Is transforming local infrastructure a good thing?

One of the things I like about my job is that I get a great overview of what current key issues for the voluntary and community sector are, and get to know what is happening locally. We all know that this is a time of change and upheaval, brought about by shrinking resources and a new policy agenda. The emphasis is on doing things differently and on finding innovative ways to provide services.

This transformation applies to infrastructure providers as much as it does to frontline organisations. Around the country collective sighs of relief could be heard as Transforming Local Infrastructure bids were submitted at the end of October, following much discussion and debate about how best Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS’) and other generic and specialist infrastructure providers should meet the changing needs of their member organisations. 
 
The Transforming Local Infrastructure (TLI) programme is being administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the Office for Civil Society. It aims to help infrastructure organisations transform their support services and collaborate more effectively, through activities such as mergers, building better links with local businesses, sharing back-office services and making better use of technology. As only one bid could go in from each top tier Local Authority area, infrastructure organisations have had to work together to agree local priorities and new approaches in a short and disappointingly non-Compact compliant timescale.
 
The TLI programme is not the only reason for doing this though. Many statutory sector partners are also reviewing how they support voluntary and community sector (VCS) infrastructure and are looking at different models. One area I’m working with is considering giving infrastructure funding directly to frontline organisations so they can buy the support they need from a network of accredited providers, a kind of personalisation of local support and development.
 
There’s no doubt that as Bob Dylan said ‘the times they are a changing’ and that infrastructure provision needs to change too. A bit like their local authority partners, I think that infrastructure organisations will increasingly move away from directly providing support to brokering it on behalf of the sector from a range of specialist providers.
 
The really crucial role for infrastructure providers is to ensure that the sector is well represented and works in partnership with statutory sector commissioners to meet local needs. I can’t imagine this happening without good local VCS infrastructure support.