May Day call to put Welsh Citizens at the Centre
In this blog, Constance Adams, WCVA Senior Policy Officer, reflects on the progress being made to get the Welsh Government to take-up co-production.
May Day historically is about the people and empowerment. It is therefore intentional that an open letter, including the signature of Graham Benfield our Chief Executive, has been sent on 1 May 2013 to Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones AM challenging the Welsh Government to take up co-production.
WCVA is proposing co-production as a solution to the ‘burning platform’ in health and social care of financial cuts together with demographics (a big increase in the elderly).
A volunteer’s perspective - ‘what inspires me to keep volunteering’
Thanks to support from the Volunteering in Wales Fund, the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, an organisation dedicated to the recovery and restoration of the RAF’s Sunderland T9044 military flying boats, are benefitting from the appointment of Kylene Refferty, a Volunteer Training and Development Officer responsible for recruiting and supporting new volunteers.
In considering why people decide to volunteer, Kylene enjoyed a chat with one of the Trust’s long-serving volunteers, Pam Maynard. Since joining the 70-strong volunteer team in 2010, Pam has been a key player both at the Trust’s Flying Boat Centre and Glass House Coffee Shop. Here, Pam tells her story.
Through the Scottish looking glass - integrated health and social services
In today’s blog, Constance Adams, WCVA Senior Policy Officer, talks about her visit to Scotland to see how that country deals with health and social services integration
WCVA was part of a Welsh Government visit to Edinburgh last week to see and hear how Scotland is integrating its health and social services, as it is further ahead of us in terms of both legislation and implementation. There are interesting similarities and differences to reflect on.
Has Wales no more to give?
In this blog, we take a look the reports of falling charitable giving in Wales. Are they really accurate?
Recent research from the Community Foundation in Wales places Wales rock bottom of the charitable giving league table, with Wales having the lowest proportion of UK households that give to charity and the steepest decline in charitable giving by individuals in recent years.
But does this snapshot of information really tell the whole story?
Wales Volunteer of the Year - a winner’s story
In today’s blog, former Wales Volunteer of the Year Award winner Leo Farrell tells us about the ‘magnificent’ feeling of receiving a VotY gong.
81-year-old Leo Farrell of Kinmel Bay was a recipient of a Volunteer of the Year Award last year in the ‘Adult Volunteer’ category. His work not only includes helping Clwyd Alyn Housing Association (his nominators) tenants with financial advice, he has also volunteered as a countryside warden and taken part in extreme sports, such as skydiving and walking on hot coles, to raise money for a range of charities. Here, he recalls what it meant to him to receive a Volunteer of the Year Award.
Do charities care about the constitution?
As the deadline for submissions to a consultation on the powers of the National Assembly for Wales draws near, Michelle Matheron, WCVA’s Senior Public Affairs Officer, asks if the third sector has a role to play in shaping the future of the devolution settlement.
There is no getting away from the fact that times are tough in the Welsh third sector. Budget cuts and increased demand for services mean that organisations are cutting back, assessing their priorities and trying to do more with less. Against this backdrop it is increasing difficult for organisations to devote time and resources to policy and influencing work or indeed to consider the context in which that influencing takes place.
A clumsy response to a complex set of circumstances?
In this blog, Mike Richards, Communications Officer at WCVA, reflects on the recent BBC exposé into the UK Government’s flagship Work Programme.
There’s a saying in the private sector that the customer is always king. But not, it seems, if your clients are people who suffer from disabilities and mental health problems – and your company is hoping to cash in on them as part of the welfare to work industry.
Third Sector Awards Cymru - a winner’s viewpoint
In this blog, Kerry-Lynne Pyke, Senior Communications Officer for Wales at Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales, talks about her group’s success at the recent Third Sector Awards Cymru and what it meant to them.
Here at Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales we couldn’t be prouder to have been named Most Admired Organisation at the Third Sector Awards Cymru.
After being nominated alongside two very worthy charities, it was a real honour to have won.
Third Sector Award Cymru - winners and runners-up
31 January was the Third Sector Awards Cymru ceremony, supported by Class Telecommunications. It’s when very best of the sector is rewarded for the work it does – and here you can see exactly who went home with the prizes.
Learning, sharing and improving engagement
Here we welcome back Dyfrig Williams, WCVA Participation Cymru Advisor, to talk about how best we can learn from our experiences
Evaluation is vital to make sure that engagement is undertaken in an effective way - after all it’s the only way we can learn from both our successes and our mistakes. When we engaged with people around Wales to put the National Principles for Public Engagement in Wales together you agreed with us, so that became principle 10 – ‘learn and share lessons to improve the process of engagement’.
