Lord Mayor helps to forge Vital Links
NICVA has officially launched its Vital Links ‘Get to know the sector’ programme in Belfast City Hall, which aims to enable participants to explore policy issues, build new relationships and engage meaningfully with the voluntary and community sect
The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile opened the proceedings, welcoming around 40 people from Local Government, MLAs and Government departments.
Seamus McAleavey, NICVA Chief Executive, spoke on the importance of the programme and outlined NICVA’s role in representing the voluntary and community sector, emphasising the importance of the sector in helping all and in creating open spaces for discussion for the betterment of society.
Head of Public Affairs, Lisa McElherron, highlighted the aim of Vital Links in increasing the interaction and understanding of the key institutions and the voluntary and community sector and fostering and promoting positive engagement. Lisa then went on to reiterate the importance of this PEACE III funded, ILM accredited programme in building upon the relationships between the public sector and the voluntary and community sector.
The programme design has been assisted by Belfast City Council, the Department of Social Development and all the main political parties, who have all sent representatives to be part of the project’s core review group.
Successful pilot programme
A participant on the pilot programme, Lorraine Dennis, Belfast City Council Project Manager with Growing a Shared City, explained how taking part in the programme gave her a greater insight and understanding of the voluntary and community sector. Lorraine talked about the professionalism of the sector and how both sectors need work together to build better communities and a better society.
The final speaker, Naomi Hodgins from Home-start in North Down, spoke about the role of Home-start, the importance of volunteers and how it works with over 140 families. Naomi also talked about the benefits of hosting a placement, how the participant got to see the functions of the organisation and the knowledge they took from it.
Programme content
The ‘Get to know the sector’ programme will be starting in August 2011, and will cover six areas, along with a work placement:
- Overview of the voluntary and community sector
- Rules and regulations of voluntary and community sector
- Different roles within the voluntary and community sector
- The voluntary and community sector as employers
- Placement with a voluntary or community organisation
- Review of learning from case studies
- Contribution of the voluntary and community sector
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