NVSC - Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium
November 12, 2003
From Confrontation to Co-operation?
Following the publication of an article in Issue 9 of the NVSC íConsortium Newsletterí a number of comments were received, with some ëConsortium Newsletterí readers being sufficiently stirred, to put pen to paper and make their views known.
The article entitled ëIs the LSP a Sham?í has revealed differing opinions regarding community representation and the involvement of voluntary, faith and community groups on New hamís Civic Partnership (formerly known as the Local Strategic Partnership). Perhaps before continuing to read this article, it would be worth visiting the original article to read all of the comments and letters we have received regarding this issue.
Frustrations
NVSC has only ever sought to bring to the forefront some of the unaddressed frustrations felt by some Civic Partnership representatives, who regrettably, found no other forum in which their views could be voiced and heard.
And whilst the past few months have revealed obvious differences in opinion, perhaps the next step should be a move towards reconciliation, and towards the reconstruction of a democratic and equal partnership. A partnership that values and respects the views of its partners at all levels of the decision making process.
The fundamentals of the Civic Partnership are, that it is a coming together of partners from the public, private, voluntary, faith and community sectors to work together alongside the government and local authority to look at where money can be pooled to improve the delivery of services, to better meet the needs of people in Newham, in order to alleviate deprivation.
Realities
And whilst new partnerships bring new challenges, they also have the potential to bring about new rewards and new ways in working. However, the reality remains, that if this is not the vision of all the Civic Partnership representatives, the vision will fail.
Questions to Answer
Are we willing to wait for the positive rewards the Civic Partnership could bring? To sacrifice personal gain in order to build a partnership of trust, teamwork and co-operation? Because if we are, it could result in a fusion of skills and capacity necessary to create new mechanisms of cohesive service delivery not yet seen in any other borough.
If you would like to comment on any of the articles in our newsletter you can do so by visiting our website at www.nvsc.org.uk. There you will see the title of all the stories in this issue of the newsletter. Simply click on the link, scroll down to the Comments box and post your comments there. No further letters will be printed or circulated regarding this particular article.
Conflict Bringing About Change
Newham is officially one of the most culturally diverse boroughs in the capital with over an amazing 100 languages spoken across the borough.
Over the years, Newhamís increasing cultural diversity has helped transform the borough into a mini metropolis oozing character. But whilst diversity brings positives it can also bring conflict.
Resolution
In 1994 a group of people in Newham recognised the need for a local project to develop skills and strategies to help to build understanding across ethnic, religious and cultural differences. With an Initial 12 volunteers trained as mediators that group of people formed Conflict and Change the mediation service that visits parties in conflict. If parties agree to meet face to face the mediators help parties to find ways forward.
Vision
Their vision is of a community where people are nurtured and empowered to value difference and see conflict as an opportunity for change. Their aim - to be a resource to local people and groups in resolving conflicts in non-violent ways. Over time, the organisation saw that to fulfil its aims, it needed to widen its work beyond mediation. Mike Shallcross explained ìwe began to work with schools, as they include all the children and young people in a neighbourhood offering an opportunity to make a bigger positive impact than one to one mediations. We now train students and adults who work with them in conflict resolution skills, which includes training young people as peer mediators.
The Workplace
Through doing workplace mediations we noticed that many agencies do very good work but would like relationships between their management committee, staff and clients to be more harmonious. In response to this we have developed a training programme around enhancing communication in the workplace for both voluntary and statutory agencies.
Communication
Our most recent work is community development around communication and conflict. Through this we try to gain an understanding of how diverse cultural groups in Newham experience conflict and learn what their strategies are for dealing with it. We have been supporting people to build bridges both within their own communities and linking with other communities.
Work to Date
Roles we have had include facilitating courses, bringing different groups together to organise events, and helping to set up a Muslim Mediation Service. We are currently preparing a manual of culturally appropriate methods of conflict resolution. Mike also said, ìright now we are looking for volunteers to help us put the manual together and representation from all of Newhamís communities is the key to ensuring what we put together works.î
Whether in the home, personal relationships or in the work place conflicts arise and need to be dealt with, how they are dealt with can make all the difference.
If you would further information on any area of the work carried out by Conflict and Change you can contact them on 020 8552 2050 or email info@conflictandchange.co.uk
Where has all the money gone?
One of the many questions NVSC is frequently asked is what projects have been funded by the Neighboured Renewal Fund? So below is a small selection of NRF funded projects. Whilst we would very much like to print the details of all the NRF funded projects, it would take up several issues of our newsletter, so we decided against it. If you would like a full and comprehensive list of all the projects funded by NRF please contact Jane Woolley, NRF Programme Manager at the Neighbourhood Renewal Team on 020 8430 2955.
Priority: 1 Investing in Young People
Sporting Chances for Newham's Young People (LBN Culture & Community Dept) £1,000,000
Young people in Newham do not have as good access to leisure activities as their counterparts elsewhere in London. In the past there has been a shortage of leisure facilities in Newham and those that did exist were of poor quality. This is now changing, but there are still barriers to participation and accessing these facilitates. It is proposed to undertake a large marketing campaign, including on the internet, run taster sessions for young people at arts and leisure facilities with transport, carryout outreach activities for areas known not to participate and negotiate with venues to adjust their pricing policies to attract younger users.
Reducing Street Robbery by Young Offenders (Newham Youth Offending. £165,000
There are significantly high levels of street robbery in Newham compared to other London Boroughs. Local crime figures show that 80% of young robber offenders are aged between 10 and 17. A Robbery Strategy has been produced which will include aim to: reduce street robbery; provide guidance and support to offenders and victims, include a number of initiatives, and place young robber offenders on a programme devised to address the reasons behind offending, to highlight the seriousness of the crime and the effects on victims. NRF will fund the training of three police schools officers in restorative justice conferencing, pilot school site to operate where school staff are trained in restorative justice conferencing, purchase of mobile tape recording machine for taped interviews of school pupils in schools, assisting in restorative conferencing in schools.
Priority: 2 Making Streets and Open Spaces Cleaner and Safer
Respect (Respect Steering Group) £1,000,000
Respect is a campaign to deal with anti-social behaviour, and includes work at targeted crime types, with a particular emphasis on burglary, street crime and vehicle crimes. Issues such as environmental crime, for example, car dumping, graffiti, fly tipping, excess noise and vandalism are key issues, which Respect also addresses. NRF funding would be used to extend Respect to additional areas of Newham, to extend some initiatives on a borough wide basis, to develop a mechanism for new ways of collating and using local intelligence and to extend the opening hours of some services
Access for Everyone (LBN Environment & Regeneration Dept) £100,000
The lack of accessible road crossings meeting the Council's current standards means that large parts of the borough are inaccessible to some disabled people and are difficult to access for people with mobility difficulties, such as those with pushchairs, heavy loads etc. This project seeks to install and replace crossing facilities where necessary to allow increased usage of health and other public facilities, improve access to places of employment and to the home.
Priority: 3 Developments of Accessible Primary Care Services
Health Today, Health Tomorrow Initiative (Newham Healthcare NHS Trust) £175,000
The London Borough of Newham has a higher than 'normal' incidence of premature death from cardiac disease leading to shorter life expectancy for male and female residents. A recent project demonstrated that local people were interested in finding out more about their health, however, the events were not well attended by 15-35 year olds. This project aims to pilot new ways of raising awareness of Cardiac Disease within the 15-35 year old target group, offering a health assessment to all individuals. This project will require partnership between health care providers and joint working with many other groups.
Recruiting and Retaining the Right People (Newham Healthcare NHS Trust) £750,000
A key factor contributing to inequalities in health care in Newham are the difficulties faced by major service providers in Newham in recruiting and then retaining people in key health service delivery jobs. This is especially the case in modestly paid, but highly skilled, occupations such as social work and nursing where Newham faces competition from other geographical areas and better paid employment sectors. This proposal aims to set up a multi-agency HR Taskforce and Stakeholder Groups who will develop, co-ordinate and evaluate a series of pilot initiatives such as bursaries, loyalty schemes, secondments, work experience to improve the recruitment and retention of key staff.
Priority: 4 Tackling Poverty and Inequalities
NEWCRED £370,000
Debt in Newham runs into millions of pounds, many residents do not have access to basic bank accounts or financial services. Many residents are on low income and without credit history so unable to get bank loans, mortgages or direct debit savings, resulting in them becoming reliant on the most expensive form of credit, such as catalogues and loan sharks. Newcred aims to be the primary provider of low cost affordable financial services in Newham encouraging membership from people at all levels of income and targeting those who are currently excluded. Newcred will be a community enterprise a non profit making organisation run for the benefit of its members.
Community Access to Electronic Government (Where It's @) (LBN Social Regeneration Unit) - £55,000
This project shares the costs of expensive advice software among member advice agencies and enables access to electronic benefit claims and other free legal advice and information for Newham residents via fast broadband Internet connections. This is a unique project, which is part of Newham Council's application for Beacon Status for Social Inclusion through ICT. It provides a joined up solution to the problem of affording expensive software among small agencies with limited resources.
Priority: 6 Creating a Strong Framework for Change
NRF Management, Development and Evaluation (LBN Chief Executive's Dept) £497,175
The project is a complete package of programme management, development and evaluation of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. It will ensure that NRF is spent effectively and efficiently, that the LSP will be kept fully informed of the progress of the programme, and that NRF projects will deliver on time and to budget.