The Alliance

The Yorkshire and the Humber Support and Development Organisations Alliance is a new grouping of support and development organisations.

It aims to be the strategic framework for organisations engaged in supporting a vibrant voluntary and community sector across Yorkshire & the Humber.

Forward thinking local support and development organisations from across Yorkshire and the Humber were anticipating public spending cuts and an increased demand for their services as long ago as February 2009 and have been working together to develop a proactive response since then. Against a back drop of cuts to public spending and changes to the way services are delivered these organisations have now made a public commitment to ensuring that front line organisations have the best possible support, no matter where they are, and to working together to ensure that support is available consistently and to a high quality.

Members of the Alliance will sign a Memorandum of Understanding, committing to a series of principles and actions. This will include taking an overview of support and development services available at every level in the region and working towards a strategy for developing a sustainable model for support that will withstand political and economic upheaval. These include organisations working together at each geographical level to develop unified frameworks for the delivery of services, seeking to develop agreements about collaboration and addressing issues of duplication at every level.

A common thread through the Memorandum of Understanding is a recognition of the importance of ensuring that specialist and minority voices are heard and that the needs of specialist voluntary and community sector organisations are met.

The Alliance will also work collectively to promote the value and impact of locally based and locally accountable support and development organisations to government and stakeholders at all levels.

To join the Alliance, or for more information, contact Ruth Beattie