eNews 12 September 2005

NICVA eNews: 13 September 2005

compiled by John McCormick, Information Officer

(1) Draft response to RPA - your comments needed

(2) Charity Oscars up for grabs

(3) Web accessibility workshop

(4) Small change for charity

(5) Arts – Towards an Inclusive Society

(6) Information Session on PEACE II Extension

(7) Kilroot to Pollute - Full Inquiry Demanded

(8) How Should We Conceptualise Equality?

(9) Your rights on CD Rom

(10) Youth Work Regional Resource Fairs

(11) Make an IMPACT

(12) New support group seeks members

Web Highlights

Make Your Move – new jobs this week on communityni.org

Community NI Diary

Membership

Subscribe to eNews

Feedback

(1)Draft response to RPA - your comments needed

NICVA has produced a draft response on the second round of consultation on the future of Public Administration in Northern Ireland. The response is recommending the seven council model and calling for a prominent role for the voluntary and community sector in local mechanisms to link new, larger councils to the communities they represent.

NICVA is asking for comments on the draft by 26 September 2005, before it goes to NICVA's Executive Committee on 28 September. The final closing date for submissions is 30 September.

Please send your comments on the draft to Frances McCandless at NICVA, email:frances.mccandless@nicva.org.

Copies of the draft response are available to download from: http://www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10088or

http://www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/070905RPADraft.

(2)Charity Oscars up for grabs

The regional nomination ceremonies for NICVA’s annual Link Awards were hosted last week by Paul Clark, the UTV personality. A total of 89 nominations were received in recognition of work being done for charities by companies, schools, clubs and societies.

Una McKernan, NICVA’s Director of Corporate Services said,

"We have been overwhelmed by the number of nominations we have received in this the nineteenth year of the Link Awards. The standard and scope of the competition continues to grow year on year and we are delighted to give the charities this opportunity to publicly thank all the companies for their continued support, innovation and commitment to their work.

The award categories were changed to reflect the support received from schools and smaller organisations and means that both large and small groups throughout Northern Ireland have a good opportunity of winning the main Link Award.

The Award presentations will take place at a gala event in the Ramada Hotel, Belfast, on 13 October 2005.

Tickets for the event may be booked through Creative Events (NI) on tel: 028 9023 5001. To view the full list of nominees and see pictures from the nomination evenings, visitwww.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10089.

(3)Web accessibility workshop

Web accessibility is about far more than implementing standards and use of technology. It is based on the principle that everyone has the right to information and to be included in society, regardless of disability, geographical location or language barriers.

Voluntary and community sector organisations work with some of the most excluded people in society. Promoting digital inclusion is an essential part of achieving social inclusion for marginalised people.

Promoting digital inclusion - making your online content universally accessible takes place on Wednesday, 28 September 2005 at NICVA. Organised by the ICT Consortium NI, this workshop offers participants an insight into the theory and practice behind accessibility and hands-on experience of using assistive technologies.

Jon Gooday of AbilityNet will give

So if you would like to make sure your web information is accessible to all, register now at:

www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/events/key/ICTConsortiumAccessibilityConference

(4)Small change for charity

More than £32 million that could be going to Northern Ireland charities is being washed down the drain, a survey carried out by NICVA has found. It also discovered that low-income people give a bigger share of their money to good causes than high earners. The government introduced tax incentives five years ago to encourage planned giving by individuals to charity but the new research shows that only a minority of donors take advantage of the new ‘gift aid’ system.

“Charities are losing a lot of money at a time of great financial uncertainty,” said NICVA researcher, Leeann Brady. “If every £1 donation was gift aided, it would be worth £1.28 to the charity. People in Northern Ireland give about £200 million per year to the voluntary and community sector and we estimate that charities could get an extra £32.8 million from the Treasury if all this money was gift aided.”

The research report finds that people in Northern Ireland are generous in their donations to charity, with more than nine out of 10 people making donations averaging £12.76 per month.

However, there is still ‘a small change culture’ to charitable giving. Less than one person in 20 gives £50 or more per month and only 8% of Northern Ireland workers use payroll giving.

Find out more about the report Is it worth more than small change? at: www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10091.

(5)Arts – Towards an Inclusive Society

This international conference of artists, community arts activists, community workers, policy makers and other experts will examine the role of the arts in bringing about meaningful social change, shining a spotlight on community arts activity in Northern Ireland. Local projects will be showcased to an international audience demonstrating, in particular, how community arts has evolved throughout the peace process.

Conference sessions will include world-renowned speakers, expert panels, lively discussions, and interactive community arts showcases in and around Belfast. The events planned will give delegates the opportunity to explore peace-building through community arts processes and practices with particular emphasis on issues of access, participation, authorship and ownership.

The conference will also highlight innovative and successful practices from other parts of the world. A key aim is to encourage and foster professional exchanges and partnerships. Community Arts Forum will be building an online global Community Arts Network for sharing ideas and experience and a Community Arts Partners’ Bank as a starting point for meaningful and sustained global community arts exchanges.

The main themes of the conference are:

• Transforming Communities through the Arts: Access, Participation. Authorship, and Ownership

• Arts in the Context of Conflict: What are We Learning?

The conference is being organised by the Community Arts Forum in collaboration with NICVA and the Rural Community Network, and will be held in conjunction with the launch of Belfast City Council’s Capital Celebrations and the Belfast Festival at Queen’s. The main sponsors so far are the Belfast City Council, and Arts & Business.

The conference takes place from 21 to 23 October 2005. View the full programme at http://www.caf.ie/conference/programme.asp.

(6)Information Session on PEACE II Extension

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has been selected as an Intermediary Funding Body (IFB) for the extension of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. The Foundation has responsibility for allocating and administering grants under Measure 2.4: Pathways to Inclusion, Integration and Reconciliation of Victims (Main Grants Programme) and Measure 2.7: Developing Low Community Capacity and Promoting Active Citizenship (Main Grants Programme / Small Grants Programme).

A number of public information sessions have been organised as follows:

Clinton Centre, Enniskillen 19 September 2005, 2.00pm to 4.00pm

Banbridge Leisure Centre 21 September 2005, 7.00pm to 9.00pm

Ecos Centre, Ballymena 22 September 2005, 11.00am to1.00pm

Dundonald Leisure Centre 26 September 2005, 2.00pm to 4.00pm

No advance registration is required. Please come along.

(7)Kilroot to Pollute - Full Inquiry Demanded

Environmentalists have called for a full inquiry into the future of Kilroot power station as permission was granted to the American owned plant to install new pollution control technology.

Friends of the Earth's Northern Ireland Director, John Woods, said:

"On the face of it, installing new plant to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions is a good thing. But in the strange world of Northern Ireland electricity production the result will be massive carbon dioxide pollution and a large financial bill for electricity users.

"If Kilroot installs this new technology, it will be able to continue to operate for another 20 years as one of the UK's five most inefficient power stations. It will continue to contribute 20% of our carbon dioxide emissions, ensuring that Northern Ireland will be the part of the UK that does least to tackle climate change. It is now up to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to conduct a full inquiry, into the implications of Kilroot's plans."

Friends of the Earth believes that Kilroot's future should be as a gas-fired station; as a back-up plant operating on reduced hours; or it should be closed.

Contact John Woods, Director (Northern Ireland) of Friends of the Earth on tel: 028 9023 3488.

(8)How Should We Conceptualise Equality?

Equality is an elusive concept – it means so many different things to different people that we are often in danger of talking past each other. In a sense, we are all egalitarians these days, because all of us believe in some conception of equality. But how do these conceptions relate to each other?

This workshop sets out the framework for thinking about equality that has been developed by members of the Equality Studies Centre at UCD, and published in their 2004 book, Equality: From Theory to Action. Participants will be invited to locate their own ideas about equality within the framework and to discuss ways that the framework might contribute to – or impede – their thinking about equality issues.

The event takes place on Wednesday 5 October 2005 at Express by Holiday Inn, University Street, Belfast.

Contact Gillian Purdy at Queen’s University for more details on tel: 028 9097 1243, email: g.purdy@qub.ac.uk

(9)Your rights on CD Rom

The Law Centre is launching Encyclopdia of Rights, a new user-friendly CD Rom of social welfare law, at NICVA on Tuesday 13 September 2005.

The CD-ROM covers social security benefits, tax credits, community care, a summary of employment

rights and some aspects of immigration law. Although primarily designed to help advisers in their work, the information is also available to the public through the Law Centre’s website www.lawcentreni.org and the Social Security Agency’s website www.ssani.gov.uk. The website version has been fitted with Browsealoud,

a speech enabling took which makes the site more accessible to people with mild visual impairments, dyslexia, literacy issues or for whom English is not the first language.

For more information contact Catherine Couvert on tel: 028 9024 4401.

(10) Youth Work Regional Resource Fairs

The Curriculum Development Unit is hosting a series of Resource Fairs to bring together youth work organisations and share resources and information. This will be an excellent opportunity to, informally, share practice, resources and network with colleagues.

Dates and venues are:

27 September 2005 - Canal Court Hotel, Newry

28 September 2005 - Everglades Hotel, Derry

29 September 2005 - Grosvenor House, Belfast

There are two events each day from 2.00pm to 5.30pm and from 6.30pm to 9.00pm.

The Unit hopes to attract participants who work with young people in a youth work, voluntary or community setting on a full-time, part-time or voluntary basis and many groups from the statutory and voluntary sectors will be exhibiting.

You can request a information leaflet/ booking form from the Curriculum Development Unit on tel: 028 9448 2336, email info@youthworkni.org.uk.

Individuals and groups that register to attend before the event will receive a complementary exhibition pack and refreshments.

(11) Make an IMPACT

GlaxoSmithKline is seeking nominations for its highly successful Community Health IMPACT awards in association with the King’s Fund. The national awards are designed to recognise and reward success and achievements for existing work in the challenging area of community healthcare. Organisations applying do not need to present a new project, and winners decide how to spend the money.

The awards are open to registered charities that are at least three years old, working in a health-related field in the UK, with a total annual income under £750,000. An overall winner will receive £30,000, nine other winners get £20,000 and up to ten highly commended organisations get £5,000.

Closing date for applications is Friday 21 October 2005.

Full details (including information on previous winners) are available at www.kingsfund.org.uk/gskimpactawards.

(12) New support group seeks members

DANDA, the Developmental Adult Neuro-Diversity Association deals with conditions such as Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, AD(H)D, Asperger's Syndrome and Tourette’s Syndrome and is aiming to set up a support group in Northern Ireland.

If you can help please contact Orla Hughes on tel: 0775 348 9863 or 028 8773 8626 or email: orla@stown.wanadoo.co.uk.

Web Highlights

Community NI-children in the headlines

New tools on the website

Surveys. This new function kicks off withthree short surveys - giveita whirl by completingone or all three questionnaires. www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/surveys

Galleries.Sample the image galleryby browsingthe photos from the Link Awards nominationevenings. www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/090905LinkNominations

In search of new members. An invitation from the Mencap Pathway groupwhich helps people with a learningdisabilityinto employment.

www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/2FF547DD-1143-D8AC-6BD698C455E7E41E

Partnerships: ICT Consortium.A new groupwithbigplans for ICT development, including a major seminar on website accessibility on 28 September 2005.www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/article/page/ICTConsortium

NICVA

Is it worth more than small change? Individualscould be giving an extra £32 million to charity each year if they chose to gift aid theirdonations. Latest research.

www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10091

Your comments needed- draft response to the Review of Public Administration. Thisresponsecalls for a prominent role for the voluntary and community sectorto link new, larger councils to the communities they represent. Send us your thoughts by email or addthem to theeconsulation.

www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10088.

eConsultation:www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10051

Link in pictures.Last week the nomination eveningsforthe2005 Link Awards took place. See the pictures and read the complete list of who has nominated who.

http://www.nicva.org/news/article.asp?ArticleID=10089

Make Your Move – new jobs this week on communityni.org

Environmental Education Forum Officerat NI Environment Link

Salary: £19,200

www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/jobs/key/3B888E44-1143-D8AC-6B518C256B75372D

Fundraising AssistantatIntegrated Education Fund

Salary: £14,364 - £17,469

www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/jobs/key/090905FundgA

Clowndoctors at Artscare NI

www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/jobs/key/090905Clowns

Community NI Diary

Membership

NICVA membership is open to all voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland.

To find out more contact Frances McAtamney on tel: 028 9087 7777, email: frances.mcatamney@nicva.org or visit the website http://www.nicva.org/members/become_a_member/index.asp.

Subscribe to eNews

Subscribe by sending a message to nicvalist@nicva.org with subscribe in the subject field.

eNews is sent to its subscribers weekly. Please feel free to circulate the information within your organisation as appropriate.

Feedback

Your feedback about this service is very welcome.

Please let us know if you change your email address . We do not pass email addresses to anyone else.

If you no longer wish to receive eNews you may unsubscribe by sending a message to nicvalist@nicva.org with unsubscribe in the subject field.

The information in eNews has been provided and collated from numerous accredited sources. NICVA does not take responsibility for any third party content or any of the opinions expressed.