Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sep 2011
What is GAVCA?
GAVCA is a local support and development organisations, and what has formerly been known as a Council for Voluntary Services or CVS. These organisations, of which there is a network across the country,affiliated to the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), all have five core functions:
1To enable the voluntary/community sector (VCS) to identify, and appropriately meet, unmet needs and gaps in service provision. (Development)
2To enhance the capacity of the voluntary and community sector by providing and promoting technical and practical support services. (Support)
3To encourage networking, enabling the voluntary/community sector to share knowledge, information and skills, and to promote liaison between the voluntary, public and private sectors. (Liaison)
4To ensure effective and accountable representation of voluntary and community sector views and interests. (Representation)
5.To broker an effective role for the voluntary/community sector at a strategic level. (Strategic Partnerships)
Some History
Gloucester Centre for Voluntary Services (GCVS), as it was then called, was established in January 1996 in response to an identified need for a local development agency to support and promote the voluntary and community sector within the City of Gloucester. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee and is governed by an Executive Committee, the members of which are both trustees of the charity and directors of the company. The majority of members of the Executive Committee are elected from its membership of over 200 voluntary and community groups. The organisation is, therefore, “user-led” and managed. Funding for the organisation comes from a variety of sources: local authorities, charitable trusts, Government initiatives and income generated from membership fees.
Since 1996, GAVCA has been supporting approximately 300 voluntary and community groups operating within Gloucester through a number of initiatives, including:
1. Organisational development and support services – assisting with such issues as employment law, legislation, starting a new group, and fundraising.
2Liaison and Representation – bringing together local groups through the Gloucester Community and Voluntary SectorForum to provide an arena for consultations, information exchange and to act as a channel for local groups to voice their opinions on local policy. Representatives from groups are elected and supported to represent the sector on a number of major partnerships with the statutory sector, in particular the local strategic partnership.
3.Partnership Working – staff from GAVCA contribute their combined knowledge and experience of the VCS in the city into various areas of partnership working including the city’s regeneration programme, a joint employment and skills plan and many initiatives with the City Council.
4.Resources –we provide access to a training room, photocopying, franking, laminating etc.
In 2004, with the agreement of its partner infrastructure organisations in the county (which collectively form the county’s consortium to deliver the Government’s Change-up agenda, called the Gloucestershire Infrastructure Group, or GIG), GAVCA has had an increasing role in developing some of the functions of a VCA across the whole county, in areas of work which benefit from a countywide response or where it is more effective and efficient to provide a countywide service. This work has included:
- Training and Learning – we run a regular training programme covering such subjects as first aid, writing funding applications, how to chair meetings, partnership working skills etc. We also work on an individual basis with organisations to help them meet their learning needs in whatever way is appropriate to them.
2Liaison and Representation – bringing together local groups through a “County VCS Assembly” to provide an arena for consultations, information exchange and to act as a channel for local groups to voice their opinions on local and national policy. Representatives from groups are elected and supported to represent the sector on the key thematic partnerships and sub groups, that make up the county’s Local Strategic Partnership (known collectively as the Gloucestershire Conference) and in the development and delivery of the Local Area Agreement.
3The Compact – an agreement between the voluntary and statutory sectors in the way they work together – the Gloucestershire Assembly Teamtook the lead in its development and implementation.
4 Information Services – including management of a website for the VCS across the county, a quarterly newsletter, weekly targeted email news bulletins on specific themes,. and the development of a countywide database of the VCS which is used by the public sector and VCS alike to provide intelligence about services across the county.
5Volunteering Brokerage – since April 2010, GAVCA has been a partner with Third Sector Services to deliver a countywide volunteer brokerage scheme, matching individuals who wish to volunteers with suitable opportunities in both the voluntary and public sectors.
In recent yeas, GAVCA has been working with council partners to develop locally based capacity building support services across the county. In April 2006, Gloucester VCS merged with its counterpart in Cheltenham, and developed a new service in the town funded through a service level agreement with Cheltenham Borough Council and providing similar services to those available in Gloucester. More recently, we have been working with Tewkesbury Borough Council to develop a similar model of accountable VCS representation to enable the VCS to engage in the local strategic partnership, and have launched a Tewkesbury VCS Forum. We are now also increasing our support to groups in the Cotswolds, as our membership across the county grows, to ensure that we can support all our members wherever they are located.
In 2008, the organisation changed its name to GAVCA, the Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action, to acknowledge the countywide role that it now plays.
GAVCA has been awarded the navca’s Quality Award for its support services and is an accredited Volunteer Centre, accredited by Volunteering England. It also holds the Investing in Volunteers Award from Volunteering England.
The current GAVCA staff team comprises:
Sally PickeringChief Executive
Susan UrchFinance Officer / Resources Manager
Emma HughesFinance Assistant
John GrayICT Support and Building Management
Honey LucasInformation Officer
Jess MacePartnerships Manager
Hannah GorfPartnerships Support Officer
Angela GilbertSupport Services Manager
Mary BoucherDevelopment Worker
Jane JarmanDevelopment Wworker
Holly MullarkeyTraining Co-ordinator
Gabi GoganVolunteering Services Manager
Charlotte KayVolunteering Assistant and Receptionist
The work of GAVCA is also supported by a team of volunteers.
For more information, go to
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