Catalyst, co-ordinated by the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) and including the National Youth Agency (NYA), the Young Foundation and the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), will be working with the Department of Education as the strategic partner for young people.
The consortium partners will deliver three key strands of activity: to strengthen the youth sector market; to equip the sector to work better in partnership with government; and to co-ordinate a skills development strategy for the sector's workforce.
NCVYS will be responsible for co-ordinating the overall activity of the partnership and will also lead on equipping the sector to work in partnership with the government. NCVYS will support the sector in representing issues to government and brokering opportunities for young people to shape emerging youth policies. They will also help to increase the efficiency with which sector intelligence is shared.
NYA, through its delivery of the workforce strand, will lead the formation of key strategic frameworks and structures to secure coherent and inclusive workforce development activity, which services the breadth and scope of the youth workforce. NYA will engage in and influence emerging policy affecting the youth sector workforce and explore options to develop an Institute for Youth Work - desired by and for the benefit of the youth sector and young people.
The Young Foundation will focus on supporting the strengthening of the youth sector market. This will include mapping the sector for social finance, and the development of a tailored business support programme for community and voluntary youth organisations hoping to scale-up, innovate and explore new business models and sources of funding.
SEC will offer support to social enterprises delivering children and young people's services that wish to replicate their model through franchise models. Building on its expertise in this field, SEC will establish a leadership programme to provide guidance and support to leaders looking to franchise, create practical online tools to help organisations get started, and support social enterprises to create their "business in a box".
Susanne Rauprich, chief executive of NCVYS, said: "We are delighted to announce Catalyst's plans for strengthening the youth sector over the next two years.
The Catalyst consortium is a strong partnership that has the necessary skills, experience and relationships with the sector and the government that will help us to steer delivery of services for young people in a positive direction."
