Norfolk Unites was developed in the period January 2008 - October 2008. This work was funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to support the development of a Norfolk Third Sector learning and skills consortium to bid for and to manage LSC contracts. In the course of this work, other needs and issues of a potential Norfolk VCS consortium emerged and the model adjusted accordingly. In this section, we explore those initial drivers and that developmental journey.
Why a Norfolk-wide VCS learning consortium? - national drivers; Local previous research and consultations; Pre Unite; Unite; Unite 2; The development work; Unite 3; Pilot - From 'Consortium' to 'Partnership'
Why a Norfolk-wide VCS learning consortium - national drivers
See here for explanation of the Gershon Report and how this and other factors necessitated the need to review how the VCS were able to access learning and skills contracts.
Local previous research and consultations
Norfolk Unites is built on numerous previous research and consultations. Quoting from Getting Smarter, "The development of a county learning and skills strategy must be rooted in work that has been developed over a number of years.” See library to view some of this previous work.
Pre Unite
Numerous research and consultations lay out the context for this work, such as the Learning & Skills Council's 'Working Together' (a paper for closer working ties between the LSC and the Voluntary and Community Sector), 'Getting Smarter' (looking at the strategies of the Norfolk VCS learning and skills area of working) and 'Developing Voluntary Sector Learning Structures for the Voluntary and Community Sector.'
Unite (March 2007)
Unite was a conference held in March 2007 which raised awareness and prospect of a Norfolk-wide VCS learning consortium and seeing who would like to be involved, or are least be kept informed of developments. The Unite conference report set out a plan for continuation of this work and it is these recommendations which have been taken up in Norfolk Unites.
Unite 2 was an event held in January 2008 to launch the development work leading towards a Norfolk VCS learning and skills consortium. Delegates from a range of VCS organisations were asked their thoughts on this and how this work should be shaped. See here for full details.
The development work - the working groups
The development work revolved around 4 working groups: Model; Finance & Legal; Quality & Systems and Communication & Engagement. See here for full details. This development work produced 6 separate reports: Development report; Quality report; Learning consortia survey report; Directory report; Discussion paper and; Business Plan. All these documents are contained in the library section.
Unite 3
Unite 3 was an event held in September 2008 to present the findings of the development work and to launch Norfolk Unites as a working Norfolk Third Sector learning and skills consortium. See here for more details.
Pilot consortium: September 2008 - July 2009. From 'Consortium' to 'Partnership'
Putting the above work into place has been a challenge within the seemingly ever changing learning and skills landscape. It has not been without its rewards, though, such as improved links between a local WBL Train to Gain consortium, which has yielded new training delivery and relevant training accessed for some of our partners. Closer working with the FE colleges of Norfolk will ensure that on future applications we will be best placed to contribute rather than pitching ourselves (often unsuccessfully) as the Third Sector against those FE applications. The beneficiary is at the core with everything here - how can we work most effectively as a whole cross sector unit of provision for our service users?
In recognition of this evolution, Norfolk Unites has re-branded itself as a 'Partnership' not a 'Consortium'. Whilst it may appear to not be such a big difference, it is very significant in terms of the way in which Norfolk Unites operates, not as a seperate 'thing' but working in a cross sector way, promoting a partnership and collaboration ethos amongst participants so that we are able to respond and act flexibly to the needs as they arise.
