KVA Annual Review 2010-2011

2010-2011 Supporting the Voluntary and Community Sector in a Changing Environment

Chair’s Report This is my third year as the Chair of The Trustees of Kingston Voluntary Action.

It has been a year in which, at last, I have been able to understand more fully the workings of KVA. It has been a year, not surprisingly, of concerted effort from the whole organisation to manage the difficulties encountered in the current financial climate.

Sadly, some members of staff have been lost due to the cuts, but the spirit of the management, staff and volunteers has not been dimmed and they continue to strive to deliver an ever-growing programme for the benefit of voluntary organisations and community groups.

The major thrust of everyone within KVA is to ensure that sufficient new grants are generated to enable existing programmes to be delivered and new opportunities are investigated as they arise.

It has been a very challenging year for KVA staff in general and for me in particular. The Board of Trustees continue to give their total support to Hillary Garner and his team in the pursuit of their goals. We are greatly encouraged by the successes that have continued during these difficult times and the plans for the future give us cause for great optimism.

Paul Cox Chair

Supporting Change Changes in the economic, political and social environment - including the Government’s BIG Society Agenda - continue to have an impact on voluntary sector organisations and community groups in Kingston.

A key role for Kingston Voluntary Action is to ensure that we constantly adjust to the changing needs and requirements of organisations, ensuring that we support change, through the development of the services and support we deliver.

We continue to transform and develop our training and capacity building, information and advice, partnership and strategic working, communications and volunteering support.

Transforming Volunteering During the period April 2010 - March 2011, Kingston Volunteer Centre registered and referred over 1,544 potential volunteers to local community, voluntary and statutory organisations. The majority of these were female, in the age bracket 19—25 years old, and unemployed. Over half of those volunteers interviewed had some sort of disability.

Kingston Volunteer Centre will be rebranding this year to GO Kingston Volunteering, and will fundraise to develop and build upon the work of the Good Sports Project. We aim to recruit 500 extra volunteers to get involved in the local Cultural Olympiad diary of events, and fulfil Kingston’s 2012 volunteering legacy.

In rebranding, the Volunteer Centre will not only be leading on volunteering and helping to bring the 2012 Cultural Olympiad alive in Kingston, it will be challenging tradition, identifying its strengths and weaknesses and seeking to put in place a service reflective of organisations and volunteers’ expectations in 2012 and beyond.

Developing Training and Capacity Building Support So far, through our BIG Lottery funded Kingston Infrastructure Support and Development Project, we have delivered 67 training courses attended by 690 participants from the voluntary and community sector. In partnership with the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) under their Skills and Knowledge in Local Development (SKiLD) programme, we delivered a ‘Supporting Communities Development’ programme of 5 training courses designed to help development workers in the borough with their role.

We have also worked in partnership with Kingston College in supporting managers from 7 local voluntary organisations to obtain the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Diploma in Management and Leadership at Level 5.

Through the development of our training programme and workshops, our aim has always been to provide training that is relevant and meets the changing needs of the sector. This has included training on commissioning, developing social enterprises, developing outcomes, using ICT tools and social media for fundraising and monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Kingston Voluntary Action has secured funding from the City Bridge Trust to continue providing and developing capacity building advice and support. This will include organisational development support, identifying and promoting funding opportunities, providing support to local organisations with fundraising through grants and supporting organisations in income generation, commissioning and procurement.

Developing Information and Communications Support The local Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Kingston is informed about developments through KVA’s communication systems; disseminating information through the KVA website, quarterly newsletters, e-bulletins and email distributions, and through face-to-face communication with individuals and via our local networks.

KVA facilitates a range of forums for the sector, providing an opportunity to exchange information about any new or emerging needs and potential ideas/solutions for tackling these needs. These include the Community Development Network and Voluntary Sector Forum.

KVA chairs the Kingston Information and Advice Alliance (kiaa) that develops both policy and strategy for the advice sector. Kiaa supports a diverse range of agencies to work together, to identify needs and collaboratively work towards solutions.

KVA also chairs the Kingston Advisors’ Forum bringing together front-line advisors from all agencies.

The Forum is a platform for front-line advisors to take forward cross referral initiatives, update on legislation changes and enjoy all the benefits of networking.

KVA hosts the Information and Access to Advice project Kingston-i for residents in the borough of Kingston. The project is supported by community and voluntary organisations, in partnership with Kingston Council. It is a webbased directory of services, with telephone support. The aim is to help keep people well and maintain their independence, by providing greater choice for people using services throughout Kingston, by giving accurate, consistent and timely information.

The Superhighways Project continues to deliver services that ensure that VCS organisations keep up with changes and developments in IT communications. This includes online tools that can improve efficiencies in work practices and social networking applications, such as Twitter and Facebook, that are a good way for organisations to reach potential beneficiaries.

Cloud Computing is still the big focus in the IT world and we are working with the South London CVS Partnership’s BESPOKE Project to investigate just what advantages this new way of working could bring to voluntary organisations, along with the implications in terms of, for example, cost and security.

Managing Project Change Kingston Community Furniture has faced a challenging year during which stock donated was not always consistent with market demand. This reflected economic uncertainties nationwide. Nonetheless, the project ended the year in a stronger position and succeeded in building some strong collaborative working ties.

As a direct result of collaboration, the Project is actively reviewing its future governance and is currently considering the possibility of a merger with the Vine Project. This will lead to improved service delivery, reaching a wider community in South West London and Surrey.

Strategic Development and Community Cohesion With the increasing emphasis on Localism, empowering and involving residents and communities, voluntary and community sector organisations (VSC) play an even greater role in delivering services.

It is important that during these changing times, VCS organisations have a voice ‌ and a key role of KVA is to ensure that we represent the sector at a local and strategic level.

We represent the sector through the Local Strategic Partnership and under the Localism agenda, which includes the Community Engagement Strategy, the Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy, the Grants’ Review, the Social Enterprise Strategy, and the One Norbiton Working Together Project.

KVA is responsible for the dissemination of information, and provides a range of communication and networking opportunities for VCS organisations to meet each other and work collaboratively. The strength in this function lies in enabling groups to have a voice, to participate collectively and to respond to an immediate issue that affects the community.

Following an attack on Kingston Mosque in November 2010, there was a tremendous community response from organisations, community leaders and residents united in wanting to express their solidarity with the attacked community. Also wanting to express the view that an attack of this sort ran counter to the way that the Kingston community works and lives.

Kingston’s response was widely recognised as an example of best practice, in terms of how a community could come together to respond to such an incident. Community leaders have met since, and it has been agreed that we want to maintain momentum and find new ways to champion cohesion and enjoy commonality.

Taking this forward, it has been agreed that Kingston Voluntary Action will be the Chair of the newly formed Community Cohesion Group, with key partners from Kingston Police, Kingston University and Kingston Council being involved in supportive roles.

The key aims of the Group will be to nurture a safe and enjoyable environment for communities in Kingston, especially those which experience isolation, or feel vulnerable to attack.

Contact Kingston Voluntary Action

Kingston Volunteer Centre

Siddeley House, 50 Canbury Park Road Kingston KT2 6LX 020 8255 3335 www.kva.org.uk

020 8255 8685 www.kvc.org.uk

Hilary Garner, Chief Executive

Pat Stanley, Volunteering Good Practice Worker

Lynda Evans, Deputy Chief Executive

Hedley Featherstone, Good Sports Project

Maria Jarvis, Manager Richard Craig, Buddy Scheme Co-ordinator

Keith Morton, Business Manager

Co-ordinator

Maria Tunmer, Health & Social Care Manager Zahida Saddiq, Capacity Building Manager Sanja Kane, Workforce Development & Training Co-ordinator Chris Wingrove, Kingston-i Project Manager Judith Naylor, Children & Young People First Project Worker Polly Healy, Administrator

Kingston Community Furniture Adams House, Dickerage Lane, New Malden, KT3 3SF 020 8942 5500 www.kingstoncommunityfurniture.org.uk

Rianne Eimers, LINk Manager Debra McCarthy, LINk Support Co-ordinator

Adrian Collins, Project Manager Sean Murray, Business Manager James Deane, Operations Manager

Superhighways

Bart Ricketts, Eco-Op Project Co-ordinator

020 8255 8040 www.superhighways.org.uk

Chris Williamson, Recycling/Packaging Supervisor

Kate White, Manager

Sam Carrey, Support Worker

Colin Cregan, ICT Support Worker

John Legate, Bike Project Mechanic

Sue Ilsley, Support Worker

Yaarub Aisa, ICT Support Worker Sue Quilter, Admin Worker

Registered Charity No.

Funders We are extremely grateful to all our funders who funded our work throughout 2010-2011.

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