Wales Infrastructure Partnership

Background

In 2005 the Partnership Agreement between the Assembly Government, WCVA, CVCs and independent volunteer centres was signed. This ground-breaking agreement provided formal recognition of the role of CVCs, volunteer centres and WCVA as the three parts of the voluntary sector infrastructure. It made a five-year commitment to funding, and introduced, for the first time, core funding for volunteer centres. In the spirit of Making the Connections, the infrastructure committed to working together across boundaries to work out how best to meet the needs of the third sector, and to eliminate any avoidable duplication in order to free up resources for front-line services.

The challenge

Informed by Making the Connections, the infrastructure’s challenge is to demonstrate that it is citizen centred – responding to the trustees, volunteers, employees, members and beneficiaries that are all part of the third sector. It needs to work to defined service standards that clearly state what services and help groups can expect to receive. And it needs to be more joined up, eliminating wasteful duplication, and maxiniising resources for front-line services to people in the third sector.

The current Partnership Agreement lasts until 2010. The challenge is to demonstrate that the Agreement has ensured a unique, high quality, cost effective, seamless, recognised and influential service that underpins citizens’ voices and citizen’s action in Wales.

New service specifications have been drawn up

Specifications, underpinned by comprehensive training and information frameworks, identifying who does what to meet the needs of the sector at national, regional and local levels. The objective has been to ensure that all services are delivered by trained and competent staff, and from the consumer’s perspective are seamless, consistent, and have a widening reach. Anything that can be done once – like producing and updating information sheets, designing training courses – will only be done once, reducing wasteful duplication of resources, and freeing up staff to focus on direct work with groups.

The specifications cover:

  • volunteering
  • trustees and governance
  • funding advice
  • general information, guidance and support
  • policy, facilitation and representation
  • development, initiatives and regeneration