National Compact Week – working together to strengthen communities
‘Local knowledge is local power’ is the theme for this year’s National Compact Week, which takes place from Monday 7 November to Friday 11 November 2011.
National Compact Week is an annual campaign held to promote the Compact, a longstanding agreement between councils and the voluntary and community sector to ensure they work together to improve and enhance services for the benefit of local communities.
With ‘localism’ high on the political agenda, this year’s theme, ‘local knowledge is local power’, is focussed on building open and transparent partnerships between the sectors, resulting in real benefits in the community.
Shropshire’s local Compact has improved the way statutory and voluntary and community organisations work together in partnership, and throughout the week there will be a series of events to highlight this year’s campaign and the benefits working together brings to local communities.
Councillor Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for the voluntary and community sector (Cabinet member for flourishing Shropshire communities) will be joining volunteers at Shrewsbury’s Dial a Ride on Wednesday 9 November 2011 to see the work involved and how this community transport group play a vital and valued role in the community.
Gwilym Butler said,
“I am delighted that our local area is taking an active role in this year’s Compact Week and it gives us an ideal opportunity to celebrate the good practice taking place in Shropshire. The voluntary and community sector has a vital role to play in society, including the delivery of excellent public services to the people of Shropshire. We fully recognise the importance of voluntary and community groups such as Dial a Ride, and the services they provide to the community at grass-roots level.
The strong relationship between our sectors means our community benefits from the best public and community services.”
Shropshire’s voluntary sector is diverse and offers a wide range of services to the people and communities of Shropshire. The importance of the voluntary sector is increasingly recognised by national Government with the introduction of new powers designed to support community groups and organisations play an even stronger role in their local areas. Work continues to take place in Shropshire to implement national policy and respond to local voluntary and community sector needs via the Shropshire Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Assembly.
Voluntary and community organisations who have adopted the Shropshire Compact have been submitting their stories on how the compact has enriched the lives of their local community. Nominations are currently being taken by the Shropshire VCS Assembly and the winner for the Shropshire Compact Award will be announced on Friday 11 November.
For more information about Compact please visit shropshire.gov.uk/communityworking or http://shrop.net/VoluntaryCommunitySectorAssembly/ or call 01743 252269. For information about Compact Week visit www.compactvoice.org.uk/compactweek2011. To find out more about the VCS Assembly visit: http://www.shrop.net/shropvcsassembly
