1. Welcome to the future
Muzahid Khan
Programme Director, BME VCS Regional Programme
Yorkshire and the Humber Forum

2. Why we got involved (2008)
• Responding to Social Change National Support Service.
• The Forum worked with NCVO on a number of fronts – policy,
regions and learning and skills.
• This was an opportunity to help develop a new programme and
offer opportunities to our members in Y&H.
• It was also an opportunity for the Forum to develop its
leadership role for the sector by working with the experts on
strategic planning and its members on the strategic issues
facing them as well as helping to alert others and inform the
debates about issues affecting the sector.
• The Forum was able to make this “national” training relevant to
organisations in Yorkshire and Humber.

3. What we did
• Established a pilot group to assist with the development of workshop
and cascade materials
• Helped to develop workshop and cascade materials
• Promoted the NSS and the benefits of responding to social change
• Used YHF Members newsgroups, brokering NCVO involvement in
the region
• LIO’s conference at Cober Hill (Feb 2009)
• Links into South Yorkshire Quality Network
• Forum events as a communication channel

4. What we did
• Promotion via email and personal contacts
• Helped to organise NSS workshops
• Booking accessible venues, arranging catering etc for all
NSS workshops, including the pilot workshops
• Venue finding, liaison, booking, site visits in September for
the October/ November and January events
• Liaising with the Third Sector Foresight assistant over event
administration and communication with participants

5. What we did
• Facilitated online peer to peer learning and e-mentoring
• Engaged with conversations on the Cass CCE online learning
website and acting as one of a team of facilitators
• Some (limited) input to KnowhowNon-profit (it had only been up
and running for a relatively short period)
• Engaging with strategy related topics on 3s4.org.uk
• Acted as a champion in the tailoring and dissemination of
Foresight Info. Regularly adding links to
network.3s4.org.uk/members/mcrowe and relevant documents
about social change in Y&H
• Attending Capacity builders Annual Conference and meeting
between the regional bodies and NSS

6. What worked?
– Developing and delivering the training
– Identifying the drivers, in particular the relevant
ones for Y&H
– Feedback was positive
– This was a new idea for our members so a difficult
“sell”, especially, paid for training

7. Impact on YHRF
• We’ve been better informed and linked the work on
the drivers to our other strategic work
• We’ve strengthened our links with NCVO’s research
team
• We’ve had the connections and confidence to go
back to NCVO to get them to deliver to other of our
projects (BME)
• We’ve used the experience to bid for other work
(Climate Change and the VCS Tender) developing
and delivering training.

8. What the impact has been on our
members/beneficiaries
What Chief Executives and Development workers said about the
value of strategic analysis during workshops in Yorkshire and
Humber in 2008
– “it can make organisations less fearful”
– “we can offer better services for our beneficiaries”
– “it increases our success rate in terms of income generation”
– “it enhances our influencing ability and therefore increases our
impact”
– Excellent day - informative and very useful"
– "Pitched very well; good, balanced facilitation"
– 75% thought the handout materials they went away with were
very good
– 100% of delegates found their understanding of strategic
analysis, and its implications, increased.

9. How this work may continue in the
future…
• Continue to use and contribute to drivers
• Continue to signpost to both www.3s4.org.uk
and www.knowhownonprofit.org.uk
• Continue to work with NCVO to develop and
deliver the training to specialist groups

10. Future Gazing (April 2010)
Building on the Forum’s relationship with Third Sector Foresight and
taking forward the requirements of the leaders from the BME VCS
support and development organisations.
An away day was organised by the BME VCS Programme in April 2010,
to essentially think about what the future scenario is going to look like for
local support and development organisations.
It was an opportunity to really think and explore some of the fundamental
issues of change, survival and discuss using Third Sector Foresights key
drivers.
The away day was held in Leeds, facilitated by Sarah Coombes, from the
Third Sector Foresight team.

11. What worked well?
• Imagining the future using the Third Sector Foresight
drivers
• Imagining the news headlines of the future
• Isolating the key drivers

12. What has been the impact?
• We’ve been better informed and have linked the work on the drivers
to our other strategic work
• We’ve strengthened our links with NCVO
• Members have benefited from using the drivers as a focused tool
• Members benefited from what they said was excellent facilitation
from Sarah Coombes
• They have gone back to their organisations and started to make use
of their learning

13. The future?
One of the major ways of bringing about
better strategic planning is to be able to
use the drivers and plan for different
scenarios.
We are continuing the themes of change
and sustainability and have been in
conversation with colleagues at NCVO to
develop further work.