PRESS RELEASE
Strictly embargoed until 00.01 hrs, Wednesday 20 September 2006.
Volunteering England and NAVCA (The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) are to announce a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at NAVCA’s annual conference today. The aim of the initiative is to increase the impact and effectiveness of both organisations’ services to members, as well as to encourage closer collaboration between Local Infrastructure Organisations and Volunteer Centres.
Volunteering England (VE) and NAVCA are strongly committed to partnership working in order to add value and strength to their core activities and, wherever possible, to be speaking with a united voice to their members, as well as to Government on their behalf. To this end, the two agencies will hold a meeting each year of chairs and chief executives to review: the MOU and its impact; joint activity undertaken; intelligence from both organisations about the way the relationship is perceived at local level; the ways in which NAVCA and VE intend to develop the relationship in the coming year; and potential for the development of new joint activity.
Christopher Spence CBE, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said: “We very much welcome this commitment to joint working between NAVCA and VE. We have a shared history of working in partnership to support the strategic development of volunteering in England, and through this undertaking, pledge to serve our overlapping constituencies through effective communication and collaboration.”
Kevin Curley, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said: “In the past too much energy has been wasted at local level in pointless arguments about which organisation should lead the work needed to support volunteering. What NAVCA and VE are saying is that collaboration is vital. It doesn’t matter who leads the work so long as volunteers get good support in every part of England. We will set the tone by working well together at national level’.
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Notes to Editors
- For more information on Volunteering England, call Cat Dean on 0207520 8932 oremail cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org.For out of hours press enquiries, contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128057.
- For more information on NAVCA, call Kevin Curley on 0114 278 6636 or email kevin.curley@navca.org.uk
Volunteering England’s aims are to increase the quality, quantity, contribution and accessibility of volunteering throughout England; secure and support an England-wide network of quality volunteer development agencies, promoting and enabling volunteering and community involvement; undertake research, policy and development activity; and provide grants, support and advice to sustain and develop volunteering. It understands the term volunteering to include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.
NAVCA is the national voice of local voluntary and community sector infrastructure in England. Its 360 members work with over 140,000 local community groups and voluntary organisations, helping them to provide services, regenerate neighbourhoods, increase volunteering and tackle discrimination in partnership with local public bodies. NAVCA supports local infrastructure organisations in developing high quality services to their communities and is their voice nationally.
