Events calendar

<
May 2012
>
M T W T F S S
30 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 1 2 3
 
 
Sun May 20 @08:00 - 05:00PM
Remember Dementia Awareness Week
Mon May 21 @08:00 - 05:00PM
Remember Dementia Awareness Week
Tue May 22 @08:00 - 05:00PM
Remember Dementia Awareness Week
NVCNorthantsstateofthesector_videoimageNVC Northants - State of the sector report
NVC Northants
PDF Print E-mail

NVC Northants is the Countywide Support & Development Organisation (CSDO) for Northamptonshire.  The aims and objectives of NVC Northants are to provide support to Local Infrastructure Organisations/LIOs and voluntary and community sector representatives. This includes promoting the work of the sector countywide and nationally. Providing this support will include supplying training, relevant resources and information to the sector, which will include keeping the sector informed of new legislation and changes that may affect organisations.



NVC Northants and LION will manage the Countywide Forum. Communications will be a focus in partnership with the Local Support and Development Organisations and VCS as a whole. NVC Northants will also aim to recognise and promote the work of the VCS in Northamptonshire.
New_reworked_NVC_Northants_LOGO_v2.1
 
PDF Print E-mail
Our achievements of 2011 -


We had a busy 2011 and have an even busier 2012 planned. Below is a taste of some of our achievements in the last year, you may have even attended one of our training events. In December 35 groups attended our training on understanding Commissioning to make sure that they are “tender ready”. One of the participants said, “The whole session was excellent, understanding that we can group together with another charity to put together a commission application was most useful along with the potential for collaboration.”
 
Conference to raise awareness: In partnership with Faithworks Northampton, we held a free conference designed to increase awareness of poverty issues in Northamptonshire and look at ways to solve the problems, ‘Helping those who cannot help themselves’. The conference was a great success with over 63 attendees and a number of influential speakers holding workshops throughout the day. The conference was widely reported on by Northamptonshire’s media, including BBC Radio Northampton and the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.

Northamptonshire County Council’s Prevention Consultation: In the summer months NCC launched the Prevention Consultation which aimed to give service providers, users and all stakeholders the chance to have their say and be part of shaping the future of adult, children’s and young people’s health and social care services. NVC Northants supported Northamptonshire’s Local Infrastructure Organisations with holding strategy consultation events in each district. We also ran a series of workshops entitled “Innovate and Thrive” to enable local third sector organisations to look at ways to collaborate, redesign service provision and produce a countywide framework for service delivery. We then went on to present the outcomes of the workshops and framework for service delivery at NCC’s prevention seminar, the report for the consultation can be downloaded here .

Across the County, Across the Sector: We undertook research at the beginning of last year to produce a “state of the sector” report.  As part of the research we received over 50 case studies from organisations across Northamptonshire. The findings were put together into the report “Across the County, Across the Sector” which was unveiled at an event for councillors, key decision makers and the VCS in Northamptonshire. The report was well received and has subsequently been used to influence Northamptonshire Police strategy. The report is scheduled to be updated in mid 20120.

Training: Training has featured as an important part of the work that we deliver at NVC Northants, in the last year we have offered a number of training sessions and workshops for groups on:  Building Consortia for Future Sustainability and an ongoing program of training sessions around Commissioning. We have also helped organise a training session for Local Infrastructure Organisation Development Workers on the Department of Health’s Joint strategic needs assessment.
 
Merger and collaboration training: The current economic climate has meant that organisations need to look at new ways to collaborate with each other, in order to survive. This may also mean that some have to merge. As the Countywide Infrastructure Organisation we have provided training and information for groups on the process.

Training Needs analysis: In order to identify any gaps in training that organisations in the county require we devised a training needs analysis survey for Local Infrastructure Organisations to send out to their groups. This is a work in progress and will be used to plan future training for the sector.

Directory of training providers and venues: Training is always high on the agenda for most VCS organisations and we are in the process of putting together a directory of training providers in the county. Many organisations provide training and so we are also putting together a directory of training venues with their location plus any other useful information.

Mapping of services in Northamptonshire: We have been undertaking a mapping exercise to build a comprehensive picture of the services available in the county. Once mapping is completed we will be offering an online directory of services to all. The directory will be available to search for specific groups or more general searches, for example to look for all groups that support people with eating disorders in Daventry.

Showcasing the work taking place in the VCS in Northamptonshire: Through various means we have been able to assist in showcasing the work that VCS organisations are doing in Northamptonshire, for example at our ‘Helping those who cannot help themselves’ conference we were able to match up various press with organisations who attended, resulting in them providing comment on topical issues while also giving some information about what their individual organisation does, more information here. Other ways of showcasing the work that is taking place in the county has included public relations work around the intergenerational project, “School of Life”. We were able to provide PR support to the project and media relations to secure a double page feature about the project, its achievements and plans for the future. In terms of future showcasing plans we are in the process of putting together a DVD to give a taste of the work that organisations in the county undertake and how they are helping their beneficiaries. We will use the DVD to showcase their work online, at events, to councillors and to the sector generally.

Case studies: To showcase the work taking place in Northamptonshire we have invited groups to submit their case studies. We have also written a number of more detailed case studies; each is individual but aims to promote the work that the organisation is carrying out and give useful hints and tips that other organisations can make use of and perhaps implement themselves.

Ebrief: The NVC Northants ebrief is distributed to over 1000 organisations and groups in Northamptonshire. The ebrief is designed to provide interesting and relevant VCS news and information on a bi-monthly basis. It contains what is going on in the county, new policy changes and more. Local Infrastructure Organisations are invited to submit relevant topics to be included in each issue and case studies from the county feature along with opportunities available for the sector.

Twitter/Social media: The NVC Northants twitter account (@NVCNorthants) publicises current events and informs organisations of any useful information. It is a method of quickly communicating and keeping a wide audience up to date with relevant news.
 
Events calendar: We have developed an online events calendar to promote all charity events, training and conferences in Northamptonshire. The calendar sits online for all to view what is coming up and is fully searchable. To date we have received over 200 requests to include events onto the calendar and over 800 online views of the calendar in the last month (December 2011).

Website: We have recently revamped our online presence and the resources that we offer. The website: www.nvconline.org.uk holds pages dedicated to NVC Northants. These pages provide an overview of the work we do, an introduction to the team, online resources for the VCS and information on upcoming training and courses that we offer.

Resources: Over the last year we have produced a number of resources designed to assist Local Infrastructure Organisations with their development work with groups. These have included a series of policy document templates and guidance on supporting organisations who are looking to collaborate.

Information sharing protocol: In order for us to produce the most useful support to Local Infrastructure Organisations (LIOs) and the VCS in Northamptonshire it is important that we hold the most up to date information. We have been working with the LIOs to draw up an information sharing protocol so that we all work from the same up to date and accurate data. This means that between us we can give you the best possible support.

Northamptonshire Countywide Forum: 2011 was a busy year for the Countywide Forum with the election of the forum’s first Steering Group. Elections for subsequent representatives to sit on the Steering Group are taking place at the beginning of 2012 and a meeting with Cllr Joan Kirkbride is scheduled to take place in February. We have been able to support the Countywide Forum in its beginning stages and provide assistance to get the forum up and running.

Watch this space . . . more planned for 2012.
 

Northampton Volunteering Centre © 2011      Registered charity no. 1087513