Cyfanfyd Submission to the Committee for Inquiry into the Funding of Voluntary Sector Organisations in Wales

Background to Cyfanfyd

Cyfanfyd is the umbrella network for organisations and individuals involved in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) in Wales. It is a voluntary sector organisation with charitable status. As a membership organisation Cyfanfyd represents the views of the wide cross-section of NGOs, colleges, schools, youth organisations and lifelong learning organisations that are current members. Cyfanfyd has approximately 80 members and strategic partners and also supports a Global Youth Work network of over 100 youth work practitioners and trainers, in both the voluntary and statutory sector.

Cyfanfyd also manages the Enabling Effective Support network in Wales. EES is a UK-wide Department for International Development (DFID) initiative that resources and supports teachers involved in Development Awareness, which is broadly synonymous with Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) in Wales. EES in Wales is delivered through ten regional Fora that bring together stakeholders from both the voluntary and statutory sector and is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).

The ESDGC Policy Environment

The WAG policy in relation to ESDGC is enshrined in the "Strategy for Action for ESDGC” published in September 2006. To deliver this strategy WAG appointed an ESDGC champion in January 2007. The champion is part of the Department for Culture Education and Lifelong Learning and attached to the Additional Needs and Inclusion Department. Cyfanfyd welcomed the ESDGC strategy document and was actively involved in promoting the consultation process amongst its members and other stakeholders. Cyfanfyd also welcomed the ESDGC Strategy’s stated commitment to partnership working and believed that an effective partnership between voluntary and statutory sectors would be a key part of the successful implementation of the ESDGC Strategy.

The Department for International Development also has a remit for "Development Awareness”, which as stated above is broadly synonymous with ESDGC, and has funded and continues to project fund voluntary sector organisations in Wales out of its UK-wide Development Awareness Fund.

Voluntary Sector Involvement in Delivering ESDGC

Cyfanfyd and its members have a long track record of working in ESDGC and, correspondingly, have a valuable bank of expertise and experience in this area of work.

Any consideration of the implementation and funding of the ESDGC strategy needs to take into account the fact that Cyfanfyd and its members are currently involved in areas of work that are detailed in the strategy and, in many cases, are already involved in delivering some of the actions that have been prioritised. Most of these providers are voluntary sector organisations.

On-going work in the formal education sector has included support, training, and the development of resources for teachers and involvement in curriculum development and training for Initial Teacher Education and Training colleges.

In youth work, Cyfanfyd and its members have played an important role in providing support, resources and training for youth workers and in integrating ESDGC into youth work policy and practice in Wales. The Global Youth Work network has been an invaluable forum for sharing good practise and providing support for youth work practitioners.

Work is also progressing in terms of lifelong learning, particularly in respect of working with adult education providers and with community development organisations and trade unions in Wales.

We are thus concerned that the implementation of this ESDGC strategy and its associated funding fully takes into account the critical value that the voluntary sector currently provides in developing the process and practice of ESDGC in Wales.

Supporting the Voluntary Sector/ Current funding situation

The voluntary sector organisations involved in this area of work have been funded from a variety of sources. The main development charities, such as Oxfam and Christian Aid have provided small sums of core funding, and, in the last ten years project funding has been provided by DFID, with organisations also seeking support from the former International Grants Programme of the National Lottery.

Changes in the criteria for the International Grants Programme and the reduction in funding from other sources due to changing priorities, have led to voluntary organisations increasingly being faced with a very narrow range of funders for this area of work. Many funding bodies are also unwilling to support areas of ESDGC work, which they increasingly perceive as a statutory commitment and therefore a statutory responsibility.

These problems have been compounded by the growing demand for support from Cyfanfyd and its members for ESDGC work from teachers, youth workers and other practitioners, as ESDGC becomes increasingly main-streamed into their work.

WAG Funding for ESDGC

Though voluntary sector organisations have been, and remain, key players in the delivery of ESDGC and its integration across all education sectors in Wales, there is currently no funding stream attached to the ESDGC strategy to provide much-needed financial support for voluntary organisations engaged in this work.

All work associated with the WAG ESDGC strategy, apart from a few funding agreements agreed before the process of implementation started, is now put out to tender. In Cyfanfyd’s experience, this practise tends to favour consultants and consulting organisations, often from outside Wales, rather than voluntary organisations with a background of working in this area.

Voluntary organisations often find it hard to apply for these tenders, either through unfamiliarity with the process, lack of capacity, or due to management structures reliant on volunteer committees that are often unable to respond quickly to the short deadlines inherent in the process.

Without some form of project or core funding, it is increasingly hard for voluntary organisations to build themselves as sustainable organisations with a professionalised staff. Ironically, project or core funding would, in most circumstances, present a cheaper and more cost effective way of facilitating this work. Voluntary organisations tend to charge less than consultants and funding granted to voluntary organisations also represents an investment in developing skills and expertise in the sector Voluntary organisations in this area of work in Wales are now mainly reliant on DFID funding. On the basis of Cyfanfyd’s knowledge of the level of current DFID project funding, the department has provided funding of at least £350,000 to voluntary sector organisations to support ESDGC projects in Wales in this financial year, a substantial amount of this being distributed through Cyfanfyd.

Conclusion

There is a financial crisis facing voluntary sector providers of ESDGC in Wales because WAG’s current policy in this area, as part of the Department of Culture Education and Lifelong Learning’s brief, is not to provide any funding stream to project or core fund voluntary organisations working in ESDGC.

If this issue is not addressed, it is inevitable that the skills, expertise and experience that the voluntary sector in Wales has built up over many years in this area of work will be partly or completely lost. It is quite possible that in five to ten years, there will be very few voluntary organisations, especially of small and medium scale, involved in ESDGC in Wales and these will have been replaced by a plethora of consultants.

A representative of Cyfanfyd would be available to present evidence to the Committee if required.

Dominic Miles
Co-ordinator Cyfanfyd
Temple of Peace
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3AP

029 20668999

dominic@cyfanfyd.org.uk