Community and Voluntary Sector Infrastructure Support - future plans
The Department is carrying out a programme of work aimed at refreshing the policy frameworks for our voluntary and community sector support. This includes agreeing with our partners on the outcomes that we should prioritise in future years. A review of sectoral needs will inform how we can better support the sector to deliver outcomes set out in any future Programme for Government.
Future plans
As part of this review, we engaged with a wide range of organisations in the sector, to draw together their collective experiences, understand key priorities and needs, listen to ideas and opinions, and add voice and input to help us shape future programmes for whom the refresh will deliver. We have also engaged with other departments, local government, independent funders and established a reference group comprising of a range of sectoral interests. See a complete overview of our engagement.
We shared what we learned from our engagement sessions, and sought views on our proposed Infrastructure Support Framework through a public consultation which launched on 15 November 2023, lasting 12 weeks and closed on 9 February 2024. The proposed framework and consultation documents are still available to view.
Have your say
We welcomed views and responses on the proposed framework through our consultation events which were hosted both in person and online through November and December 2023.
The events were in the form of roundtable discussions and were an opportunity to share thoughts, ideas or comments.
Workshop consultation engagement events
| When | Where | Eventbrite Booking Details |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 28 November 11:00am - 12:30pm | The Junction 12 Beechvalley Way Dungannon BT70 1BS | Registration now closed |
| Wednesday 29 November 11:00am - 12:30pm | Holywell Trust 10-12 Bishop Street Derry/Londonderry BT47 6PW | Registration now closed |
| Thursday 30 November 2:00pm - 3:30pm | Virtual (MS Teams) | Registration now closed |
| Tuesday 12 December 7:00pm - 8:30pm | Virtual (MS Teams) | Registration now closed |
| Wednesday 13 December 11:00am - 12:30pm | The Braid 1-29 Bridge Street Ballymena BT43 5EJ | Registration now closed |
| Thursday 14 December 11:00am - 12:30pm | Duncairn Centre Duncairn Avenue Belfast BT14 6BP | Registration now closed |
A response document on the public consultation and final policy framework will be published in due course.