East Midlands Local Infrastructure Symposium 2014 – Post event page

One East Midlands and BIG Assist’s second annual local infrastructure symposium, aimed at local infrastructure organisations (LIOs) across the East Midlands who wanted to look at future directions and new opportunities, took place on Wednesday 9 April in Nottingham.

LIOs are continuing to battle through turbulent times, and are working through the mist of local authority budget cuts, NHS reform, changes in policy, whilst trying to work out the best way to demonstrate their value and impact to funders/commissioners.

The event provided an opportunity for LIOs to consider collectively a range of powerful issues currently facing the VCS, as well as an opportunity to discuss and share learning on issues pertinent to VCS infrastructure.

With the growing urgency to fight for the survival of VCS infrastructure, the event also offers space to consider tangible evidence we hold as a collective or that we can collate that demonstrates the impact LIO’s can have in supporting the sector to develop and grow.

The event was aimed at generic and specialist support providers to the VCS, social enterprise and wider civil society organisations. It was appropriate for Trustees, Management Committee members, CEOs, senior managers, funding advisors and development works.

The event provided an opportunity for LIOs to share views on current issues facing themselves and the wider VCS. There was also an opportunity to develop thinking and respond to current and future challenges as well as future opportunities focusing on:

  • The development of planned responses to social issues;
  • Understanding tools and techniques to help demonstrate the impact of our work and the wider VCS; and
  • Building awareness of future opportunities for LIOs.

Speakers at the event included:

  • Davinder Kaur from Big Assist who provided an update on Big Assist and the lessons learnt;
  • Stuart Draycott from Purplezebra on cloud technology and how to use technology to cut overheads; and
  • Jane Carr and David Ward from Northampton Volunteer Centre on the Northamptonshire State of the Sector workshop.

Delegates also took part in table discussions on the Big Lottery Fund evidence review, including what works in building frontline VCS capabilities, and attended two of the following workshops:

  • Health and social care – progress towards integration and transformation and how and why have VCS infrastructure supported this agenda (Rachel Quinn, One East Midlands);
  • EU structural funds 2014-20 – how and where are the VCS tapped in (Chris Hill, One East Midlands);
  • Big Data, Big Impact – are we using enough open data to help us demonstrate our impact (June Gomes, One East Midlands);
  • Big Assist – applying for BIG assist support (Davinder Kaur, Big Assist); and
  • Collaboration – what’s actually working, including practical examples of infrastructure collaboration and future collaboration (John Gillespie, ACEVO).

Presentations and other resources from the event can be downloaded below.

Main presentations:

Workshop presentations:

Other resources: