NVSC

This time last year many of our members will have been burning the midnight oil to get their bid in for the newly commissioned services, replacing the old grants system in Newham. We know that that was quite a stressful and frustrating time, and for some a very anxious time.

Whilst we await the additional commissioning specifications organisations may not have closed completely through this process but we have witnessed unprecedented redundancies and the future will no doubt bring more.

An independent review of the commissioning process is due to be published soon – and hopefully we will all have learnt some valuable lessons and I am sure that should there be further commissioning then the process will be very different.

There were many highlights in 2008 – and we hope to build on many of the initiatives that were started last year.

The Health Improvement Partnership has been used as an exemplar and despite the fact that Newham PCT has been forced to financially prop up other far more wealthier areas, they recognise the worth of the sector and have commissioned 3 very exciting pieces of work.

Aston Mansfield will be developing a toolkit to aid organisations to develop their ability to bid for health contracts, they will also be administering a small grants programme – this will hopefully encourage innovative pilot projects with a view to securing further funding. Further information about these 2 projects will be circulated when details are available. The third project will be working with people from new communities to explain to them how to access PCT services and sharing  new communities needs and expectations with health professionals.

Grassroots Grants continue to be very popular – and we have 2 more years of funding for this initiative, so there is still time for you to think and develop project ideas. For us it is a very positive move to be involved in such a dynamic partnership and we very much hope that we can build on this.

As regular readers will know, we have been in negotiations for the past 18months, to have elected sector reps on the Newham Partnership Board. I am delighted to announce that we have at last achieved this. Your Sector representatives until September 09 will be, Ann Easter – Faith, Paul Leslie – Voluntary and Colin Watts – Community. There will be elections later this year not only for the Newham Partnership Board but we will also be holding elections for each of the Local Area Partnership Boards. Negotiations are ongoing to agree the final number of represenatives from the Third Sector.

The first meeting of the revamped sector meetings will take place on the 5th of February. One Newham Many Voices will bring together the 3 sectors on a regular basis – and for the first meeting we have an interesting set of topics. We will be looking at how we can all work together to lessen the impact of the recession, there will be an opportunity to discuss the review of the Grants to Commissioning process, plus feedback from each of the Partnership Boards, an opportunity to meet and raise issues with the elected reps, networking and a whole lot more.