We are very pleased to have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Compact Award for Excellence at a National Level in this year’s Compact Awards. This is awarded to a national partnership, Government department or a national third sector umbrella body for outstanding achievement in promoting and implementing the letter and spirit of the Compact.
Will we win? Two members of our Advisory Board (Trewin Restorick and Phil Barton) and two members if the third sector team (Sandra Totterdell and Conor Ritchie) will be going along to the awards dinner on 3/11/09 to find out. We will let you know how we get on.
The Social Enterprise Ambassadors website has been revamped and relaunched. The site features new case studies, photos, videos speaker profiles, news, campaigns and blogs and we are promised much more to come.
The Social Enterprise Ambassadors are leaders of some of the country’s most successful social enterprises and have been engaged by the Office of the Third Sector to promote social enterprise across all government departments. We are able to link with the Social Enterprise Ambassadors through the Office of the Third Sector and have had one-to-one discussions with the following ambassadors who have a keen interest in re-use and recycling – key policy areas for Defra:
Reed Paget – Belu – Belu water is distributed in bio-degradable ‘plastic’ bottle made from maize Kresse Wesling – new markets for waste products Jean Jarvis – South Shropshire Furnture Scheme
“There is more and more interest in measuring and valuing the impact of organisations on society. The Measuring Social Value Project is hosting a conference where third sector organisations, commissioners and investors will come together to share experiences of how Social Return on Investment (SROI) – one of the most exciting innovations in this field – is being used.”
The conference is on 7 December. If you are planning to attend, I hope to see you there. If you aren’t attending but you’re interested, please check back later as I’ll be posting a report here on the blog. Full details and the opportunity to register can be found on the SROI website, here.
Image credit: Carnegie UK Trust (from the Rural Manifesto Report published today)
The experiences of pioneering rural communities in championing sustainable lifestyles can inspire neighbourhoods everywhere according to a report published today by the Carnegie UK Trust, building on evidence gathered through a collaboration with Big Lottery Fund and forty-four organisations and communities on the front line.
Kate Braithwaite, Director of Carnegie’s Rural Programme said: “although this report draws on innovative ideas from rural communities, it is relevant to neighbourhoods everywhere. All communities are increasingly faced with radical change where there are no existing solutions. We need new structures and new thinking to achieve our vision for the future”.
Gerald Oppenheim, Director of Policy and Partnerships at Big Lottery Fund said: ” This report examines some of the most pressing challenges facing rural communities. The findings provide a rich source of inspiration and action for policy makers and funders.”
Key findings from the Manifesto suggest:
New entrepreneurial organisations like development trusts are flourishing but elected representatives have to collaborate more
In times of austerity application of locally raised finance needs to be allied with funding redistributed from large regeneration programmes
Communities play a growing role in delivering tailor-made rural services
A realisation that the pursuit of growth is not everything: ‘well being’ matters
Without a sense of place it is difficult for people to feel like they belong
In terms of infrastructure, distributed and localised solutions to rural affordable housing and transport are leading the way
Rural communities are guardians of food, energy, water resources for all of us
Hello there! Just a quick post here to introduce myself, I am Joe Taylor and I’m the newest member of the Third Sector Team here in Defra, I joined the team yesterday (19/10/09). I’m really looking forward to working to boost Defra’s capacity to engage with the sector, and also adding to Defra’s capacity to boost the sector!
Previously I was in Defra’s Sustainable Development Unit, working across Government to increase the recognition of environmental and social issues in housing supply.
I will be posting on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs matters, but am most keen on Sustainable Development, which is also Defra’s lead Government responsibility. I passionately believe that the Third Sector is the way forwards to address social and environmental issues and increase mental and physical health and wellbeing, as society moves towards a more equitable split of environmental, social and economic priorities.
I see this blog as a great way for Defra to engage with the sector in a two-way dialogue. I’m going to do my best to post items of interest quickly, but please let me know if there is anything coming up that you think I should be posting about, or where I have missed opportunities in posts. Likewise, this will only work if you also have your say, so please don’t hold back on posting comments! If you want to get in touch with me via email, my details are on this page.
Lucy Findlay (RISE) | Clare Joy (Hornbeam Centre) | Mary Rayner (Co-operatives UK) | Marlene Barrett (Hornbeam Centre)
One of the roles of Defra’s Social Enterprise Strategic Partnership (SESP) is to raise awareness within Defra to the role social enterprises play in the delivery of Defra’s policy objectives. Our SESP do this in a variety of ways: through events; by working directly with policy leads on current issues; through internal communications channels and . . . . field trips. This photo was taken during the first field trip the SESP has organised (12/10/09). We filled a minibus and two ‘green’ taxis with policy officials and headed for the Hornbeam Centre and then to Shoreditch Development Trust.
The Hornbeam Centre (www.hornbeam.org) provides a base for local food and environmental education projects and has strong links with Organic Lea (www.organiclea.org.uk), a local food growing co-operative. The Shoreditch Trust, a multi-purpose community organisation that also manages the award-winning eco-friendly Acorn restaurant (”The most important restaurant to open in London in the past 200 years” – Giles Coren, The Times) and Waterhouse Restaurant (“takes sustainability to a whole new level and is arguably the greenest urban restaurant in the world” – Caterer & Hotelkeeper).
Although the core theme of the field trip was ‘food’ the additional social and environmental benefits that are a feature of service delivery through social enterprises were demonstrated very powerfully.
Many thanks to our hosts at the Hornbeam Centre and Shoreditch Trust.
Vertical Garden at CaixaForum in Madrid
Image credit: Patrick Breen
Guy Thompson, Executive Director, External Affairs at Natural England, addressed Defra’s Third Sector Advisory Board on Monday (5/10/09). Guy highlighted the value of the third sector to the work of Natural England. He indicated that Natural England were working to publish their third sector policy statement in line with the commitment made in Defra’s Third Sector Strategy (commitment 10.2). The Third sector Team has been providing support to Natural England in this process and in turn Natural England has been liaising with two of Defra’s other big delivery bodies, the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency, who are also looking to publish their policy statements in Compact Week.
He also mentioned the work they were doing currently on their long term strategy: Vision 2060. You can find out more about their strategy and comment on the Vision 2060 blog.
The same team within Defra who provided us with this blog has been working on the broader issue of eConsultation. The first example of an online consultation is Food 2030. Food 2030 is a cross-government initiative looking at food strategy over the next 20 years. The Food 2030 team would like to hear your views on this issue so that they can make the food system better for the economy, for our environment and for our health and wellbeing. The online consultation will stay open until 16 October 2009.
All third sector organisations, especially those with an interest or experience in the food and health sectors, are encouraged to log on and engage with this eConsultation.
ACT ! – Addressing the Climate Threat – is a Europe-wide campaign which aims to co-ordinate and promote the activities of co-operatives across Europe to ensure that their voice is heard at Copenhagen.
What you can do now (whether you are a Co-op member or not)
Go to the ACT ! website – www.actonclimate.coop – and sign the co-operatives petition demanding a fair, ambitious and binding agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December;
“Over 11.3 million people in the UK are members of co-operatives – that’s one in five of the population. If we all sign the petition and pledge to cut our carbon emissions we’ll have a huge impact.” Dame Pauline Green, Chief Executive of Co-operativesUK and Co-President of Cooperatives Europe.
Huw Irranca-Davies, Defra’s Third Sector Minister (centre), with Debbie Leach of Thames21 and Mick Denness of BTCV
The Muck In4Life roadshow came to the Defra Atrium today. The campaign to get families engaged in environmental volunteering activities has been touring the country and been a part of local events such as County shows. Although Muck In4Life has been working in partnership with third sector organisations, it has been managed by Defra’s Communications Team.
Defra’s Third Sector Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies, has been involved in many of the regional events and commented very positively about his involvement in these. We reported on the launch and the Minister commented on his involvement in this today. He said that the failure to remove a wheel barrow from the Thames on that occassion was on his list of ‘unfinished business that he was going to have to return to’!
