Over-arching voluntary organisation to better meet the needs of Aberdeenshire’s communities

This guest blog post is brought to you by Margaret-Jane Cardno, Area Manager for Banff and Buchan, on an exciting new devleopment within Aberdeenshire’s voluntary sector.

Over-arching voluntary organisation to better meet the needs of Aberdeenshire’s communities  

As I sit on the Community Planning Executive for Aberdeenshire, I am therefore very involved in both strategic and local community planning work. I am writing to tell you about exciting changes that are afoot for one of our partner agencies.

Times are changing and public and voluntary organisations are thinking hard about how best to meet the needs of Aberdeenshire’s communities. A new voluntary organisation is about to be born. The initiative sees three existing organisations – Bridge CVS, CVSA Central & South and Volunteer Centre Aberdeenshire – join forces, to establish Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action, to be the Aberdeenshire wide advocate and voice for the sector.

Aberdeenshire has a vibrant and enterprising voluntary sector with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the army of staff and volunteers involved in the many voluntary and community organisations the area boasts. The strengths of the sector are being increasingly valued by public and private bodies in the planning and delivery of key services, as well as the voice of communities, whether that’s of specific interests or of a particular locality. Aberdeenshire’s voluntary and community sector (or third sector) is shaping up and focussing how it will respond to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

In recent years the Scottish Government has provided core funding for such bodies, encouraging them to promote, develop, support and represent the interests of the sector. This includes a focus on building the capacity of voluntary and community organisations, promoting a burgeoning social economy and supporting all aspects of volunteering whilst also ensuring that the sector is equally heard alongside the big public agencies that drive Community Planning and shape the public services in our communities.

So while the three founding organisations have worked in partnership for some time, they have now agreed that amalgamating into one, single entity offers the sector a stronger organisation acting on their behalf.

Work is well underway towards the creation of the new organisation. Ken Milroy, CEO of Aberdeen Foyer, is the independent Chair of a Steering Group overseeing the establishment of the new organisation. Ken is joined on the Steering Group by the Chairs of each of the three founding organisations and all are ably supported by Avanté Consulting, and Aberdeenshire Council, we have provided personnel support. More information on progress can be found on the following Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action website.