On 22 November, in his final address to a NAVCA conference, Kevin Curley asserted his belief that the work of infrastructure organisations should not be values neutral. He said: “I was dismayed when Turning Point and Catch 22 – two great national charities – formed a consortium with Serco to build and run two new … Continue reading
Adur Voluntary Action has opted out of bids for the transforming local infrastructure fund. Adrian Barritt explains the practical and philosophical concerns that led to the decision
To me, infrastructure used to mean something military, or the foundations of a building – until I studied social science. Then I learned that … Continue reading
Sarah Lamb, trustee of Adur Voluntary Action and a lifelong volunteer, explains why the Transforming Local Infrastructure scheme won’t work
The beauty of the voluntary sector has been, and still is in many instances, precisely the fact that the solutions it finds, the ways it relates to the people it serves and the people it … Continue reading
John Seddon reflects on how a systems thinking method has improved public services but is now under threat from cuts, commissioning and ‘big society’ as the government fails to move beyond central control and large-scale initiatives.
David Cameron described the ‘big society’ as a ‘culture change’, where people are free and powerful enough to help … Continue reading
Colleagues at Adur Voluntary Action set out what’s wrong with the Transforming Local Infrastructure scheme and ask key questions to help us find an alternative.
The UK Office for Civil Society’s Transforming Local Infrastructure scheme offers £50m to fund local support organisations to merge, collaborate and share services such as IT. The funding is short … Continue reading
Sarah Lamb is a trustee of Adur Voluntary Action. She was one of the people who contributed to qualitative research in 2009 on The local state and voluntary action in West Sussex which showed the damage commissioning does. NCIA caught up with her to find out how things have been going over the last 18 … Continue reading
The latest version of the compact – the bit of paper that reckons to set out a more equal relationship between voluntary organisations and the government – has now been put off indefinitely.
We’re not too worried as the compact continues to ignore the bulk of small scale voluntary action. Meanwhile the compact industry sucks … Continue reading
The article below appeared in the Winter 2005/6 issue (No. 34) of Green Socialist magazine (quarterly journal of the Alliance for Green Socialism). The author retains copyright but it may be reproduced and quoted as long as the author and Green Socialist magazine are given acknowledgement.