Saskia Ritchie
Saskia says...
I am keen to discover how the future pans out for infrastructure in the coalition climate and to share ideas for strengthening and building delivery partnerships
Has anybody else noticed the distressing trend of current employment opportunities?
Of course there are fewer jobs available in the third sector in the current climate, of course we are seeing large numbers of applications for every position, competition is fierce. But the dozens upon dozens of fundraising positions that are available in a time when funding is uncertain and equally competitive leaves me cold.
<>If empty fundraising positions are an indication of financial issues within the host ...Labour Market Issues
Has anybody else noticed the distressing trend of current employment opportunities?
Of course there are fewer jobs available in the third sector in the current climate, of course we are seeing large numbers of applications for every position, competition is fierce. But the dozens upon dozens of fundraising positions that are available in a time when funding is uncertain and equally competitive leaves me cold.
If empty fundraising positions are an indication of financial issues within the host organisations what does this mean for their future?
With more and more people connecting virtually, we can't afford to ignore the networking opportunities offered by on line resources such as twitter, facebook and linked in, to mention but a few. We should have a vision of how we communicate virtually and plan strategically to decide how we create that presence and utilise our opportunities.
<>How do we do this? We can look at examples like NCVO's use of twitter and NAVCA's new you tube postings. We can try it ourselves and get help and advice...How does this interact with delivering the Big Society Agenda?
There are major impacts for infrastructure organisations like ourselves not only in terms of providing services but in supporting other local organisations to ‘up the ante’ and, where appropriate, become more commissionable. Training in impact and outcome assessment being a key priority.
<>My concern is for those groups delivering quality services at a local or neighbourhood level who lack the capacity to engage at commissioning level. Partnership arrangements need to be developed to enable...Commissioning
Gaps where local frontline groups are un-commissionable.
Issues for small grants fuinds?
It becomes increasingly difficult to demonstrate democracy in engagement terms.
Link to PCX network quoted as:
Triangle of engagement: an unusual way of looking at the usual suspects is a discussion paper that takes a practical look at engagement. It argues that we can have either representativeness or engagement but not both at once. It serves to stimulate thinking about the ambivalent attitudes that exist on people who get involved.
Document relates
Issues for Community Development Workers and small grants funds are affected by national thinking on active citizenship, participative democracy and voluntering – we have to think more creatively about how we measure the impact of our work in relation to these terms and how we can demonstrate our effectiveness.
