VIEW, Issue four, 2012
Website:
viewdigital.org
Page 18
MLA praises report on social financing
S ing to a new report.
ocial enterprises and third sector firms could have a significant role in the growth and rebalancing of the Northern Ireland economy, accord-
The Social Finance in Northern Ire- land document (launched at Malone House, Belfast, by the incoming minister for finance and personnel, Simon Hamilton MLA) was commissioned by social finance organisations; the Ulster Community In- vestment Trust and Charity Bank, and supported by the Building Change Trust. The paper said the legacy of grant funding may have stifled the de- velopment of social entrepreneurs and has recommended that such firms need to be able to win contracts, deliver services or develop their own income streams from leveraging assets. The report calls for government, the private and third
Simon Hamilton, DUP MLA
sectors to work together to deliver a sustainable sector with strong financial and social balance sheets. Mr HamiIton said: “I am very pleased to be associated
cial economy sector and in Government. “The first key message coming from the report is the importance
of the third sector.
with this report. I want to thank the good work though that the Charity Bank has been doing, alongside the Ulster Community Investment Fund and the Building Change Trust. “The report has a lot of key messages for all of us in the so-
To get a copy of the report, go to
http://bit.ly/LO1EL5
provide support to the sector? There are push and pull factors. Cut- backs in funding from what ever source are pushing in the direction of social financing and you are being pulled in that you become to depend- ent on grant aid and assistance. Those two factors are pushing us in- evitably towards social financing. This is something that we in Government recognise.”
‘Measuring Change’ document launched
Funders and the Sector Working To- gether’.
C
ommunity Evaluation Northern Ireland (CENI) recently hosted a conference at Belfast Castle on ‘Collaborating on Outcomes:
more pressure on Government to demon- strate the impact of its investments on communities. Recent reports from the Public Accounts Committee stressed the need for government and the voluntary sector to work collaboratively to develop appropriate outcome measures. The conference brought together speakers from government and other funding bodies, evaluation practitioners and the sector to explore some of the issues and challenges involved as well as pos- sible solutions to putting such collaboration into practice. CENI presented the ‘Measuring Change’ approach; a practi-
Brendan McDonnell, Director, CENI
cal, robust and cost-effective way of capturing difficult to meas- ure qualitative outcomes. This has been successfully piloted across a range of fund-
nell said:“While everyone talks about outcomes, actually captur- ing and measuring the difference made by community based organisations remains very difficult. “Today was an opportunity to discuss these challenges but also
ing programmes. Representatives from the Big Lottery Fund, Neighbourhood Renewal Programme and Belfast City Council presented their experiences of ‘Measuring Change’ and high- lighted the potential application of this approach. Speaking at the event, CENI Director, Brendan McDon-
To get a copy of the report, contact CENI at
info@ceni.org
to reflect on one approach developed by CENI – ‘Measuring Change’. “While still a work in progress, this approach demonstrates that it is possible to measure community outcomes, but it needs a struc- tured process involving both Government and funded organisations working together to decide what it is they want to change and how far they have progressed.”
Financial austerity has placed even The question comes back to us in Government as to how can we
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