In this third event in VSNW’s Festival of North West Thinking we plan to combine our AGM with a look forward at the future of the sector.
About this Event
The third event in our Festival of North West Thinking brings together funding bodies and think tanks to look at the role of the sector beyond 2020.
In this final event of VSNW’s FoNWT we’ll hear from the leaders of some of the UK’s largest funding organisations on their plans for the future. They’ll be addressing their strategies for balancing the ongoing need for emergency funding with the increasingly pressing need for organisations across the sector to secure the longer term funding they need to plan for the future. We will also be reflecting on how the learning from changing funding processes as part of their Covid-19 emergency response could be integrated into funding strategies and processes going forward.
We’ll also be hearing from the leaders of some of the UK’s most influential think tanks about their visions for Covid-19 recovery and the role they see the VCSE sector playing in this. There will be the opportunity to engage these guests in the discourse from other events earlier on in the Festival, and the opportunity to ask questions of your own.
This event is aimed at our colleagues in leadership roles in the VCSE sector from across the North West. Although the event will include our AGM, this is an open event and attendance is not limited to VSNW’s members. The AGM section of this event presents an opportunity to find out more about VSNW’s work and how best you can engage with us. If you’re interested in attending this event, it could be that you’re eligible for free VSNW membership, for more information on what this entails and how to apply please see the membership page of our website.
About the speakers:
Paul Streets (Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation) – Before joining the Foundation in 2013, Paul’s career had spanned the voluntary and public sector and work in International development (DfiD/Sight Savers), Human Rights (Amnesty International), professional and service regulation and health and social care. He has been Chief Executive of Diabetes UK; the Health Development Agency and the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board. Immediately prior to the Foundation he headed up Public and Patient Engagement and Experience for the Department of Health. Paul is an Honorary Visiting Professor at Cass Business School, City University of London. Previously, he was Chairman of Contact a Family and Chair of the UK Rare Diseases Advisory Group. He was also Deputy Chairman at the Healthcare Commission from 2000 to 2009 and the first lay member of the Royal College of Physicians Council. In 2003 he was appointed an OBE for services to people with diabetes.
Sarah Longlands (Director of IPPR North) – Sarah is an expert in regional and local economic development, place resilience and land use planning. Before becoming Director of IPPR North in May 2018, Sarah worked for the think-tank as a Senior Research Fellow, taking the lead on ground-breaking work including a ‘Great North Plan’ a ‘Natural Assets Strategy for the North’ and collaboration with the People’s Powerhouse movement. Prior to joining IPPR 2016, she worked as a Director of Policy at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), based in Manchester, and she began her career working in local Government, in Durham and North Yorkshire. Sarah holds a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Glasgow where she examined the dominant influence of the economic growth narrative on the work of planning authorities in the UK and particularly how it alters attitudes to people and place. She believes passionately in the importance of speaking on behalf of the people and places that have so far been left out of the Northern Powerhouse debate.
Elly De Decker (England Director of The National Lottery Community Fund) – Elly was appointed as England Director for The National Lottery Community Fund in 2020, as Director Elly will seek to build upon the Fund’s successful shift towards a more local model of grant-making and to deliver on the organisation’s strategic framework that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Elly has worked at The National Lottery Community Fund for the last five years. She has played key roles in the Fund’s Headstart programme - a £56 million programme, testing new ways to improve young people’s mental health. Elly also set up and co-led funding awards – worth over £90 million a year - made to the south of England. Recently, she led on the development and launch of the Fund’s £100 million Climate Action Fund, awarding money raised by National Lottery players to help communities take the lead in tackling the climate emergency. Before joining the Fund, Elly worked with the international children’s charity, Save the Children, in overseas development and in management consultancy and also ran a number of strategic funding programmes for Impetus.
Neil McInroy (Chief Executive, CLES - Centre for Local Economic Strategies) - Neil oversees the running of CLES and the development of the organisation, including collaborations with other bodies. A leading commentator on economic development and public policy, Neil has featured in Local Government Chronicle’s annual top 50 most influential people in local government. He has been involved in public sector policy and delivery for over 25 years. Neil has collaborated with a broad range of local, regional and national governments and agencies across UK and in Europe, Asia, US and Australasia. His particular skills are in strategic policy, local economic and social research, analysis and development; research methodologies and facilitation.
Dr Sanjiv Lingayah is an independent researcher, writer and consultant and specialist on racial justice. He supports change through research that centres and amplifies experiences and knowledge of racialised population and that makes space for solving racism. He is the lead author of Home Truths: Undoing racism and delivering real diversity in the charity sector and is a co-founder and lead of Reframing Race – an intelligence-led programme with campaigners to develop more effective ways to communicate on racism and racial justice.