SCVO Placement from 2 nd March to 13 th March Myint Su Zhu Yapeng Muhammad Saqib Aziz Chevening Fellows

Who is SCVO  An umbrella body for the voluntary sector  Established in 1939 as Scottish Advisory Committee  Reconstituted as a company limited by guarantee in 1946  In 1986 renamed as Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

Expectations Being a govt servant my areas of interest are following:  Organization and the structure of SCVO  How voluntary org shape their advocacy plans?  How govt policies are influenced?  How capacity building is carried out?  Possibility to establish same body back Country

Placement Begins  First week at Glasgow  Second at Edinburgh  Mixture of in house discussions and field visits  The organisations visited namely SCVO offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness Spirit Aid Volunteer Development Scotland Volunteer Centre Glasgow Wise Group

Contd Turning point- Glasgow drug crisis centre Care commission Glasgow housing Glasgow city chamber/council Quality Scotland Equality Unit Scottish Government Third Sector Division, Scottish Government EVOC HIV Scotland

SCVO as Umbrella  Membership body  1470 members  Services provision  Capacity building  Networking  Campaigning and advocacy  Public and Int role  Counterpart with Central Government

Capacity Building  Major organiser of Training Courses for Voluntary Organisations (Online courses, mentoring are also provided)  Capacity Building services for local authorities

Advocacy and Campaigning  Responses of the Voluntary Organisations input to the Scottish Parliament through Consultative Steering Group (CSG) (The CSG adopted four key principles for the Scottish government)  Local Compacts: agreement between community planning partners and the wide network of voluntary sector organisations in the city to work better together to achieve more for local people  The Scottish compact: agreement between the Scottish Executive and the voluntary sector on the principles of working in partnership  Implementation of the Compact is a key role for intermediary voluntary organisations, whose purpose is to represent and support other voluntary organisations in a particular field

Achievements  OSCR’s birth  Compacts  Intermediaries  Creation of Scottish Community Development Foundation

Common Challenges  Preparation for change and adaptability  Capacity issues  Funding and sustainability  Values and vision can be translated at the local level/ delivery level  Public and Int role

Concerns  Relationship with vol sector changing  Identification of submerged segments of society  The compact  Costs of administration  Public policy through campaigning  Public values- goals- role of civil society e.g establishment of turning point/ resistance by the community  funding issues- recession

Expectations Met? Learning  Background and Evolution of the Development of the Third Sector in UK an Scotland  Relationship between NGOs and the government  Special Implications from the placement host organizations

Background and Evolution of NGOs in UK  Limitations of a welfare state  Initiatives and advocacy activities of NGOs  Service provision of NGOs  Recognition of the advantages of NGOs in service delivery by the government  Development of NGOs, self-governance (e. g. Quality Scotland, quality control; SCVO capacity building; multi-level development); state regulation (OSCR)

Relations between Government and NGOs Recognition of role of the Third Sector by the government Maturization of the Third Sector in terms of regulation, representation of various NGOs and internal appraisal and evaluation, and research (Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Smooth and good interaction between the Government and Third Sector Legal or policy framework guiding NGOs and the Gov. (Compact, contract)

Implications  For Government Recognizing the key role of the third sector, urging for an open, tolerant and if better cooperative and enabling attitude Establishing regulatory organizations like OSCR  For NGOs More accountable, more capable, and service delivery oriented Establishing organizations like SCVO, Quality Scotland  For US- professional, capable and accountable

Values Learnt  Work culture/ethics  Professionalism  Capacity  Right person for right job  Systems/procedures