Third Sector magazine is now really on to the controversy about specialist hubs to support the UK Government's Changeup plans to strengthen the voluntary and community (nonprofit) sectors. They have a story this week about the Governance hub.
Foundation for Good Governance researcher and spokeswoman Christine Morrison said Changeup is the wrong model because it imposes a centralised structure on a sector that is based on networks of support organisations, membership bodies, councils for voluntary service and local development agencies.
"There is little doubt that the Government's intentions are well-meaning - but unfortunately the model proposed for support is unlikely to work because it seeks to impose a top-down approach on a sector that thrives on diversity," she said.
The article references the Communities of Practice session we ran last week at a conference with Christine to demonstrate alternative approaches.
Third Sector also reports that the Home Office has stepped into the row about the IT hub that I wrote about earlier.
From the latter piece it is clear that the Home Office is still determined to get one proposal from the sector for each hub, and they see competing consortia as unseemly squabbling. The point Christine Morrison is making is that we need some diversity.
Don't hold your breath for rapprochement on the 'one bid' front, though.
ICT Consortium project manager Nicky Thompson, who works for the NCVO, said: "The consortium has always welcomed, and would still welcome, input from other organisations with expertise to share. The Home Office has shown confidence that the ICT Consortium was best placed to take this work forward, and indeed funded us to do so."
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