Collaboration call for youth sector
Adam Offord
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Leading youth organisations want to see closer working between youth services providers and other sectors.
Three major youth organisations have joined forces to call for increased collaboration in the youth sector over how organisations can work closer together to deliver high-quality services.
The call from the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), Ambition and UK Youth also involves the launch of a consultation to engage with the sector on how to create new and innovative ways of working to "transform the sector".
But collaboration in delivering youth services is nothing new, so what makes this different and why are they doing it now?
Susanne Rauprich, chief executive of NCVYS, says the organisations have acted in response to recent trends in youth work provision.
"The way organisations have evolved, there is greater duplication and need," she explains. "The greatest challenge is the lack of funding. We need to collaborate to bring more revenue into the sector."
Push and pull factors
Anna Smee, chief executive of UK Youth, says there are "push and pull factors" for better collaborative working, with changes in the economic environment and the knock-on effect this has had on the youth sector making it necessary for organisations to collaborate more.
In addition to these push factors, Smee says there are more positive pull factors driving change.
"The youth sector is constantly innovating and looking at ways of doing things better, being more efficient and delivering a better service to young people," she says. "From that perspective, we also see big advantages in sharing knowledge and focusing on others' strengths and supporting each other in that."
Helen Marshall, chief executive of Ambition, is also keen to emphasis that the call is not just about the "squeeze" in funding.
"There is much more of an appetite around collaboration and working together, and it's really important we capitalise on that - things are tough for young people and they're only going to get tougher," she adds.
Since going public with the call for greater collaboration last month, Rauprich says NCVYS members have given their support, while Smee talks of "a sense of appetite" across the sector to have the debate.
"I think we'll see more collaboration across the whole of the sector which is very exciting actually because it can lead to really good stuff happening," says Smee.
She adds that increasing the involvement of social entrepreneurs in youth services could bring "huge wins on both sides".
"If you bring those two together, it could be really quite expediential," she says.
Rauprich says the consultation and discussions could lead to "new alliances being created with the education and business worlds".
Meanwhile, Marshall hopes the youth sector's inherent diversity can lead to innovation emerging. She says: "Its creativity and flexibility is one of the things that makes it what it is and we need to harness that within this single voice for the sector.
"That is one of the main benefits - that responsibility of looking at the key areas for organisations and knowing how much you can best deliver those for."
Better joint working
She adds that some of the key areas for better joint working are around the voice and representation of the sector, practice development, workforce development and youth leadership, but says the three organisations want feedback on what other areas could be ripe for collaboration.
Smee says the organisations are best placed to lead this call because they have "extensive memberships" and a national reach.
"Between us, we have an extremely long history, so our organisations have the credible institution knowledge of the flow of the youth sector," she says.
Marshall states she also recognises there has been youth sector discussions in the past, but says this time it "feels very different".
"There have been discussions between organisations before and they haven't really had the momentum behind them," she says.
"Maybe the collaboration approach to making it happen hasn't really been there."
What leaders think about the collaboration call
Liz Harding, chief executive, Youth Focus North West: "It is vital to give this sector some leadership. It's about approaching different organisations at different levels. They have a perspective that if brought together can offer a strong picture and voice."
Mehvash Ahmed, voice facilitator, UK Youth: "It needs to start somewhere and let's build this up by small steps. Young people have such varied needs, so let's work towards it and have champions for each sector. We've got lots of charities working in areas - you need to have small charities' faces in these areas reporting to the nationals on top."
Rosie Ferguson, chief executive, London Youth: "We need to be more honest and collaborative about what the need is and how we collectively meet it so kind of putting our collective mission before our institutional ego. More collaborative leadership will make them more strategic and less (about) following funding for short-term projects."
Denise Hatton, chief executive, YMCA England: "Given the current environment, the sector has responded incredibly well to still provide high-quality services. But as local authorities are set to navigate further cuts and government grants drying up, now is the time for a further look into how and where collaboration could improve our delivery."
- There are three consultation events about greater collaboration in youth work delivery taking place this year. These are: UK Youth AGM, 19 November, London; an open invitation joint event, 26 November, London; and St George's House consultation, 8 and 9 December, Windsor, Berkshire