Infrastructure Explained

What is meant by infrastructure?

Infrastructure means the physical facilities, systems structures, people, relationships, knowledge and skills that exist to support, develop, promote, co-ordinate and represent frontline organisations enabling them to deliver services more effectively. Voluntary & community sector infrastructure organisations provide infrastructure functions (support, development, co-ordination, promotion and representation) to frontline VCS organisations, including social enterprises and are often called umbrella or second tier organisations. 

What does a local infrastructure organisation do?

Local infrastructure Organisations (LIOs) help the local third sector in a variety of ways: 

Identifying and filling the gaps:

By monitoring the services provided by the third sector in it’s local area, an LIO is able to identify where the gaps are. It can then work with new groups to address unmet needs and ensure that existing groups are equipped to tailor their services to the changing needs of the community. 

Raising standards:

LIOs are key to a fully-functioning, high quality local sector. By providing access to information on anything from funding and legal advice to training and quality assurance standards, they ensure that local groups and organisations have the knowledge, skills and resources they need to support the local community. 

Enabling communication and collaboration:

Encouraging local groups to share resources and to work collaboratively creates a more efficient way of working and helps to build a stronger local sector. LIOs provide local groups and organisations with a forum for networking, enabling them to share good practice and expertise to form partnerships which can bid for public service contracts. 

Providing a voice:

LIOs act as a conduit, representing the diverse views of local groups and organisations to agencies such as the local authority and other public bodies.They also promote two-way communication, so that the local sector is consulted on policy developments and can contribute to discussions and decision-making at a local level. They often take the lead in establishing a local Compact – an agreement between the sector, councils and other local public bodies (such as Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)). 

Promoting strategic involvement:

The local third sector has a vital role to play in policy-making and planning. LIOs make sure that the sector is represented and involved in local strategic partnerships (LSPs), local area agreements (LAAs) and other influential planning groups, and actively work with representatives to ensure they keep on top of local issues. 

Who does what?

Nationally:

ChangeUp money originally funded 6 national ‘Hubs’. These were partnerships around the areas of Workforce, ICT, Development, Finance, Governance, Performance Improvement and Volunteering. In April 2008 Capacitybuilders investment at national level refocused from the 6 national Hubs to 9 National Support Services (NSS) work streams. A copy of the National Hubs joint publications guide, which brings together valuable Hub’s publications in one place to enable groups to benefit from a range of resources can be downloaded here

 In London:

Government Office for London has convened the London Regional Consortium (LRC): members include pan- London Voluntary & Community Sector networks and funders. The Consortium advises on how ChangeUp activities are developed in London and sets regional priorities.

More information about the LRC can be found at LVSC’s website:www.lvsc.org.uk/Templates/information.asp?NodeId=90276 

In London, local Councils for Voluntary Services (CVS) and sub-regional CVS networks are facilitating the development of cross-sector partnerships to identify what their infrastructure development needs are. Each local and sub-regional Partnership has submitted an Infrastructure Development Plan. Ours can be found in the Documents section on the left .

More information about the South London sub regional Capacitybuilders consortium, which Kingston is a member of can be found at their website: www.stayingconnected.org.uk