand seeks to ensure that individuals know their options for becoming involved in community life. We want to use the dynamism and energy of individuals within the community and the strength of community-led planning in Devon to support this strand. 

Project activities are likely to include: 

• One-to-one ‘health checks’ for frontline organisations
• Delivery of identified capacity building support through tailored projects
• Developing a proactive strategy for ‘reaching out’ to organisations using significant numbers of volunteers, but who don’t yet seek support and guidance from infrastructure organisations
• Understanding and enhancing the community action and engagement and volunteer potential of community-led planning in market towns and villages
• Benchmarking survey of the VCS to create a robust picture of the ‘state of the nation’ – strengths / gaps / concerns
• Review of working practices amongst infrastructure services, focusing on better understanding of existing capacity and gaps for providing ‘total support’ to frontline organisations, with the aim of improving and consolidating good practice
• Promotion of peer support as a reinforcing means of sharing / promoting good practice
• Networking events, relevant to the training and development needs of organisations and voluntary groups, and those with a voice within their community
• Promotional ‘roadshow’ of the project and its outcomes to promote learning and best practice
• Bespoke training and development programme, which considers issues of accreditation, covering topics such as social enterprise, commissioning, procurement, sustainable funding etc. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to develop infrastructure support for the VCS in Devon.

The Consortium will do it’s utmost to make sure that the Total Support Project really does reach the parts of the VCS that other projects don’t reach.  

Contact developmentworker@devonconsortium.net for more details.

The Devon Consortium was delighted by the success of the first ever Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly held in Devon. The Assembly took place at the Wonford Community Centre on Wednesday 25 February, and over 100 voluntary and community organisations came to listen, network, engage and have their voices heard. A big thank you to those organisations for taking the time to attend and for sharing their experiences and perspectives.

At a time of both global and national financial crisis, the role of Devon’s voluntary and community sector (VCS) in supporting local communities as they respond to the effects of the economic downturn is more important than ever.  With this in mind, voluntary and community organisations worked together on the day under the theme of ‘Beyond Boundaries’ to celebrate their achievements and to consider the challenges that lie ahead. 

The boundaries under discussion were of two kinds:

• Firstly, the impact of potential local government re-organisation, which could mean the end of county and district Councils.  Mark Richardson from the Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum spoke about how this has already affected Cornwall.  Chief Executives from Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council, Phil Norrey and David Incoll, gave the local authority perspective

• Organisations present considered how the voluntary and community sector can work together more closely across organisational boundaries to help create stronger and more inclusive communities in which all the people of Devon can make the most of their potential.  Steve Woollett, Chief Executive of the South West Forum, spoke about the key regional opportunities and challenges, and the conference considered how these translate at a county level

A big thank you to all the speakers for their time and their insight on the day.

A number of key issues came out of the day. The Devon Consortium commits to considering these issues at its next meeting in June 2009, and to considering appropriate ways to take these issues forward.

Issues included:

• VCS representation – look at mapping this, disseminating best practice, supporting smaller VCS organisations to engage

• VCS Engagement in the Assembly – consider how to reach those not present on the day – geographically and in terms of size and resources to attend

• Value for Money – consider how to ensure that the Devon Consortium represents value for money for the VCS

• Avoid or explain jargon – in order to ensure an inclusive environment

• Clarity regarding the aims of the event – Devon Consortium will consider what it can do differently to ensure greater clarity for future Assembly events

• Different ‘ levels’ of the VCS – difficulty of the whole sector meeting together in one event. Acknowledge that different parts of the VCS need different things from the VCS infrastructure. The Devon Consortium will consider how to make sure that it is meeting the needs of the whole VCS

For a copy of the day’s programme: CLICK HERE

The finalists of this year’s Compact Awards have been announced. Organised by the Commission for the Compact in partnership with Compact Voice, the Office of the Third Sector and the Local Government Association, these annual awards demonstrate the Compact in action, recognising and celebrating excellent partnership working between the statutory and third sectors.

The nomination categories are; Local Compact of the Year; Compact Award for Excellence at a Regional Level; Compact Award for Excellence at a National Level; Compact Champion of the Year and The Commissioner’s Award.

A Compact for Devon will be presented with a Highly Commended Award for its Partnership Code of Practice, which was a first for the country. Since its publication, other Partnership Codes have been produced in various areas.

Don’t forget that it is Compact Week 1-8 November 2008. There will be events held in your local area. Please contact your local Compact Champion for more information.

For more information, please see the Devon Consortium newsletter here.

The new Collaboration, Partnership and Representation Programme Coordinator is David Waddilove, who started at the beginning of October. He is based at Exeter CVS. There will be a piece in the next edition of the Devon Consortium Newsletter about this programme, which is due out in the middle of October. Please see here.