A Gathering of Ideas
Written by Tir Coed / Thursday 19 January 2017
Aim: to share thinking, to challenge and to inspire.
Approach: to disagree is fine but to listen is required
Tir Coed attended the first of two Talwrn ‘A gathering of ideas’ events in Cardiff on Thursday 19th January, a network that Tir Coed has been involved with for over two years, and which has been greatly beneficial to the charity. 50 people were invited from a range of organisations including leaders of small- medium charities, representatives from large charities, trust funds, WCVA and Big Lottery, universities, and Welsh Government.
Sarah Lloyd Jones began the event by explaining about the work of Talwrn- a network of fourteen Welsh voluntary organisations who cooperate on a common goal of supporting communities to become resilient and prosperous. The members are based in ten different counties and include local organisations with a focus on specific communities as well as some operating county wide and some nationally.
She went on to say that the members of Talwrn are focused on how we, in the independent voluntary sector, rise to this challenge: how we develop our capacity, skills and vision to be able to support people to live well in a changing world. Stating ‘We need to lead a movement away from the prevailing culture of competition for scarce resources, to one focused on people’s needs and collaborative approaches to meeting them’
Over the past year Talwrn held a series of themed workshops to explore key issues of relevance to the voluntary sector in Wales culminating in the development of a short paper. Briefing notes had been compiled from papers written by Talwrn members to stimulate discussions over the course of the day covering the themes:
• Social Enterprise
• The third sector and local government
• Social Impact Measurement
• Leadership and Sustainability
• Humanising Services and Building Communities
• Talwrn and the role of the voluntary sector
Four tables, each with two Talwrn members present then went on to discuss these themes over the following 3 hours. Discussions were engaged and thorough with many saying how positive it was to take time outside of the ‘day job’ to look at the sector and the challenges it faces and meet with peers. The notes from these discussions will inform the short papers and will be made available on the Talwrn website in due course: http://www.talwrn.org.uk/
A second event will be taking place in Llanrwst on February 2nd, to find out more please contact: [email protected]
