A group of voluntary and community sector organisation representatives gathered together with the Dorset VCS Assembly Governance Board to continue the conversation about how the Assembly should operate to meet its objectives.
The Assembly’s primary objectives are to increase and support:
- Communication within the VCS and between the VCS and partners.
- Engagement within the VCS and between the VCS and partners.
- Representation of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Dorset.
- Collaboration within the VCS and between the VCS and partners.
The delegates represented a spectrum of different kinds of VCS organisation, different geographies, and different areas of work. We wanted to encompass a wide set of perspectives that would inspire others to contribute and share their views too.
Those attending were asked to consider what works, what doesn’t work, what is already available, and what’s missing in terms of these four activities: communication, representation, engagement and collaboration.
Why? Remind me what the Assembly is for?
These objectives only make sense when we think about the Assembly’s overall purpose. This is to improve the lives of those who live and work in Dorset, making Dorset a great place to live, and helping people of all ages live and thrive and have fulfilling lives.
It aims to achieve this through enabling people to support one another and work better together within our communities. This is the heart and soul of the VCS and also of our partners in the new Integrated Care System (ICS). The Assembly is there to help the VCS work more effectively together to achieve these ambitions, and to help the VCS link this work more effectively with our ICS partners: the NHS, local authorities, police, education, business, fire and rescue, ambulance service, and others.
The Assembly is there to bring people together and facilitate and nurture the conditions in which we can work together better.
Who is the Assembly?
Everyone in Dorset is part of Dorset’s VCS Assembly. It aims to bring people together to collaborate around particular issues, ideas, and needs; to tackle issues together that we can’t tackle alone. How we do this is the focus of this piece of work and this event. How do we assemble the Assembly?
How are we going to do this?
One of the core principles of the Assembly is to be strengths-based, working respectfully with existing services and ways of working, and not creating duplication through setting up competitive services. Another principle is to be as inclusive as possible, and ensure we are listening to and involving people from all parts of the VCS, large and small, formal and informal. These values are set out in the Assembly’s Terms of Reference.
The event took on these questions and looked at how the Assembly will work practically to meet the Assembly’s objectives. What systems should be used to run the Assembly and its activities? How can we make sure our work is equitable and fair? How can we do these things in a way that builds trust?
So, for each of the objectives, we considered: What’s the best way we can facilitate people’s involvement with the work? What can we build on? What works already? Where are the gaps? Who is being left out? What resources might we need? How will we do these things?
Setting the scene
Once people gathered in the Board Room of the Integrated Care Board (ICB – also known as NHS Dorset) we got down to business.
As the Assembly was created in response to the need to have a way to formally represent and involve the VCS within Dorset’s new Integrated Care System (ICS) there was a lot of discussion about what this new role and opportunity means for the VCS across Dorset. There was some explaining about what the ICS is, and how it is designed to work. While there was enthusiasm for the greater appreciation of the role of the VCS in the new ICS, there were also some skeletons and skepticism shared about bad experiences and missed opportunities in the past.
Board Members set the scene for the work so far, telling the formation story of the Assembly, and bringing that story up to date. They challenged the group to take a step of trust and honestly share their ideas and experiences to help take this design process forward. They invited those present to be a voice of the Assembly and start to take out the messages about what the Assembly is, how it’s developing, and what it’s aiming to achieve out into the wider VCS.
A period of reflection and discussion around the story so far and the Governance Board members were able to provide additional information and insights. This really set the energy for the day and people split into two groups to think about what works and what doesn’t work for people when thinking about setting up operating systems to meet the Assembly’s objectives.
Getting down to brass tacks
Each of the groups shared and discussed a whole range of experiences of how things happen currently, and happened in the past. They talked about the pros and cons of different approaches, looking at them through the lens of practicality and inclusivity. You can see the beginnings of a framework emerge from this discussion – reflecting each of the objectives, but also looking at the spirit and culture that we’re building around this work.
The groups shared the headlines of their discussions in a final feedback session, and delegates were invited to send in their thoughts about the day for us to publish in order to take the conversations and ideas forwards Take a look at the event feedback.
So what?
The next steps are going to be critical. The generous contributions of the delegates at this event have now formed the bedrock of four proposed elements of our Assembly operating model. These have been approved by the Governance Board and links to them are below.
We’re looking for enthusiasts, contributors, critical friends, collaborators, visionaries, and doers who can share this information, give their feedback, and begin to make them work.
- If we can start to get the right kind of communication happening, people will be able to see what this Assembly is all about, and more importantly they will be able to see what it can enable within the VCS and ICS and understand how it relates to them.
- If we can get the right kind of engagement happening, we will be able to involve and integrate the voices and actions of more people and organisations within the VCS and ICS.
- If we can get the right kind of representation happening, we will be able to hear the voice of the VCS contributing at all levels of the ICS across Dorset, and know we are strongly connected to all parts of the VCS to inform that work.
- If we can get the right kind of collaboration happening, we will enable more people in the VCS to work together and support the VCS’ work with partners in the ICS.
Things you can do
So this is where this writing has to inspire action. It is the point where we can start to test and build these new systems as we go. We would really appreciate your help.
- Take a look at the event feedback around the discussions on these four objectives. Comments welcome, please email contactus@dorsetvsca.co.uk.
- Ask us questions when we’ve not been clear in what we’ve said.
- Tell someone else about this web page – send them the link. Next time you speak to them, ask if they’ve seen it. Let them know that we’d be keen for them to get involved too and tell us what they think.