ICT Consortia Work
Consortia Work
The Regional ICT Champion is overseeing a piece of work to 'map & gap' the ICT needs in each sub-region via their respective Capacitybuilders Consortia. Capacitybuilders have described it as "crucial" for the ICT Champions to be able to definitively say, for example;
- "What is the current state of ICT in Co Durham consortia?"
- "What aspirations does the Tees Valley sub-region have for ICT development?"
- "Show me the ICT journey from October 2008 to October 2009 for Tyne & Wear consortia"
- "What do Northumberland's organisations need from technology?"
They are interested in being fully appraised about what ICT activity is currently being undertaken, what joint initiatives are there, is ICT featured in your consortia business plans and strategies etc. We need to ensure infrastructure ICT support is available, and/or clearly signposted to, when it is needed.
So this is about everyone being clear as to a sub-regions ICT needs in terms of 'what's the picture?', 'what are the gaps?', 'what can the consortia do to move ahead?', 'what can the ICT Champions do to help?'.
The work ‘in the field' is being undertaken by individuals from within each of the sub-regions and this is going very well indeed. We recognised the benefits of using local knowledge and skills to deliver this work and so have allocated the majority of this work to these local deliverers. We sought and gained each sub-regional consortia's involvement, guidance and endorsement to identify an individual or organisation in each sub-region to undertake this consortia mapping and gapping work.
For consistency, we refer to these roles as Sub-Regional ICT Champions and more specifically detailing their remit, they;
Are identifying within their sub-region:
1 Weaknesses, gaps and unmet needs in ICT support service provision that should be included in their sub-regional consortia business plans and strategies.
2 ICT training, information and support needs of generic and specialist development workers.
3 Information about suppliers of good quality ICT infrastructure activities, support and services at regional, sub-regional and local levels.
4 Funding sources available for the provision and support of ICT infrastructure organisations.
Work through consortia organise and attend meetings and events to:
5 Offer 'hands-on' advice encouraging consortia members to strengthen and make effective use of their own ICT and to improve the ICT support offered to organisations they work with.
6 Encourage ICT support service providers to network and share good practice in sustaining existing services and in planning to fill any gaps that are identified.
Use printed, web and electronic communications media to:
7 Promote events, training and resources.
8 Impartially signpost to and disseminate details of existing trusted ICT infrastructure support providers within the region.
9 Share good practice developed within the region and elsewhere both locally and nationally.
Are the main point of contact on a sub-regional level regarding ICT strategy for ...
10 Sub-regional consortia, and
11 Local Infrastructure Organisations.
Provide feedback to the Regional ICT Champion as requested to:
12 Demonstrate effective engagement with the stakeholders listed above.
13 Illustrate any improvements in ICT development across the region.
In due course, we will start working on an update to the 2007 Regional ICT Strategy. The knowledge being accrued by the Sub-Regional ICT Champions will therefore prove invaluable in helping to shape the updated strategy and detail an accurate picture of our regions technology needs and desires. If you would like to know more about this, the contact details for each ICT Champion undertaking the work are:
Co Durham - Carl Chapman T: 0191 389 3467 carl@camsent.com
Tyne & Wear - Lewis Atkinson T: 0191 256 5015 lewis@communityitacademy.org
Northumberland - Geof Armstrong T: 01670 520 889 geof@ncdn.org
Tees Valley - Maurice Olum T: 0845 009 1137 mpolum@solumac.com
These first 4 listed documents are prepared quarterly to report on the collective findings and status in the sub-regions. The latter document is collated by the lead body for this project, NAVCA and reports on what the national picture looks like as this mapping work progresses.
Andrew Samuel (Sam)
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