Vital Links between MLAs and the sector

Vital links - Knowledge, value and influence of the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland.

The purpose of the Vital Links programme is to increase interaction, to increase understanding on the part of key institutions on the voluntary and community sector and to increase the sector's understanding of how key institutions operate and how they can interact. A report from NICVA explores the links that have been forged between MLAs and voluntary and community organisations in an attempt to examine the relationship MLAs have with the sector, what knowledge and expertise they believe the sector has, how they access this knowledge and if they are influenced by the sector.

To gather the baseline data a questionnaire was circulated to 107 MLAs and a response rate of 29.9% was achieved.

Key Findings

• 96.9% of MLAs reported that they have links with voluntary and community organisations of which 67.7% have regular contact with seven or more organisations.
• 54.8% of MLAs are a committee member of a voluntary and community organisation. One third are a committee member in three organisations.
• 87.1% of MLAs believe the main challenge facing voluntary and community organisations is the cuts in public spending. Another main challenge is with regard to community planning (58.).
• Over 75% of respondents believe that the voluntary and community sector has expertise in providing services in community development, older people, volunteering, young people and advice services.
• 11.9% of MLAs reported that they have been provided with useful information and help in relation to race and ethnicity.
• 31.3% of respondents believe there is a lack of expertise in the voluntary and community sector in relation to sourcing funding streams and financial planning.
• 96.9% of respondents believe that the sector is valuable or very valuable with respect to their local communities. 93.8% of MLAs believe that the sector is either valuable or very valuable to their job as an MLA.
• 90% of MLAs believe that their relationships with voluntary and community organisations do have an influence on their party's position and 96.9% believe that they have an impact on their job as an MLA.
• The most common mistake made by voluntary and community organisations that have been in contact with MLAs is in relation to failing to understand processes and procedures (71.9%).
• Only 6.9% of MLAs reported that voluntary and community organisations have the most influential impact on their jobs.
• 80% of MLAs reported that they are knowledgeable or very knowledgeable about the sector while 16.7% stated that they are unsure how much knowledge they possess with regard to the sector.
• One of the main areas that MLAs believe the sector should focus on is in relation to sustainability and effective use of resources. Community leadership and cohesion was the second area that MLAs believe the sector should focus on (11.8%).

For further information on the findings contact Andrea Thornbury on andrea.thornbury@nicva.org or telephone 028 9087 7777.

For more information on the Vital Links project, contact Lorraine Boyd, Policy Co-ordinator, on lorraine.boyd@nicva.org

The Special EU Programmes Body is the Managing Authority for the European Union’s PEACE III Programme

This project is part-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE III) managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

www.seupb.eu.

A copy of the report Knowledge, value and influence of the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland is available as an attachment below.