Make-or-break-time for charities and the voluntary sector
After nearly 10 years the National Coalition for Independent Action is closing down. In an act of defiance not defeat, NCIA believes that now is the time to make space for new forms of opposition to the stifling co-option of charities and voluntary services groups as servants … Continue reading
After 10 years NCIA is closing down! We are not going out of business – we’re not a business. Our decision is an act of principle – we don’t think we should continue.
We’re stopping for two reasons. When we started, our message – that voluntary groups were in danger of losing their independence and … Continue reading
A new rendition of the findings of our Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services can be found in the Summer 2015 edition of Soundings: A journal of politics and culture – Issue 60 – Austerity and Dissent. A PDF version of this article is to be found here. For subscription enquires to Soundings … Continue reading
We hear a lot from service providers about how they have no alternative but bend to government and state policies or risk going out of business. But another way is possible. Those of us who went to the recent NCIA meeting in Sheffield were lucky enough to hear Gina Clayton talk about the work of … Continue reading
Fighting poverty, more cuts, disability rights, silencing dissent, privatisation, turning voluntary groups into sub-contractors, abandoning whole communities…… how can community action deal with this tsunami? These are some of the themes that will be explored at:
‘Protecting Democracy: independent community action in North East England’
Thursday 16th July (10am – 4pm)
At: Alington House … Continue reading
‘CUTS, CO-OPTIONS AND TROJAN HORSES:
VOLUNTARY GROUPS AGAINST A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT’
HOUSE OF COMMONS ON TUESDAY 30th JUNE 2015
5.30pm – 8.30pm
Under New Labour and Coalition Governments, the role and purpose of those providing voluntary and community services has been co-opted by central and local government. Contract-based commissioning and procurement regimes have replaced grant … Continue reading
Exactly 50 people came to the NCIA Assembly on Friday 17th April at the London Welsh Centre and we had apologies from almost the same number again. People came from as far as Scotland and Wales, from Durham, Bristol, Manchester, the Midlands, London and the South East.
What happened? We had lightening speakers including Armine … Continue reading
Sussex is one area of the country lucky enough to have a feisty local Defend our NHS campaign. Lately the group has been taking a look at the role of voluntary agencies in the struggle to stop the break-up of the Health Service. The result is an impressive paper. Whilst voluntary groups can both oppose … Continue reading
A quick reminder for those of you who are booked into our Assembly meeting this week – Friday 17th April starting at 10.45am and finishing at 4.30pm. The venue is the London Welsh Centre, 157-163 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8UE http://www.londonwelsh.org/contact-us That is a 12-15 minutes walk south from Kings Cross Station (Nearest station: … Continue reading
NCVO is accused today of harming voluntary groups and the communities they serve. In a forensic examination of NCVO activities over the last decade or so, Les Huckfield shows how NCVO has made voluntary agencies subservient to Government policies and begging for crumbs from private corporations. As damaging to the reputation of NCVO is the … Continue reading