South West Forum Interest Groups

South West Forum News and Events items are categorised under the headings below. News and events under each category are automatically picked up by the e-bulletins which are sent once monthly, arriving on 15th of each month.

We very much welcome contributions to our news and events sections; because we are able to categorise items to more than one of the categories below we are able to reach a wide but targetted audience.

Interest group categories

Culture, arts & sport
Employment, skills and workessness (coming soon)
Environment
Equalities and diversity
Health, social welfare, advice and information services
Regional policy, strategy and governance
Services for older people
Services for younger people
Strategic infrastructure support and VCO workforce development
Sustainable communities, regeneration and housing
VCO development, services, delivery and support
Volunteering

We hope to encourage development of 'communities of interest' within our membership which will interact amongst themselves and also with the regional representatives.

Regional VCS Infrastructure and Workforce Development
At regional and sub-regional level, ChangeUp and Capacitybuilders funding has led to the development of geographic and thematic (or specialist) consortia of voluntary and community organisations. More information is available on our Infrastructure Support page.

The Skills and Learning interest group has grown and developed into the Workforce Development Advisory Group, with the Workforce Development Project recently publishing a Workforce Development Strategy for the region.

We would very much welcome your contributions to these issues as our members are the key source of expertise and information on all of the issues in which the VCS has an interest. Please contact us with your experience and feedback the impact of national and regional policy developments at the local level. South West Forum exists to lobby and advocate on behalf of voluntary and community organisations; we can only do so effectively if we have access to supporting evidence.

If you've got a policy concern you would like to discuss in more depth, please contact Roger Haworth.

National Services
Details of all the following national support services can be found at www.improvingsupport.org.uk or click on the links below for more information about the individiual workstreams.

Campaigning
Developing and promoting excellence in third sector campaigning and advocacy, led by NCVO.

Change
Helping organisations to face the future confidently with greater insight into trends shaping the sector and their implications, led by NCVO.

Communications
Using marketing and communications to support third sector organisations in making themselves seen and heard, led by Media Trust.

Collaboration
Facilitating and supporting collaborative working within the voluntary and community sector, and with other sectors, led by bassac.

Equality
Supporting third sector organisations to champion and address equality, diversity and human rights, led by the Women’s Resource Centre on behalf of the National Equality Partnership.

Governance
Helping third sector organisations strengthen their leadership and governance, led by NCVO.

Income
Increasing sustainability and independence for third sector organisations through income generation, led by acevo.

Performance
Helping third sector organisations become more effective, efficient and sustainable through improving performance management, led by Charities Evaluation Services.

Volunteering
Modernising volunteering to overcome barriers, maximise opportunities and explore new forms of involvement, led by Volunteering England.