SCVO

Placement from 2nd March to 13th March

Myint SuZhu YapengMuhammad 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 AidVolunteer Development ScotlandVolunteer Centre GlasgowWise Group

Contd

Turning point- Glasgow drug crisis centreCare commissionGlasgow housingGlasgow city chamber/councilQuality ScotlandEquality Unit Scottish GovernmentThird Sector Division, Scottish Government EVOCHIV 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