By Paul McGill from NICVA
Published on 17 Jun 2008
Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has launched the Good Governance Guide developed by voluntary and community organisations to help ensure the sector meets high standards.
Seamus McAleavey, NICVA, Margaret Ritchie, Minister for Social Development, Murray Watt, Supporting Communities NI and Denise McCann, NICVA, at the launch.The Minister for Social Development, Margaret Ritchie MLA, launched the Code of Good Governance for the Voluntary and Community Sector on behalf of the Developing Governance Group at a special seminar in NICVA on 6 June 2008. The Minister said:
“I warmly welcome the publication of this Code of Good Governance. It can assist voluntary organisations in developing and enhancing their governance systems.
Good governance leads to good management, good performance, good stewardship of public money, good public engagement and, ultimately, good outcomes.
The publication of this document is very timely as it is Volunteers’ Week here in Northern Ireland. Approximately one in five of all formal volunteers are involved in the running of voluntary organisations – as leaders, committee members or trustees. This new Code can support these volunteers in delivering good governance.”
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For practical help and support in adhering to these principles visit www.communityskillsni.org or www.diycommitteeguide.org.
Judging by the great attendance at the launch, over 130 participants, there appears to be already a significant interest in the Code throughout the voluntary and community sector. The sector has been waiting for the official launch of this Code since summer of last year when the Developing Governance Group consulted on a draft Code which received a very positive response.
Thanks to funding secured from Lloyds TSB Foundation the Code has now been printed in a pocket sized booklet and committee/board room posters have also been produced. Each of the Developing Governance Group members has made a commitment to distribute the Code and a poster to each of its members. The Group is currently working on redesigning the diycommiteeguide website to map all of its online resources to each of the seven Principles of the Code which should be launched by the end of this year.
For further information contact the secretariat which is provided by Denise McCann, NICVA and Denise Hayward, Volunteer Development Agency
The Developing Governance Group is currently made up of the following sector support organisations: Age Concern NI, Community Evaluation NI, Community Change, Help the Aged, NICVA, Early Years (formerly NIPPA), Supporting Communities NI (formerly NITAP), NI Sports Forum/ Sports NI, Rural Community Network, St John Ambulance, Volunteer Development Agency and Youthnet.
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