Carlisle Council for Voluntary Service
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Carlisle Rural Audit :
Evaluation The evaluation process will be undertaken by a member of Voluntary Action Cumbria’s staff who has not been involved in the work of the audit. The process will involve the key partners and a cross section of survey respondents in structured interviews to assess the impact of this work over a six, twelve and eighteen month period. We will be asking those involved whether they have seen an improvement in service as a consequence of our joint working and whether the issues they raised in the survey have been addressed in any way. The evaluation results will be reviewed and reported to relevant boards of VAC and CVS and acted upon as appropriate. This evaluation will be reported to the Home Office Active Community Unit to meet the conditions of the grant aid. Key
Outcomes and Actions
Ø Joint mailing lists between organisations facilitated Ø Increased awareness of voluntary and community groups in rural Carlisle (from 30 – 463) Ø An analysis of categories of groups identified in rural areas shows that the majority of groups identified (31%) are sports and leisure, Other (20%), under 8's (16%), youth (12%), older adults (6%). This analysis also highlighted the lack of support groups for carers and people with physical or mental disabilities. Ø The identification of "anchor points" or main centres where people living in an area of "nil activity" go for activities and services even if they need to travel e.g. Brampton, Longtown and to a lesser degree Dalston. Ø Lack of funding was seen as the main barrier to more outreach services being provided in rural areas by established voluntary groups based in Carlisle. We will:
Recommendations
for Future Work
The project was successful in achieving all of its initial aims. We were able to conduct a complete mapping exercise of the Carlisle district, and look at the capacity of the groups identified. During the course of the project, several areas of need emerged that would certainly benefit from further work in the future. Therefore we are able to put forward the following recommendations for future work:
Conclusion
The rural voluntary and community sector in the Carlisle District is strong and vibrant. This project provided an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits and potential of joint working between rural support organisations to better meet the identified needs of rural communities. The findings of this audit show continued complex and varied support needs. These needs can be met by CCVS, VAC, VB and local authorities working more effectively together.
Action
Plan for future joint working of Carlisle CVS, Carlisle Volunteer Bureau and
Voluntary Action Cumbria
The Partnership Development
Fund project created a steering group with representatives of CCVS, VAC,
CarlisleVB, Cumbria County Council Neighbourhood Development officer and
Carlisle City Council Rural Support Officer. This partnership worked very well
together on the project and a number of other initiatives were facilitated as a
result. These included a co-ordination of funding advice in the Carlisle
District and the development of a programme of joint funding advice sessions to
run quarterly in both the rural and urban wards of Carlisle District. An existing network of people
from a variety of agencies working on rural issues meet bi-monthly as the
Carlisle Rural Support Group. This group may be able to progress some of the
recommendation for future work identified by the PDF project.
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