NCIA - Latest Comments

Re: For Insurgency: The Case against Partnership

James Derounian — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:57:35 -0000

Interesting article - thanks.

Some argue that partnerships try "to change the behaviour and attitudes of community representatives".....surely this also happens in the other direction - 'professionals' changing due to exposure to community views?

You make/report a BIG claim: "partnerships seem more effective at controlling and manipulating communities than in giving them an authentic political voice"....PROOF!? But on this point recommend "9 Plagues & 12 Commandments" by SA academics Botes & Van Rensburg.

"what about the position of campaigning organisations, which see their aim as organizing and representing disadvantaged groups and fighting for social justice? Here I am totally with you - and find it ironic that Gov't has reacted so badly to the Occupy Mov't, which - to all intents and purposes - exemplifies Big Society, participation, action etc.

James
from a brightening Cheltenham
GL50 4AZ

Re: We don’t need no thought control

Polly Tickle — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:32:31 -0000

nice one bernard!

Re: An essay on the ‘big society’

Michel Henric-Coll — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:10:05 -0000

“Patients
and families are much happier and have confidence in the health service”.

As long as
workers are lead to worry so much in defending their personal rights and in pleasing
the chief, they won’t dedicate much energy to clients’ satisfaction nor to the development
of their firm.

Fix the
first problem and that shall fix the second one.

“By
contracting for ‘transactions’ they may well see a reduction in the transaction
costs but as these standardised services fail to meet the users’ needs, costs
can only rise.”

That’s what
managers must understand. Profits are only a result, the goal is user’s needs
satisfaction. If you miss the goal, the result will crash.

Michel Henric-Coll

Re: Mad world, my masters: CVS says no to transforming local infrastructure

El Zorro Gales — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:17:45 -0000

The author deserves a medal. Clear, incisive, pointed and caustic... simply a superb run through of why it really should not be like this. I hesitate to add any thoughts to this tour de force but will add one. One other aspect of the current flurry of initiative-itis is divisiveness. All of the current programmes on offer via OCS are competitive. TLIF for example means just under half of all top tier authority areas 9TTLA) will get nowt. Each TTLA thus, is in competition with the other. Intriguing that, if this is meant to bring "infrastructure" groups together> And of course this means about half will be without help. And a codicil: TLIF will have £30m at its disposal. The bombing campaign in Libya costs £40m a month. Now that this campaign is (they tell us) reaching its bloody conclusion, perhaps OCS could have a chat with MOD and divert just one month's Libya costs and - hey presto - we double the TLIF largesse!

Re: Interviewing the real ‘big society’

Abarritt — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:35:29 -0000

Great stuff! More stories please - from all over the Country. Let's tell it the way it is

Re: The Quiet Death of the Rights Movement

Alan Carter — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:00:02 -0000

I've just come across this article and it's hard to believe it was written three years ago and the issue got so little publicity at the time. This bloke seems to know his stuff but if the last Labour Govenment had a policy of abolishing all independent voluntary sector advice services it is incredible that so little fuss was made about it, but I suppose that's the very point he is making.

My organisation is in the process of tendering for a new contract and it is clear that we will (if we are successful) be very tightly controlled by our Commissioners even though we are supposed to be the voice of the service users. I thought this obvious contradiction was just a local peculiarity but reading this article and the others on the NCIA website I now see that this is now the way things are being done everywhere and the scope for truly independent voluntary organisations is rapidly shrinking.

Re: New NCIA papers on privatisation and ‘big society’

MaryHenllys — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:11:28 -0000

I've yet to see a mass 'sign up' of Ministers or members of the Conservative Party to volunteering & supporting the roll out of the Big Society - odd that!

Re: Community revolution entrusted to Locality

Jess Steele — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:30:59 -0000

See my response at http://jesssteele.wordpress.co...
Jess Steele, Director of Innovation for Locality, programme manager for Community Organisers programme.

Re: Cake or death? A comment on the cuts, ‘big society’ and community sector ‘cognitive dissonance’

Andy — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:16:54 -0000

great article, on the button and a pleasure to read.... thank you Andrew

Re: Government has no business running civil society

clintus — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:16:52 -0000

An eloquent way of summing up the way many people feel at the moment,myself included.

Re: Old hands and the new wave of activists

Matt Scott — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:08:30 -0000

It was good to share a platform with Francis from NCIA and we had fun in what might have been a bit of a sanitised Fabian lite affair

Re: Cats among pigeons at CSC

Carl Allen — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:46:28 -0000

Pragmatism ... Acceptance that each time the DIY of Big Society meets the Partnership of Compact, there will be the silent wailing and gnashing of teeth by one partner but not the other.

Not a formal statement ... sometimes the wailing and gnashing of teeth is silent and sometimes it is not. But it is still a wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Re: Big Society Show keeps on rolling

penny — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:48:15 -0000

BSS - this drives me crazy. i'm surrounded by people fighting for their rights to basic services and to protect our welfare state (that my parents generation worked so hard to give me).

by voluntary agencies giving redundancy notices to their staff at the same time as wondering how they are going to deal with the consequences of cuts for those who rely on them.

and by so called national representatives of voluntary action (probably soon to be rebranded again, as social enterprise), brown nosing at the table, in the hope for crumbs of money or power (no change there then).

while the real BIG SHOW of vested interests (bankers, politicians, corporate business, "the market", feel free to add your hit list to mine.....) continue to feather their nests and engage in dirty dealing - a bit of which wiki leaks has just shown us.

I am boycotting anything that has the label of BIG SOCIETY. I am not going to be distracted by such a vacuous and cynical attempt to hide the privatisation of public services, through cheap or free labour. Or waste my energy attending to a kite which will not fly.

Don't be fooled. get on with something more productive - like local campaigns to resist the cuts and alternatives to the broken politics and policies of this and previous governments.

Re: Government has no business running civil society

terrypotter — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:32:02 -0000

A really astute and refreshing article. Thank the Lord there is someone out there willing and able to make these comments. I very much agree with you that the change from grant aid to SLAs and then commissioning signalled a critical moment in the loss of independence within the sector. After all the saying is true - lie down with dogs and get up with fleas.

Re: The Third Sector as deliverers of services – overhyped, an idea whose time is done

Andrew Climo — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:12:52 -0000

Great article!

As Matt knows my view is that many voluntary organisations have been complicit with local authorities in becoming 'safe' and unchallenging delivery partners, leaving their principles firmly outside when it has suited short term financial requirements or in a bid to be more influential.

The VCS 'should' be firmly rooted in shining a light where services fail to reach and ensuring that the marginalised are not left without.

This might mean delivery at the margin initially, maybe even to show the statutory and private sectors 'how to do it'.

However, the goal surely is to mainstream new services, gain widespread acceptance, increase social inclusion and then raise the bar and start lobbying all over again.

Where did we go wrong???!!!

If the sector is now splitting into a delivery arm of government on the one hand and half focused on asking the difficult questions, how should this half of the sector regroup and reorganise?

Re: Systems thinking in the public sector

Andrew Climo — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:01:44 -0000

No. This really is nonsense.

These tools are exactly that: tools. They are no more 'the problem' than computers, paintbrushes or tables and chairs.

In the right hands some of the tools can be powerful ways to demonstrate social need, level the playing field, and strengthen equalities.

Some of worst excesses of corporatism stem directly from poor practice and performance from the statutory and private sectors.

We need a level playing field - with Banks and Governments committed and held to same standards and measures of performance as everyone else, not an absence of either.

Re: The Duty to Involve – another confidence trick?

Andrew Climo — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:28:38 -0000

I can see motivated officers with a strong moral compass working to implement the Duty to Involve within their work plans.

However, the reality in some areas has already been seen to be one of purposefully and pointedly ignoring it. An excellent example is the destruction of a Grade 2 Star listed harbour wall (Penzance) despite significant public opposition and workable alternatives.

Cornwall Council have refused to allow officers to attend public meetings, and refused to meet with the local MP and campaign groups.

Duty to Involve indeed.

With no sanction to LAs that fail to comply, the Duty to Involve is a completely toothless instrument.

Re: Do or die – how to survive cuts and recession

adrian — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:03:10 -0000

Looks good advice to me, AdurVA's take on this is at: http://tinyurl.com/24qlx67

Be good to get a national discussion going which has a bit more substance than political jockeying

Re: Do or die – how to survive cuts and recession

penny — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:04:27 -0000

had a look at the link and what struck me was the basis from which we respond to cuts and recession. there's lots of competative jockying for position going on by large, and some small, voluntary groups - to try to get crumbs from the table. enterprise and opportunity won't work if it's done from the basis of competition,private sector ideologies and self interest. now's the time for solidarity with communities affected by cuts and the dismantling of public services; and cooperation between us to resist such policies and provide alternative answers.

Re: Do or die – how to survive cuts and recession

Joanne — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:20:38 -0000

Good recommendations, especially the third: it's too easy to succumb to victim thinking when dealing with difficult circumstances and miss out on opportunities. Have you seen this blog: http://www.connectassist.co.uk...

Re: The Duty to Involve – another confidence trick?

isitjustme — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:15:20 -0000

I couldn't agree with you more it will be business as usual. As someone who recently left a LA after working for them for many years. I can tell you that when word of the duty to involved first emerged the key question asked was how can we show/evidence we're meeting the duty? Which is LA speak for how can we write/record it so it looks like we're doing it or what bits of what we already do will look like we're doing it and satisfy the audit commission/get a good CPA/CAA. Whereas my questions included why don't we see what, if anything, people want to be involved in? and Why don't we see how they want to be involved? As well as pointing out that the kind of people who get involved tend to get involved with whats important to them not what's important to local and national gov so there's already some massive clues out there. I also agree with other commentators that vol/community sector have traditionally delivered those things that they felt were needed which weren't being delivered by the statutory sector. It stands to reason that if the vol/community sector start delivering traditional statutory sector services then the gaps that were being filled by the vol/community sector will re-emerge

Re: What’s 2010 bringing & what’s NCIA doing ’bout it?

Clive Durdle — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:34:52 -0000

" massive transfer of public assets to the private banking sector"

A new crime of theft from the commonwealth?

Re: What’s 2010 bringing & what’s NCIA doing ’bout it?

Clive Durdle — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:38 -0000

Agree with these.

Is it legal for charitable money to be used for public statutory duty matters?

New forms of citizen audit?

Re: Are you happy with what’s being said on your behalf?

adrian — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:48:41 -0000

This is a very interesting correspondence. Really, one's position seems to depend upon how far the NCIA's interpretation of the current situation for voluntary action is accepted. One response clearly doesn't accept this at all, hence comes out with insultingly obvious generalities. Another doesn't understand the problem, hence responds by parroting what they have heard somewhere. The other two know very well what is at stake but don't wish to address this publicly. Perhaps their time will come?

Thinking this through, I am left concerned that the refreshed compact actually adds to the problems by pretending to address some of them. I mean,read it. It's pretty anodyne stuff, is it not? A set of principles reading like the Head Teacher's fist day of term address (and who ever bothered to listen to those, let alone disagree?); and a string of repetitive "commitments", mainly ranging from the flagrantly obvious to the meaningless. Let's have some responses from the academic world on this - would it make the grade as an undergraduate essay? As one correspondent hinted - "Re-sit".

So, my marks out of five to correspondents: two half-cheers , one slow hand clap, one silence and one "ungraded" Meanwhile, of course, across the country we do our best locally at establishing real relationships, and good luck, One and All.

Adrian Barritt
Adur Voluntary Action

Re: Say No to Commissioning

penny — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:31:41 -0000

hi voltaire - good to hear from you. why not come to our event on feb 27th in nottingham and join in how we resist all this. the more the better