nicvanews December/January 2011

This month’s round up

The Comprehensive Spending Review continues to dominate the news, with the Review announcement confirming NICVA’s worst fears. As Chief Executive Seamus McAleavey commented, in tough times the focus must be on finding win-win solutions that work for government and the people. By focusing on intervening early in problems the voluntary and community sector offers efficient solutions that deliver the preferred outcome for citizens, such as keeping people out of care, while avoiding the need to rely on more expensive alternatives.

The message of the Smart Solutions in Tough Times campaign is getting through to our elected representatives, with the First and deputy First Ministers meeting NICVA for a second time about the budget. We were able to give them a copy of Investing in Smart Solutions, which highlights innovative examples of smart solutions in the sector.

The New Year kicks off with a brand new NICVA training calendar packed with up to the minute training such as CVs and Interviews, Managing Change, and Customer Service - see page 7 onwards for what’s coming up. The season also brings a welcome raft of funding opportunities.

If you’ve been putting aside a lot of those finance, admin and HR procedures until the New Year or perhaps want to start planning for the future and need some outside help, why not have a look at what Sector Matters - our social economy venture offering quality business services - has to offer? See page 3 for details.

Finally, as it’s the last edition before January we’d like to take the opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and thank you for your continued support.

John McCormick