Shaping the Landscape Volunteering Conference

Gai ddiolch un gyntaf am y gwahoddiad i fod yma heddiw.

Thank you for the invitation to be here today.

I have been asked to bring a local perspective, mine from Neath Port

Talbot, on my experiences of building credible relationships with Local

Government and other agencies and shaping the local landscape

through local partnerships.

As an Infrastructure organisation Neath Port Talbot CVS has a number

of key functions in order to support and develop the local Voluntary

Sector. Volunteering is an integral part of the work we do and sits

alongside our role as a community development organisation and our

role in joint planning and representation of the Third Sector. Building

stronger, healthier and more active communities is facilitated through

the process of community development work, of which volunteering is a

fundamental and strategically important element.

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If we were to study shaping the natural landscape we would see how

ice sheets moulded mountains and valleys and we would follow the

journey of water from springs and streams to rivers and estuaries.

Discover how tides, waves and wind continue to shape our coastlines

and how the forces of wind and rain change the natural landscapes

every season.

Just like natural forces change the natural landscapes, I believe that

policies at national and local levels that are changing the local

landscape and shaping how services are planned and delivered and

how the landscape of volunteering is shaped, changed and developed

by responding to policy changes.

In the past, it was thought that individuals volunteered strictly for

altruistic reasons and some still do – the good Samaritan that goes out

of their way to aid a stranger - to lend a hand for the greater good of

mankind and how important that is to us as a society. The landscape is

however changing and we know that from our day to day work that

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people volunteer for a range of other, and equally important, reasons.

For whatever the reason, volunteers shape our vision for our

communities, people who put their time and talent to help create the

kind of community people want.

Volunteers undoubtedly contribute in every way to what Welsh

Government is striving to achieve through its Programme for

Government, whether through volunteering projects, promoting positive

health messages, enhancing and increasing an individual’s skills to

improve their employability or career prospects; community

involvement, leading to more active, safer communities or working with

some of our most vulnerable members of society, helping them to get

their voices heard. Volunteers work tirelessly to inform, improve and

literally save our landscape for future generations, along with the

countless number of groups and organisations contributing to our

cultural heritage.

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As an Infrastructure organisation, Neath Port Talbot CVS values

enormously its relationship with the Welsh Assembly, Welsh

Government, WCVA and with our many and varied statutory partners,

and also its strong relationships with the local Third Sector. Our

relationships locally is one that rests upon integrity, trust and mutual

respect. Trust is one of the biggest factors for successful relationships

– whether that be professional or personal.

Neath Port Talbot CVS, on behalf of the local Third Sector, has built up

a credible relationship with partners over many years and in 1997 was

the first Local Authority area in Wales to develop a Compact between

the Third Sector and the Local Authority. That was followed a year later

by the first Compact between the Local Authority, Local Health Board

(then Local Health Group), NHS Trust and the Third Sector.

Those Compacts set out principles of how we work together and firmly

recognised the strengths and distinctive contribution of each partner.

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Building credible, trusted and effective relationships that last, takes

time, energy and commitment. It was not easy initially but we were very

fortunate that there were key people in Neath Port Talbot who

recognised the value of the Third Sector and the contribution it can

make to the long term economic, social and environmental wellbeing of

the area, its people and communities and the role community action

and volunteering has in building resilient communities.

There were different stages to developing the credible relationships that

we value and that we have today:

1. Rapport – we needed to have the dialogue – why did we want to

work in partnership? (our Compact was, in fact, before the Welsh

Assembly recommended Local Authorities to work in partnership

with the Third Sector) so we didn’t do it because we had to – we

firmly believed that together we all achieved more for our

communities.

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2. Trust - We needed to trust each other and acknowledge our

distinctive contribution

3. We needed to be able to influence – We needed to understand

the political environment in which we needed to build alliances and

we needed to understand ‘how’ and ‘who’ to influence.

4. Persuasion – we needed to be able to persuade our partners that

we were able to deliver services and outcomes to individuals and

communities in a way that others couldn’t – and that we were in

fact best placed to deliver some things for the local population.

We successfully built relationships and established credibility and

were able to influence decision making for the benefit of the wider

community. We were able to shape the local landscape and Neath

Port Talbot CVS became recognised as one of the key partners in

local decision making alongside the Local Authority and Health.

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Over recent years the work of the Local Service Board has involved

more partners and the Neath Port Talbot Local Service Board has a

signed Memorandum of Understanding which sets out the principles of

partnership working between the Local Authority, Health, CVS, Police,

Fire and Rescue, RSL’s, Probation, the Local Further Education

College and the Private Sector. This development has changed the

local landscape yet again and we now work on different projects with

different agencies – Across the South Wales Police area we are

currently working with the police force and the Police and Crime

Commissioner on a ‘Compact’ with the Third Sector. They are

particularly keen to develop relationships around volunteering.

I believe we have gained credibility by delivering – “results speak

louder than words”. We have a reputation for being reliable –

something we value enormously – we have worked hard to gain that

reputation.

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We have been able to shape the local landscape by combining practical

as well as strategic responses.

Locally, the landscape is changing as all partners try to operate in an

environment of continued budgetary constraints and increased

demands. With limited resources all partners are keen to ensure that

resources are targeted to best effect, helping everyone deliver on their

own strategic priorities whilst meeting the needs of individuals and

communities. It makes it even more important then, to have a shared

agenda to achieve the best possible outcomes for people.

Times are tough and will continue to be so for some time to come but

fortunately the third sector is not known for giving up easily. On the

contrary, it is at times like this that its reputation and ability to be

innovative and responsive to current and emerging needs becomes

critical.

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So just a little about our role in practically delivering services.

- As in most areas, we have experienced cuts in services – 9 local

libraries were earmarked recently for closure but, with the support

of Neath Port Talbot CVS, most have become community led

services run by volunteers. We anticipate this pattern will continue

and so it is vital that we are able to respond quickly to provide

effective support to groups with relevant information and training

around governance, legal structures, funding sources, as well as

recruiting volunteers and promoting good practice in working with

volunteers.

- We are also working with a number of Bowls clubs - so we are

already seeing the volunteer landscape changing – volunteers now

delivering services.

It is important to engage with the political representatives and

understand the political environment in which we operate – we have

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built relationships with Local Members and Assembly Members, M.P’s

and Welsh Government Ministers.

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We have also used other opportunities to highlight and promote the

Sector and volunteers, building alliances of a different kind.

The power of sport for example, can help to highlight messages, inform

communities and engage individuals.

In Neath Port Talbot CVS we have worked with the Osprey’s Regional

Rugby Team and have organised a number of volunteering days for

them over the years. Last year the squad worked alongside volunteers

from the Food Bank, Domestic Abuse providers, Age Concern and

Friends of the Earth - It was good to see the whole squad there and

we can boast that the British and Irish Lions Captain (Alun Wyn Jones)

volunteers with us.

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I know I may be at risk saying this in Cardiff City’s stadium, but we have

a joint project with the British Heart Foundation and the Premiership

Swansea City AFC Community Trust which aims to address the health

issues identified in the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy by training

volunteers to deliver positive health messages to people in their local

communities, particularly young men with minor mental health

problems, using the Swans brand as a way of engaging people in order

to achieve this - Using celebrity to engage people.

We are working closely with NPT Homes, the largest registered social

housing provider in the area and have developed an initiative through

our Big Lottery funded Community Links Project which aims to improve

the health and wellbeing of older people by reducing their social

isolation.

Our Volunteer Centre continues to provide the conduit for people who

wish to volunteer. We regularly celebrate the contribution made by

volunteers and in particular young people and we have seen an

increase in the number of young people volunteering.

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Over the years our role as an organisation in the local return to work

agenda has increased, helping to address the high levels of economic

inactivity, unemployment and poverty within our communities.

Through the experience and expertise we have gained, we have further

extended our work in this area and for example, are now part of the

national agreement with Working Links, brokered by WCVA.

Volunteering has always been seen as a way of improving or enhancing

an individual’s employability

The impact of welfare reform has also led us to see increasing numbers

of people coming or referred to the Volunteer Centre who have high

support needs and require additional help to engage in any activity.

Funded through EU Structural Funds and managed by WCVA we,

along with other third sector organisations, have had the opportunity to

deliver projects for those furthest from the work place through the

Engagement Gateway Programme.

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We have successfully worked with older people and those with work

limiting health conditions, assisting them to overcome the barriers to

employment and helping them to progress into employment or

volunteering. We have placed mentors in organisations, enabling them

to offer a placement to individuals who need support.

We have developed excellent relationships with partners in particular

Jobcentre Plus and we have recently received funding from the Flexible

Support Grant to work with their customers to promote and support

them into volunteering, enabling us to continue to build on what has

been achieved.

For many years, we have delivered a number of volunteer befriending

projects on behalf of a variety of funders including Social Services,

Hillside Secure Children’s Centre, the Think Families Partnership and

the Big Lottery and our volunteers support some of the most vulnerable

members of our communities.

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We were delighted to receive a visit from Jeff Cuthbert AM, Minister for

Communities and Tackling Poverty in March, when he was able to hear

first-hand about the transformational effect of volunteering, as

volunteers and service users told their own stories and how quite

clearly, they were contributing to strategic agendas at a national and

local level.

Through our relationship with our members, the various services we

deliver and our work in communities, we gain a real insight into the day

to day experiences of people living in our communities enabling us to

feed that information into the structures and processes available to us.

In Neath Port Talbot we are in positive discussions with both the Local

Health Board and Local Authority about the use of the Wales Wellbeing

Bond overseen by WCVA, as an exciting vehicle to achieve real change

– breaking down barriers and doing things differently – Delivering

services in a different way.

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Like any relationship, partnership working has its ups and downs. It is

perhaps when things are at their most difficult that it becomes even

more important to try and negotiate a way through what can be, rocky

terrain.

The coming weeks are likely to determine what our geographical

landscape is likely to look like in future. Strategic relationships will have

to be reconfigured in all likelihood, opportunities to shape and influence

re- thought and re- negotiated.

One dictionary definition of ‘landscape’ is:

- ‘a distinctive sphere of activity’ – we know that volunteering – that

distinctive sphere of activity – has become critical to our

communities, our environment and our heritage. We have seen

how Volunteers have become essential to the delivery of sport,

large special events such as the London 2012 Olympics, which put

volunteers centre stage when the ‘Gamesmakers’ became as

popular as the athletes.

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Over the past 17 years our role in CVS has been to build credible

relationships with our strategic partners, we will continue to influence

and shape the local landscape and will ensure that the critical role of

volunteers is acknowledged and understood and afforded the

necessary resources - The Partnerships that we have established and

maintained over many years is more important now than ever before

and together we will continue to shape the local landscape for the

benefit of our communities.

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