Razwanah Alam, a development worker from Bradford Community and
Voluntary Service has become the 1000th person nationally to attend
NAVCA's popular Empowering the Voluntary Sector training. To mark
this milestone, Razwanah Alam was presented with a special
certificate by Caroline Schwaller, NAVCA's Vice-Chair.
This Big Lottery funded national project has already been able to
save local voluntary and community groups over £600,000. Successes
range from a Tenants' Association in Leicester who successfully
challenged the local authority when it raised their standing charge
for heating by 79%, to local voluntary groups in Warrington who
joined together and successfully challenged their local Primary
Care Trust when they withdrew funding overnight.
The project includes the expertise of Compact Advocacy, the Public
Law Project and NAVCA. The partners provide advice in managing
disputes and training in using the principles of public law and
Compact to both prevent and manage disputes with public
bodies.
Razwanah Alam, Health Network Co-ordinator
at Bradford CVS and 1000th participant in the training
said:
"I am delighted to be the 1000th person to attend the Empowering
the Voluntary Sector training. The things the course taught me will
come in useful in Bradford to support the VCS to challenge unfair
funding decisions/processes. The third sector needs this project
and I look forward to there being many more people given this
training".
Caroline Schwaller, Vice Chair of NAVCA
said:
"This project is extremely popular because it creates a real David
versus Goliath situation, where small local groups can challenge
huge organisations who have vast resources. Local groups and
voluntary organisations are at the heart of our communities. Just
because local groups are small it does not mean their interests can
be ignored".
NAVCA's Empowering
the Voluntary Sector web pages
June 2009