Voluntary Value: European Social Fund Technical Assistance

South West Forum (SWF) is widening the participation of voluntary and community organisations to delivery of the European Social Fund (ESF). Focussing on the South West area (excluding Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly) the project aims to broaden understanding of ESF funding structures, facilitate partnering between VCOs engaged in the skills, employment and worklessness agenda, and promote opportunities for VCOs who wish to be an ESF provider or sub-contractor.

SWF is working with a VCO in each sub-region to act as a focal point. Each of those sub-regional lead organisations is working with local VCOs in their area – to send out information on ESF opportunities and developments, but also to feed information back up to the regional level on the frontline experiences of local VCOs. SWF is using this local information to lobby those regional bodies who supervise ESF delivery (Government Office for the South West and the Regional Development Agency) as well as those bodies who contract ESF funding opportunities (Learning and Skills Council, Department of Work and Pensions, and the National Offender Management Service).

The sub-regional leads organisations are:

Sub-Region	Lead Organisation	Lead Focal Point	Email
1. Bournemouth and Poole	Learning Curve	Marisa McClelland	marisa@learningcurve.org.uk
2. Bristol	Voscur	Wendy Stephenson	wendy@voscur.org
3. Devon	Community Council of Devon	Greg Davies	Greg@devonrcc.org.uk
4. Dorset	Learning Curve	Marisa McClelland	marisa@learningcurve.org.uk
5. Gloucestershire	Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA)	Jess Mace	jessm@glosassembly.org.uk
6. Plymouth	To Be Confirmed	-	-
7. Somerset	Voluntary Sector Training Alliance (ViSTA)	Sara Iles	sara@vistaproject.org.uk
8. Swindon	Learning Curve	Jaclyn Cross	jaclyn@learningcurve.org.uk
9. Torbay	Community Council of Devon	Greg Davies	Greg@devonrcc.org.uk
10. West of England	Voscur	Wendy Stephenson	wendy@voscur.org
11. Wiltshire	Learning Curve	Jaclyn Cross	jaclyn@learningcurve.org.uk

Voluntary Value Conference - 3rd December 2009
The Voluntary Value conference held on 3rd December in Taunton brought together around 80 participants from voluntary and community organisations, commissioning bodies and ESF prime contractors. The purpose of the conference was to explore opportunities and barriers for voluntary and community organisations seeking to become ESF subcontractors.
The post-conference report has now been published. Read a summary and download the full report.

Contact and more information
Further information on the project can be downloaded here (350KB PDF).
Further information on the Communication Chain which the project is using can be downloaded here (29KB PDF).

Simon Charters is the Regional Co-ordinator for the Voluntary Value project, and can be contacted on simon@southwestforum.org.uk 01392 247901. Debra Horide is the Administrative Assistant for the project, and can be contacted on debra@southwestforum.org.uk.

This project is jointly funded by the European Social Fund and the Regional Development Agency.