Projects
CircuitRiders North East (CRNE)
It is with great pleasure that we can announce the success of our BASIS Round 2 bid with the Big Lottery Fund for the Circuit Riding North East project (CRNE).
For full details about this, including how you can get help from the project, visit our dedicated CircuitRiders page by clicking here CircuitRiders
Case Studies
Here's a useful insight into just a few of the projects making a difference in our region.
NE RC Case Study - Tees Valley Rural Community Council PDF (44Kb)
NE RC Case Study - VoluntarySkillsPDF (44Kb)
NE RC Case Study - Richmond FellowshipPDF (44Kb)
NE RC Case Study - Regional Refugee ForumPDF (44Kb)
NE RC Case Study - NESEPPDF (44Kb)
NE RC Case Study - NCDNPDF (44Kb)
NE NetGain Case Study - Belle VuePDF (335Kb)
NE Accessibility Case Study 2PDF (44Kb)
NE Accessibility Case Study 1PDF (44Kb)
Commissions for Regional Development 2007/08
Following further development of the Regional ICT Champion role, the National ICT Hub awarded the region funding to complete several commissioned pieces of work during 2007/08.
Final reports for these commissioned projects are available here to view or download:
Accessibility
Hard to reach/Pump Priming
Sub-Regional Roadshows
Policy Focus
Funding Strategy Toolkit
CVS & 2nd Tier Allowance
Faith Workshops
Cross Sector Training Signposting - Ribble Consultants
Cross Sector Training Signposting - VoluntarySkills.Com
ICT Training Issues
One of the above mentioned projects served to address a concern that ICT training is a problem area in the voluntary and community sector.
The following were recent quotes made to the Regional ICT Champion by a number of IT professionals working in the VCS:
“free training was made available but the take-up was very poor”
“we had to cancel the free workshops due to lack of interest”
“the needs and provision don’t match”
“often organisations simply don’t realise how much the training could help them”
“Ironically, it seems that those who could benefit most from technology through improved access to information and services are also those least likely to have access to it or be comfortable using it”
So we decided to commission some research to address these concerns. We wanted to look into the disparity highlighted above, so the research endeavoured to consult VCO’s across the region, find out what ICT training needs our VCO’s really have and make recommendations for a realistic and viable way forward in helping them to take full advantage of available ICT training and so continue to enhance and strengthen our sector.
Initially, Ribble Consultants carried out a period of research involving one to one consultations with both training providers and VCO's.
Following this, to enlarge on the earlier findings, voluntaryskills.com was commissioned to conduct an on-line survey and data analysis which was very encouragingly participated in.
Both sets of research are available below:
Ribble Consultants Final Report:
PDF format (101Kb)
Voluntary Skills Final Report:
Faith Workshops
The Regional ICT Champion is committed to meeting the needs of groups from diverse backgrounds and reaching the hardest to reach groups in the voluntary and community sector. Recognising this challenge, and in light of no clear specialist infrastructure networks being identified for faith, the ICT Hub made funding available to reach out to faith groups with a piece of work.
The project concentrated on faith groups and communities in the north east region including Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Quaker, Jain and other less well known faith groups. Three events were held and although numbers attending the events were not as great as hoped, the feedback from those that did attend was extremely positive. The most positive aspect of the presentations given on the days was that almost none of the attendees were aware of the Changeup programme or the Hubs but left fully conversant with them.
Full accreditation must be given to John Hames of the North East Further Education Interfaith Forum. John did a first class piece of work here that was much appreciated by many people. Thanks John.
Faith Report Word (87Kb)
Case Study COF Word (96Kb)
Case Study NEFE Word (91Kb)
Faith Presentation PPT (781Kb)
Exchange Visits Project
Are you interested in the work that a similar VCS organisation to yours is doing? Do you think it would benefit your organisation to spend some time with someone who has been along the path you are treading? Are you short of the funds to make this happen? Then we would like to help and have funds available to cover expenses for both the host and the visiting organisations. The Regional ICT Champion wants to hear from organisations that would benefit from visiting other similar projects regionally or possibly nationwide. We hope to assist VCS organisations to visit other groups to share their expertise, good practice and to create alliances. Both the visiting organisation and the organisation being visited will be expected to produce a short summary of the visit (no more than 1 page) including details of how it was of benefit to them. After 6 months both organisations will again be contacted to give a short update on progress they have made from the initial visit for feedback purposes. If you are interested there is a brief form to fill out stating how you would benefit from such an exchange. This can be obtained from the Regional ICT Champion at andrew.samuel@vonne.org.uk
Visual Voices Digital Photography Competition 2007
Following workshops run across the region to help organisations better use digital cameras, and the invitation to all workers in the VCS to submit digital photographs into the associated competition, the following four entrants photographs were selected:
Diane Green - Wansbeck Writers - Overall winner
Blerim Azizaj - Children North East
Ernest Malt - MHNE
Richard McLeod - Cultural Awareness Integration
All other images entered have been made available royalty free so that any VCS organisation can use them.
You can view all of the entries at the following Visual Voices website A huge thank you is owed to Richard B. MacLeod for putting this site together. Take a look, he's done a great job!
If by any chance any of the photographs are mis-labled (or not accredited at all) then please contact Richard MacLeod at richy@richardmacleod.co.uk and he will correct the error.
Some of the images entered into this competition were incorporated in a 2008 calendar which VCS organisations are welcome to download, print and use. You may also sell this calendar to generate funds if you so wish as all images featured are completely royalty free. This is also available from the above website.
Andrew Samuel (Sam)