This paper is about establishing a voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector Systems Leadership Group. This is one the initiatives that is being developed in response to some of the priorities identified by VCSE organisations through the Sector Led Plan engagement process.
Some of you will have been heavily involved in discussions in this area for others it will be entirely new. The paper is designed to try and explain the context, rationale and process for establishing the group.
How to build foresight into policy makingNoel Hatch
Uncertainty and complexity define our today and tomorrow. Systems and organisations need a real understanding of the potential futures in order to make the most fit for purpose choices today.
School of International Futures recently worked with GOS to showcase how different governments use foresight and futures techniques. This includes a framework that sets out the key features of effective cross-government foresight work and how organisations and systems can build a resilient approach to incorporating.
We will present the framework, give chance for questions and then support you to consider implications in your own system
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/london-policy-amp-strategy-network-31019071129
Do you wonder what value human rights-based approaches and equitable partnerships can add to development programming?
The ICN presents this webinar with CCIC, in collaboration with the Coady International Institute and Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education. Participants will be introduced to a Guide that these three organizations have produced in collaboration. It provides concrete and practical tools to help organizations integrate a human rights-based approach (HRBA) into their development programming and begin a process to intentionally develop more equitable partnerships - all the while, helping facilitators run participatory workshops to achieve this, and providing a resource manual for participants in the process.
The webinar will briefly touch upon the following:
The rationale for creating the Guide two years on from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, and the choice and centrality of human rights and partnership to the work of civil society.
How the guide helps to demystify the human rights based approach (HRBA) by breaking it down into simple guiding elements that can inform and improve program design, implementation and evaluation, and about the value that HRBA brings to the development process.
The different forms of collaboration and the power dynamics often involved, it will also discuss how partnership principles can shape a process to generate more equitable partnerships and recognize the importance of collaboration as an outcome.
The Joint Learning Network (JLN) is a key innovation and central part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts to promote universal health coverage (UHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) under its Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative (2009-2017). Launched in 2010, the JLN is a country-led, global learning network that connects practitioners around the globe, in order to advance knowledge and learning about approaches to accelerate country progress toward UHC. The JLN currently includes 27 member countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America that engage in multilateral workshops, country learning exchanges, and virtual dialogues to share experiences and develop tools to support the design and implementation of UHC-oriented reforms. The core vehicles for shared learning and resource development under the JLN are technical initiatives, which are managed by several technical partners and organized around key levers for reaching UHC objectives.
Building Capacity for Innovation and Systems Change: Innovation Fellowship Pr...The Rockefeller Foundation
Achieving The Rockefeller Foundation’s goals to build resilience and advance inclusive economies requires moving beyond traditional approaches to problem-solving. New ways
of thinking and working are needed in order to have impact at scale. The Rockefeller
Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation was designed to enable
leaders to innovate in order to address the underlying causes of complex social and
environmental challenges. With two successive cohorts of Fellowships now complete and
a third underway, the timing is right to reflect on what the Foundation is learning about
building individual and institutional capacity to innovate and drive systems change.
How to build foresight into policy makingNoel Hatch
Uncertainty and complexity define our today and tomorrow. Systems and organisations need a real understanding of the potential futures in order to make the most fit for purpose choices today.
School of International Futures recently worked with GOS to showcase how different governments use foresight and futures techniques. This includes a framework that sets out the key features of effective cross-government foresight work and how organisations and systems can build a resilient approach to incorporating.
We will present the framework, give chance for questions and then support you to consider implications in your own system
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/london-policy-amp-strategy-network-31019071129
Do you wonder what value human rights-based approaches and equitable partnerships can add to development programming?
The ICN presents this webinar with CCIC, in collaboration with the Coady International Institute and Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education. Participants will be introduced to a Guide that these three organizations have produced in collaboration. It provides concrete and practical tools to help organizations integrate a human rights-based approach (HRBA) into their development programming and begin a process to intentionally develop more equitable partnerships - all the while, helping facilitators run participatory workshops to achieve this, and providing a resource manual for participants in the process.
The webinar will briefly touch upon the following:
The rationale for creating the Guide two years on from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, and the choice and centrality of human rights and partnership to the work of civil society.
How the guide helps to demystify the human rights based approach (HRBA) by breaking it down into simple guiding elements that can inform and improve program design, implementation and evaluation, and about the value that HRBA brings to the development process.
The different forms of collaboration and the power dynamics often involved, it will also discuss how partnership principles can shape a process to generate more equitable partnerships and recognize the importance of collaboration as an outcome.
The Joint Learning Network (JLN) is a key innovation and central part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts to promote universal health coverage (UHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) under its Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative (2009-2017). Launched in 2010, the JLN is a country-led, global learning network that connects practitioners around the globe, in order to advance knowledge and learning about approaches to accelerate country progress toward UHC. The JLN currently includes 27 member countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America that engage in multilateral workshops, country learning exchanges, and virtual dialogues to share experiences and develop tools to support the design and implementation of UHC-oriented reforms. The core vehicles for shared learning and resource development under the JLN are technical initiatives, which are managed by several technical partners and organized around key levers for reaching UHC objectives.
Building Capacity for Innovation and Systems Change: Innovation Fellowship Pr...The Rockefeller Foundation
Achieving The Rockefeller Foundation’s goals to build resilience and advance inclusive economies requires moving beyond traditional approaches to problem-solving. New ways
of thinking and working are needed in order to have impact at scale. The Rockefeller
Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation was designed to enable
leaders to innovate in order to address the underlying causes of complex social and
environmental challenges. With two successive cohorts of Fellowships now complete and
a third underway, the timing is right to reflect on what the Foundation is learning about
building individual and institutional capacity to innovate and drive systems change.
The information in this brief is drawn from a case study of the JLN conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in consultation with the THS team and the Evaluation Office of The Rockefeller Foundation. The study, completed in 2016, was undertaken to assess the extent to which the JLN had achieved its goal of becoming a country-driven, sustainable network helping to advance progress toward universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
Conducted by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship this CSR research study, explores how companies are investing in corporate citizenship, corporate giving and employee volunteering and how these community involvement efforts connect to overall business.
Roadmapping - Tales from the trenches: Using roadmapping for collaboration, ...Lakeside A/S
From the trenches: Using roadmapping for collaboration, conflict mitigation and visualization of strategic directions
A strategic roadmap is a nice thing to have: it shows a strategic design of ambitions, the driving forces and capabilities needed. But the road that leads to this roadmap can be a bumpy ride. This talk will in an informal manner and from a practitioners angle present some of the tools, processes and methods that have proved productive - and disastrous! - in the usage of roadmapping and roadmaps as a platform for collaboration. Including the conflicts and barriers associated with this. Emphasis will be on cases, examples of concrete usages of tools and methods for facilitation and visualization.
Bent Bilstrup spends his days working as a consultant and facilitator at Lakeside - a small danish consultancy firm. He works with clients mainly within the ICT-industry where he facilitates roadmapping processes as a vehicle to engage organizations and companies with their primary stakeholders.
More presentations from the NCVO Annual conference:
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/networking-discussions/blogs/20591
Sakthi Suriyaprakasam, Value of Infrastructure team, NCVO
Rob Macmillan, Research Fellow, Third Sector Research Centre
Bill Freeman, Director of Services and Business Development, NAVCA
In the current context of funding cuts and the focus on frontline organisations, where do infrastructure or support organisations fit? Join us for a highly interactive workshop that will address key questions for infrastructure groups, including how infrastructure organisations can demonstrate their value effectively, how you work with funders and charities to make the biggest difference and how we can work together differently to shape the future of infrastructure ourselves.
You will have the opportunity to connect with representatives from across the sector to actively discuss and decide how infrastructure can respond to the challenges it is facing.
Presentation from NCVO's Annual Conference 2011 on The Value of Intrafrastructure, a three-year England-wide initiative to support infrastructure organisations in plan, assess, improve and communicate their impact.
Organisations are increasingly realising the power of networks to create the greatest impact for society. Working collaboratively with a network of partners can increase your reach, generate efficiencies and stimulate innovation.
Yet, approaches to working in networks vary widely and each approach has a unique set of associated challenges. In our latest Briefing Paper, Aleron brings together the insight of expert practitioners in the field to bring clarity to the complex area of network working in the social sector.
The information in this brief is drawn from a case study of the JLN conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in consultation with the THS team and the Evaluation Office of The Rockefeller Foundation. The study, completed in 2016, was undertaken to assess the extent to which the JLN had achieved its goal of becoming a country-driven, sustainable network helping to advance progress toward universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
Conducted by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship this CSR research study, explores how companies are investing in corporate citizenship, corporate giving and employee volunteering and how these community involvement efforts connect to overall business.
Roadmapping - Tales from the trenches: Using roadmapping for collaboration, ...Lakeside A/S
From the trenches: Using roadmapping for collaboration, conflict mitigation and visualization of strategic directions
A strategic roadmap is a nice thing to have: it shows a strategic design of ambitions, the driving forces and capabilities needed. But the road that leads to this roadmap can be a bumpy ride. This talk will in an informal manner and from a practitioners angle present some of the tools, processes and methods that have proved productive - and disastrous! - in the usage of roadmapping and roadmaps as a platform for collaboration. Including the conflicts and barriers associated with this. Emphasis will be on cases, examples of concrete usages of tools and methods for facilitation and visualization.
Bent Bilstrup spends his days working as a consultant and facilitator at Lakeside - a small danish consultancy firm. He works with clients mainly within the ICT-industry where he facilitates roadmapping processes as a vehicle to engage organizations and companies with their primary stakeholders.
More presentations from the NCVO Annual conference:
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/networking-discussions/blogs/20591
Sakthi Suriyaprakasam, Value of Infrastructure team, NCVO
Rob Macmillan, Research Fellow, Third Sector Research Centre
Bill Freeman, Director of Services and Business Development, NAVCA
In the current context of funding cuts and the focus on frontline organisations, where do infrastructure or support organisations fit? Join us for a highly interactive workshop that will address key questions for infrastructure groups, including how infrastructure organisations can demonstrate their value effectively, how you work with funders and charities to make the biggest difference and how we can work together differently to shape the future of infrastructure ourselves.
You will have the opportunity to connect with representatives from across the sector to actively discuss and decide how infrastructure can respond to the challenges it is facing.
Presentation from NCVO's Annual Conference 2011 on The Value of Intrafrastructure, a three-year England-wide initiative to support infrastructure organisations in plan, assess, improve and communicate their impact.
Organisations are increasingly realising the power of networks to create the greatest impact for society. Working collaboratively with a network of partners can increase your reach, generate efficiencies and stimulate innovation.
Yet, approaches to working in networks vary widely and each approach has a unique set of associated challenges. In our latest Briefing Paper, Aleron brings together the insight of expert practitioners in the field to bring clarity to the complex area of network working in the social sector.
Organisations are increasingly realising the power of networks to create the greatest impact for society. Working collaboratively with a network of partners can increase your reach, generate efficiencies and stimulate innovation.
Yet, approaches to working in networks vary widely and each approach has a unique set of associated challenges. In our latest Briefing Paper, Aleron brings together the insight of expert practitioners in the field to bring clarity to the complex area of network working in the social sector.
Introduction to Strategic Doing for Community DevelopmentEd Morrison
Strategic Doing developed at a very granular level: working on the complex challenges within neighborhoods and communities. This paper explores how this new approach for developing strategy can be used to strengthen communities.
A guide on how we have built communities of practice on the Communities of Practice for Public Service website.
With hints and tips to getting started and maintaining your community
Many members of my constituent organization (NEA) suffered chronic health problems due to environmental restraints, lack of knowledge and support for changing their lifestyles as they affected their health. Members and the union staff and leadership were stressed out and wellness did not logically fit in to the core work of the union.
After numerous conversations with members and leaders about the school employee wellness problem and possible solutions I decided to partner with a union expert who was part of a health plan/health promotion organization. We co-created a plan for convening a conversation with union, district and health plan representatives to find solutions that all three groups could support.
We obtained funding from 2 sources to support a new initiative. We developed a strategy for bringing people together and leading a discussion about collaborative solutions.
This important, because this put us on a track to solve a big problem in a way that only my organization could have done. It frankly had the possibility to set a template for how to confront myriad other health problems that the members were facing. We were attacking this problem in a way that would not only contribute to the health of members, but also create value for union membership which was a high priority for NEA at this time.
How to-lead-collective-impact-working-groups-1Mr Nyak
ROLES OF WORKING GROUP CO-CHAIRS
Working Groups typically have 2 to 3 co-chairs, ideally one of whom also serves on
the Steering Committee, playing the following roles:
• Contributing to the development of the agenda and content for each Working
Group meeting—including serving as thought partners to Backbone staff and helping
contribute content expertise
• Facilitating discussions and decision making in meetings—including speaking up
if conversation gets stuck, encouraging multiple perspectives, and reporting out on
smaller group discussions
• Contributing to Working Group member management—including addressing
member concerns outside of meetings or learning more about members’ roles and
experiences to help inform strategies
• Nurturing relationships among Working Group members—including ensuring
each member’s unique assets and contributions are supported and valued
• Cultivating a focus on equity—including seeking diverse membership, fostering
conditions for everyone to be included, engaging in community, and using data to
understand disparities and develop strategies
• Serving as a bridge for the initiative’s work in the community—including seeking
input from key stakeholders, speaking at community events, and updating community
members on progress
Chapter 6Our Coherence Framework is simplexity.” Simplexity is .docxmccormicknadine86
Chapter 6
Our Coherence Framework is “simplexity.” Simplexity is not a real word, but it is a valuable concept. Simplexity means that you take a difficult problem and identify a small number of key factors (about four to six)—this is the simple part. And then you make these factors gel under the reality of action with its pressures, politics, and personalities in the situation—this is the complex part. In the case of our framework, there are only four big chunks and their interrelationships. Not only are these components dynamic but they also get refined over time in the setting in which you work. You have to focus on the right things, but you also must learn as you go. One of our favorite insights came from a retired CEO from a very successful company who, when asked about the most important thing he has learned about leadership, responded by say- ing, “It is more important to be right at the end of the meeting than the most important thing he has learned about leadership, responded by saying- ing, “It is more important to be right at the end of the meeting than the beginning” (David Cote, Honeywell, nyti.ms/1chUHqp). He was using this as a metaphor for a good change process: leaders influence the group, but they also learn from it. In fact, joint learning is what happens in effective change processes. If you are right at the beginning of the meeting, you are right only in your mind. If you are right at the notional end of the meeting, it means that you have processed the ideas with the group. McKinsey & Company conducted a study of leaders in the social sector (education et al.) and opened their report with these words: “chronic underinvestment [in leadership development] is placing increasing demands on social sector leaders” (Callanan, Gardner, Mendonca, & Scott, 2014). Their conclusions are right in our wheelhouse. In the survey of 200 social sector leaders, participants rated four critical attributes: balancing innovation with implementation, building executive teams, collaborating, and manag- ing outcomes. Survey respondents found themselves and their peers to be deficient in all four domains. In one table, they show the priorities—ability to innovate and implement, ability to surround selves with talented teams, collaboration, and ability to manage to outcomes—in terms of how respon- dents rated themselves and rated their peers as strong in the given domain. Both sets of scores were low—all below 40 percent. Collaboration, for example, was rated as 24 percent (self-rating) and 24 percent (rating of their peers). So the top capabilities are in short supply. Leaders build coherence when they combine the four components of our Coherence Framework with meeting the varied needs of the complex organizations they lead. Coherence making is a forever job because people come and go, and the situational dynamics are always in flux. They actively develop lateral and vertical connections so that the collaborative culture is deepened and drives dee ...
Developing and sustaining community based voluntary action CANorfolk
Part of Norfolk's Annual VCSE Conference. By bringing together groups at different stages of development this provided an opportunity to understand the factors involved in successfully developing and sustaining grassroots community-based voluntary action.
Part of the Norfolk Annual VCSE Conference. Are you applying for funding for the first time? This session will help you understand what you need to consider before making an application, where to look for the funding you need and what to expect when you get it.
Demonstrating the impact and value of your vcse organisation CANorfolk
Part of CAN's 2020 Annual VCSE conference. This interactive session is designed to help you understand how you can demonstrate the value of what your organisation does. Led by Jenny Potkins (NCVO) and Paul Webb (MAP & Centre for Youth Impact) this session introduced how you can articulate the difference your organisation makes, and some of the processes and tools you can use to measure that difference.
As part of our Norfolk Annual VCSE Conference, Nikki Luke, Senior Education and Engagement Officer for the East of England, will be delivering a politically neutral session on the opportunities for engaging with and influencing Parliament to ensure the voices of those we support are heard.
Challenging social injustice in adults' social health and care serviceCANorfolk
Belinda Schwehr from the legal advice charity CASCAIDr shares her and CASCAIDr’s perspectives on key issues and developments in relation to adults’ health and social care services.
Developing and Sustaining Volunteering in your organisationCANorfolk
This practical and interactive training session on the key elements of developing and sustaining good volunteer management is aimed at small to medium sized VCSEs. It will provide useful information, tools and resources to support and involve volunteers in your organisation.
Working in partnership to collectively campaign and influence CANorfolk
Our panel of guest speakers share their unique insights on how to work in partnership to collectively campaign and effectively influence.
Judy Dow (Head of Philanthropy, Norfolk Community Foundation)
Stuart Wright (Chair of the Living Wage Foundation’s Advisory Council and Property Director at Aviva)
Mike Barrett (FareShare East Anglia Development Manager) and Phoebe Sabin (FareShare East Anglia Community Coordinator)
Nikki Luke, Senior Education and Engagement Officer for the East of England, delivers a politically neutral session on the opportunities for engaging with and influencing Parliament to ensure the voices of those we support are heard.
Developing & sustaining community based voluntary action CANorfolk
Co-ordinators from North Walsham Good Neighbour Scheme,
Mattishall Volunteer Hub and Great Hockham Good Neighbour Scheme share their experiences of helping and supporting vulnerable residents in their communities. As groups at different stages of development this will provide an opportunity to understand the factors involved in successfully developing and sustaining grassroots community-based voluntary action.
A VCSE Health and Social Care Assembly for Norfolk CANorfolk
Delegates found out how their organisations can work more closely and collaboratively with health and care partners within the emerging Integrated Care System through the new VCSE Assembly. The VCSE Assembly Steering Group spoke about developments over the past year, next steps for the future and how you can get involved.
Direction of Health and Social care in Norfolk CANorfolk
Jon Clemo (Chief Executive, Community Action Norfolk) facilitates a conversation with Melanie Craig (Chief Officer, Norfolk & Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group) and James Bullion (Executive Director, Adult Social Services, Norfolk County Council) on the direction of Health and Social Care in Norfolk based on questions received from the VCSE sector.
Seth Reynolds (Principal Consultant for Systems Change at NPC) and Katie Turner (Deputy Head of Research at the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR)) share their insights and inspiration on how we can build on the adaptations and innovation shown so far this year, to influence and shape a better future for people and communities in Norfolk.
Monitoring Health for the SDGs - Global Health Statistics 2024 - WHOChristina Parmionova
The 2024 World Health Statistics edition reviews more than 50 health-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work. It also highlights the findings from the Global health estimates 2021, notably the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.
About Potato, The scientific name of the plant is Solanum tuberosum (L).Christina Parmionova
The potato is a starchy root vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile
Synopsis (short abstract) In December 2023, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 30 May as the International Day of Potato.
Working with data is a challenge for many organizations. Nonprofits in particular may need to collect and analyze sensitive, incomplete, and/or biased historical data about people. In this talk, Dr. Cori Faklaris of UNC Charlotte provides an overview of current AI capabilities and weaknesses to consider when integrating current AI technologies into the data workflow. The talk is organized around three takeaways: (1) For better or sometimes worse, AI provides you with “infinite interns.” (2) Give people permission & guardrails to learn what works with these “interns” and what doesn’t. (3) Create a roadmap for adding in more AI to assist nonprofit work, along with strategies for bias mitigation.
Donate to charity during this holiday seasonSERUDS INDIA
For people who have money and are philanthropic, there are infinite opportunities to gift a needy person or child a Merry Christmas. Even if you are living on a shoestring budget, you will be surprised at how much you can do.
Donate Us
https://serudsindia.org/how-to-donate-to-charity-during-this-holiday-season/
#charityforchildren, #donateforchildren, #donateclothesforchildren, #donatebooksforchildren, #donatetoysforchildren, #sponsorforchildren, #sponsorclothesforchildren, #sponsorbooksforchildren, #sponsortoysforchildren, #seruds, #kurnool
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
Preliminary findings _OECD field visits to ten regions in the TSI EU mining r...OECDregions
Preliminary findings from OECD field visits for the project: Enhancing EU Mining Regional Ecosystems to Support the Green Transition and Secure Mineral Raw Materials Supply.
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
RFP for Reno's Community Assistance CenterThis Is Reno
Property appraisals completed in May for downtown Reno’s Community Assistance and Triage Centers (CAC) reveal that repairing the buildings to bring them back into service would cost an estimated $10.1 million—nearly four times the amount previously reported by city staff.
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Establishing a VCSE Sector
System Leadership Group
Introduction
The VCS Engage programme is here to support effective communication, representation,
collaboration and involvement in the county council’s decision making by Norfolk’s voluntary,
community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) funded by Norfolk County Council.
It is led by Community Action Norfolk and Momentum (Norfolk) who alongside other work
have spent the last eight months working closely together in engaging the sector to develop
the sector led plan, which has been designed to provide a strong and broad evidence basis
to support an understanding of the VCSE sector by public sector partners and other key
stakeholders.
Part of the rationale for this was to enable those individuals with leadership and
representation roles within the sector to draw on this evidence in their work with other key
leaders across the sectors, This will help to ensure their work is both more representative
and better evidence led.
Alongside this evidence gathering role a key part of the VCS Engage programme is to create
the right interfaces with the public sector, be they forums, partnerships or other places
where positive dialogue can take place on key issues.
A key issue that has been put forward by the sector as part of the engagement process is
the need to create an effective interface/mechanism/relationship for the sector to engage in
an ‘upstream’ dialogue with particular public sector partners. What this means is being able
to engage in the earliest possible stages of policy, strategy and service development to
collaboratively shape proposals, not simply respond to them.
This paper is about is the formation of a sector system leadership group, designed to be the
key interface to support that upstream conversation. It sets out the intended role of the
group, its composition and how it will be established.
It is not perfect, it will need to evolve but we regard it as a positive start.
Objectives
Establishing the group is based on achieving the following objectives:
To ensure the sector is able to engage in a wider systems leadership conversations
by creating an appropriate interface.
Ensure that group is able to include a broad range of views and expertise from
across the sector
Where possible the group can provide key links into networks within key areas
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That any group is seen as legitimate to lead on this by the VCSE sector and other
key stakeholders
That the group remains practically small enough to be able engage effectively and
develop trusted relationships
Background to Systems Leadership
Things are connected! When it comes to people’s lives that means the issues people are
facing often overlap or that there are knock-on consequences when things happen in one
area onto another. In the public and VCSE sector world responsibility for supporting or
addressing those things often rests with different people and organisations but to
fundamentally address the needs of the individual everything needs to be seen holistically.
Delivering against that holistic picture is the essence of systems thinking. Trying to enable
that to happen is the essence of system leadership.
A few examples may help make this clearer and illustrate where different institutions are
likely to be responsible for different aspects of overcoming the challenge:
Someone is unlikely to able to find a job whilst they are worrying about a very ill
partner or child
A community with great affordable housing but no child-care may struggle to attract
the working families it wants to.
The best way to make sure someone is fit and healthy at fifty is to make sure that
they are fit and healthy at sixteen.
If you reduce positive activities for young people you can increase anti-social
behaviour
We also know that many problems happen when people fall between services, transition for
example between being a child to an adult or when services overlap, either delivering the
same things multiple times or delivering different things pulling in different directions.
The idea with systems leadership is to be able to take a step back and understand how the
system fits together and to work collectively to fix areas of gaps, overlap and unintended
consequences to deliver the best possible outcomes for people and communities in the most
efficient way.
A lot of systems leadership work focusses on trying to achieve two key priorities:
Integration – ensuring services are joined up around the individual and work
effectively together in an efficient way.
Prevention – putting an emphasis on those aspects of support that will prevent issues
arising both in the immediate term (preventing a hospital admission) and the longer
term (ensuring someone is healthy with a good social network). This is both better for
the individual as most of us prefer not to need support and usually better for
providers as prevention is less costly than more acute services.
Often a source of frustration with system leadership is that work towards these longer term
goals takes place, is often difficult and slow and in the meantime we still must deal with the
system as it is. This creates the need for a challenging balance between practical but often
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fundamentally flawed immediate action and longer term, often incremental; actions that may
not deliver immediate results but help create a better system.
The Sector System Leadership Group’s Role
The group itself will need to agree its own terms of reference, however the intention is that
these will be based around four core purposes and supported by nine principles, which have
been developed as part of previous workshop sessions with a range of sector
representatives.
Core Purposes
Act as the sector’s system leadership group and the point of reference with other
stakeholders at a systems leadership level
Hold and work to progress the key actions from the Sector Led Plan
Identify, develop and oversee other broad VCSE streams of work and shared
agenda items
Where VCSE representatives are required in the context of wider systems leadership
(as opposed to specific delivery areas), the group mandates these representatives
and provides an accountability and communication line.
Principles
At its core this is a commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes for the people of
Norfolk.
We have also identified a number of key additional principles that support this. We see these
as fundamental to both guiding our activity and as tenets against which to judge our
success.
Noble Cause – We need to work beyond individual organisational and constituency interests
for the benefit of Norfolk as a whole.
Shared Endeavour - This is a shared endeavour that we all bring value to and are all equally
responsible for bringing about success.
Champion Norfolk – We need to build a strong locally defined agenda and collectively
champion Norfolk: locally- to stakeholders and the wider public and externally- to wider
stakeholders.
Evidence Led – We are strongly committed to being evidence led, understanding current
provision, identifying need and working to propagate bright lights of benefit. A key part of this
is putting users and prospective users at the centre of services and working with them as
part of service design.
Systems Leadership – We need to ensure the focus of our work is about ensuring the whole
system supports the integrated, holistic and prevention focused approach we know is
needed.
Early Engagement – We need to start talking early, at the inception of ideas and before
issues crystallise, recognising this means there will often be greater ambiguity but also a
greater opportunity to create genuine involvement.
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Empowerment – Empowerment is at the heart of our efforts, both by facilitating the
empowerment of organisations to make a difference and supporting the empowerment of
individuals whose lives we aim to improve.
Common Outcomes – We need to identify and work towards shared outcomes so that we
drive towards the same shared goals and have the same measurements for success.
Individual Representative’s Role
This will evolve and be shaped by the group itself so individuals must be comfortable with a
degree of change and ambiguity. At its core however:
Individuals are there in the capacity to bring the knowledge and perspectives of
different aspects of the sector not to represent their organisation. The group is
centred on work beyond individual organisational and constituency interests for the
benefit of Norfolk as a whole.
Individuals will need to be committed to the principles outlined above as well as the
Nolan Principles of standards in public life.
Individuals will need to respect confidentiality and act in good faith to support the
work of the group.
Individuals will need to make use of their networks to assist with two-way
communication with the wider sector. This will be supported by the VCS Engage lead
partners.
As above the initial attention is based on a commitment of six meetings a year of
approximately two hours each. Individuals will need to attend prepared and be able
to contribute fully to discussions.
System Leadership Group’s Composition
This will always be the most difficult element to get right and the most controversial. We do
not believe the proposed structure below is perfect but is a good starting point, balancing the
objectives of the group highlighted above. We’ve tested this model with a range of
stakeholders and made a number of adjustments. Going forward the onus will be on the
group to review its composition and ensure it is able to fulfil its objectives. We fully expect
membership to evolve over time.
The core model is to have ten appointed representatives covering key areas where we think
input is important, alongside five directly elected individuals.
The intention is to provide a balanced approach between engaging a potentially wider variety
of people than what may be regarded as the ‘usual suspects’ and ensuring key areas are
represented.
Appointed Roles
Through consultation with stakeholders we have identified ten representative themes. This
has been the source of much discussion and there is no perfect model. The intention is that
the group will regularly review these, its membership and skills. Key in appointing these
representatives is:
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Understanding of the relevant issues and discussions in each of these areas
Ability to connect with a broad network of organisations and stakeholders in each
area
We will engage with key VCSE stakeholders and forums in each area to identify
representatives that can meet these criteria. Where there are clear existing forums that meet
the criteria above they will be our first point of reference.
Themes
Older People
Young People (11-19)
Children (0-11) and families
Physical Health and Disability
Mental Health and wellbeing
Unemployed and low incomes
Arts, Culture and Heritage
Information and Advice
VCS Engage leads
Elected Roles
The intention with the elected roles is to introduce a range of different views and enhance
the accountability to the wider sector. It is not designed to be a fool-proof democratic
process.
The election for the five elected roles will initially be made at the Stronger Together
Conference on the 7th
July at the Summit Session between 1600 and 1645.
This session is open and free to attend for any VCSE organisation regardless of
whether they come to the rest of the conference.
Any individual may stand as a candidate but they must be nominated by a VCSE
organisation predominantly based in Norfolk. This means an organisation that has its
registered office or main base in Norfolk or delivers more than 50% of its services in Norfolk.
A VCSE organisation for these purposes is any registered or unregistered charity, any
community interest company, any IPS or similar registered society fulfilling the ‘societies for
the benefit of the community’ definition, community associations that have a governing
document containing a clear public benefit1
purpose operating on a non-profit basis.
Candidate must submit the nomination form by the deadline below to stand in the election.
Timeline
Sector Leadership Briefing Document goes out 22nd
June
Nominations deadline 3rd
July 1200
Candidate’s details sent out to the sector 3rd
July
Election takes place on the 1600-1645 7th
July
1 If there is a lack of clarity the Charity Commission guidance for public benefit will be used.
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Voting
If we have five or less candidates for the elected positions no voting will take place. In the
event of more than five candidates a ballot will take place.
Each VCSE organisation present at the summit event will have five votes to cast
(irrespective of how many individuals connected to that organisation happen to be present).
You may only vote for each candidate once. An organisation must have a representative
present at the summit event in order to vote.
The five candidates with the most votes will be appointed. In the event of a tie, a second run
off vote will take place between the tied candidates (e.g. if six candidates are tied for fourth
place, the three candidates in places one to three will be appointed, a second vote will take
place with each organisation receiving two votes and able to vote for the three remaining
candidates.)
What then
We hope to be able to coordinate an initial meeting of the group before the end of August.
Our intention is it will operate alongside broader sector briefing that allows wider participation
in general discussions. We expect key initial areas of work to be focus around the action
from the Sector Led Plan and co-producing the reimaging of services within Norfolk.