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Voluntary Sector North West
St. Thomas Centre

Ardwick Green North
Manchester
M12 6FZ
Tel: 0161 276 9300
Fax: 0161 276 9301
Email: info@vsnw.org.uk

Listen Value Invest afternoon workshops

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Challenging the contracting orthodoxy: stimulating grant-making in the North West
This session will explore recent research undertaken by VSNW and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, which sought to challenge the notion that contracting is the panacea for voluntary and community sector development and highlight the continued importance, value and role of grant-funding. We will highlight the key theoretical values of grant-funding, the amount of grant funding available in the North West, and the impact grant funding has in operational, economic and social terms? Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss and explore the challenges they will face as big society exacerbates the shift from ‘grants’ to ‘contracts’.

Future North West: the draft framework for local economic partnerships?
Over the last two years, partners from across the North West have worked alongside third sector organisations to develop and agree a strategy for addressing the challenges of the next 20 years and making a shared vision of successful communities a reality. The third sector role, alongside partners’, is part of the new draft framework: Future North West. Future North West builds on and replaces the Regional Strategy. Although it will no longer have a statutory status it has the potential to support the first few steps to new structures and new ways of understanding what partners might offer. Through the workshop participants will have a chance to understand and influence the final content of the framework.

Get involved – using parliamentary processes effectively
This workshop, run by Parliamentary Outreach, will provide an introduction to the Parliament, its role and processes. The workshop will show you how you can use these processes in order for your organisation to engage effectively with Parliament. It will cover: Parliamentary questions and debates, Early Day Motions, Select Committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups and petitions.

What’s on your horizon?: NCVO Foresight Taster
This workshop will help you make your organisation ready for what lies ahead by spotting and analysing external trends and forces before they hit. We’ll use exercises to help you identify key trends and think through the possible challenges and opportunities, and look at how you can steer round obstacles. NCVO Third Sector Foresight helps voluntary and community organisations understand how the world is changing and use this knowledge to make better strategic decisions. For information and free resources see www.3s4.org.uk. Participants will receive free copies of the hugely popular NCVO Foresight mini-guides www.3s4.org.uk/about/publications/future-focus.

Making sense of Human Rights
In this workshop run by the Equalities & Human Rights Commission, we will discuss what are human rights, what is the Human Rights Act, and how does it apply to individuals. We will also explore some interactive human rights case studies.

Local Integrated Services
Government is encouraging players at all levels not to wait to be asked before coming forward with innovative ideas. If you have been conscious for a long time that there are better ways to work with our most deprived neighbourhoods and the families and individuals that live in the them, you will be keen to take part in this workshop. It will provide an opportunity for you to look at the concept of Local Integrated Services, which has been developed by colleagues from Government Office North West, Yorkshire & Humber and Lord Victor Adebowale from Turning Point, and contribute to the solutions.