It doesn't feel like that long since I was writing about my first year at VONNE - time flies when you're having fun and have lots of work to do!
I've done so much over the last year and I'm really proud of what I've achieved. I'm glad I started a VONNE in January because it means this blog can feed into my yearly reflections. So, here's a look back over what I've done in 2022 and look forward to what I'm hoping to accomplish in 2023.
Going Green Together
Going Green Together was my little seedling that I had to plant in a new patch to let it grow. I loved working on the project and learned so much - including that there comes a point, where as a Projects Officer, you have to let some projects go and give them to someone else who has the time to do them.
Before handing the project over, I was able to immortalise myself by recording a presentation about top tips on communicating the climate crisis when it's not something you've done in your role before for Charity Comms' 'Communicating to Create Change: Tackling the environmental crisis' conference which is still available to download on their website. While I hate watching videos of myself, I do find it quite unbelievable that people from organisations across the UK can watch me doing a presentation.
Speaking of which, I gave loads of presentations about Going Green Together, from a last minute stand-in at NCVO's Members Assembly that VONNE co-hosted, right the way down to Cornwall for the 'VCSE 2030: So we think we're climate resilient' event (even if I did just join online). I also got the opportunity to be on the recruitment panel for the Going Green Together Coordinator role, which I found very exciting and interesting.
Going Green Together served me well for starting my role at VONNE and I'll always look back at working on it with fond memories. It's lovely to see what a fabulous job Nathaniel is doing as Coordinator and seeing the programme grow from afar!
Digital Pathfinders
My day one project! I've picked up all sorts of skills working on Digital Pathfinders - both from project delivery and being lucky enough to attend VONNE's workshops to host the sessions. For the last two Quarters I've even started writing the project reports, which is yet another skill to add to my arsenal. I've done so many presentations and went through the programme introduction so many times I know it off by heart now!
I could write pages reflecting on this project (and have in the reports!), but something I've really noticed is a change in myself. I'm a lot more confident now - one of my favourite parts of the job is going to grab a coffee and have a catch up with experts, organisations and do some networking, whereas this time last year that was something that made me quite nervous. It just goes to show that pushing myself to take the opportunities to network and meet people really paid off!
I continue to be super proud of the support we deliver - it really benefits organisations by helping them overcome challenges and we've been given useful feedback to work into the project going forward. If you want to find out about the support we can offer, just drop me an email - I'm more than happy to have a chat (especially if we grab a coffee too!).
Catalysing Innovation
Catalysing Innovation is a project I picked up after the VONNE restructure. I got the very cool title of 'Innovation Coordinator', hosted a variety of workshops on different ways organisations can innovate and I also learned how to do ERDF timesheets!
One of my key pieces of learning and perhaps a motivation, that has come from this programme was through a roundtable we hosted on doing recruitment differently in the sector. Everyone in the session was really keen to share ideas to help each other overcome the challenge of recruitment that everyone is facing at the moment. It would have been easy for people to gatekeep their own ideas, but everyone shared learning to work together. It really struck me that collaboration is a crucial part of innovation - there needs to be a collective movement to implement real change and progress. So, it's pretty amazing getting to be part of something that facilitates this innovation as part of my day job.
We'll be hosting various workshops as part of the programme which you can register for on the VONNE website.
Other projects
I don't think anyone has enough time for me to write in detail about all of the projects, so here's a snapshot on the rest of them.
Over the last year, I've continued working on the North East and Cumbria Funders Network, taking minutes, sharing the bulletin and learning how to set up hybrid meetings both for the Funders Network meetings and to facilitate collaboration sessions with the Youth Sector.
I've also continued to take minutes for the Policy Forum meeting - at my own request because it's an area I'm interested in. I've also carried on attending VCS Emergencies Partnership meetings and been sharing relevant information with our comms team (Amy!).
Since Anne Fry, my pervious line manager, left I've been able to start attending and taking notes for the Tees Valley Infrastructure Partnership meeting, which has been a great opportunity to get to understand what's going on in Tees Valley and build stronger partnerships with the Local Infrastructure Organisations. I've also started to attend the Social Justice Advisory Group meetings too which I've found really interesting. Finally, I've continued to carry on Anne's legacy by organising the VONNE projects Team meetings so we can share knowledge and collaborate across our projects and I think that might be just about everything!
Last bits from me
Non-project related achievements that are worthy of note include completing my Pricne2 Project Management Foundation and Practitioner Exams, welcoming Siobhan O'Neil as my new interim line manager and feeling like a LinkedIn-pro after getting 40 likes on one of my posts. Oh, and being promoted to Partnerships and Projects Officer (I dropped the 'Support' bit).
Going forward into year 3 at VONNE my goals are:
- To be more productive and organised and utilise the right tools to do this
- Complete Google Digital Garage's Digital Marketing course
- Use LinkedIn more regularly
- Work on my facilitation skills
Tune back in, in 2024 to find out how I get on in year 3!
VONNE is part-funded by ERDF as part of the Catalysing Innovation in North East Clusters 2021-2023 project, delivered by the Innovation SuperNetwork.
Innovation SuperNetwork includes the Catalysing Innovation in North East Clusters 2021-2023 project, which is receiving up to £1.28m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information, visit gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
The Northern Powerhouse is a key aspect of this government’s approach to addressing the productivity gap in the North and ensuring a stronger, more sustainable economy for all parts of the UK. Alongside over €1.5 billion of European Regional Development Fund support for businesses and communities across the North, the government has awarded £3.4 billion in three rounds of Growth Deals across the Northern Powerhouse.