New report: COVID-19 and influencing decision makers

In response to the current Coronavirus crisis, WCVA ran a series of events entitled ‘Preparing for Different Futures’, which explored how the voluntary sector has been affected by and continues to respond to the pandemic.

The fourth event hosted around 90 people and organisations talking about influencing policy and their relationships with decision-makers.

It was noted that in many ways, organisations were working well with Welsh Government. However, there were others that also found certain areas, such as health and social care sectors, that are struggling to continue the collaborative work they started prior to COVID-19.

With the Senedd elections next year, organisations were concerned over how they work with parties, revisiting their own policy asks in light of the pandemic and getting to grips with new processes for manifesto development. This is clearly a challenge for both decision-makers and organisations during this time.

A report detailing this session is now available, with a blog post from the event also accessible here.

A recording of the session is also free to view on our YouTube channel.

Blogs that summarise the discussion

Jess Blair sums up discussions with the voluntary sector from the events in our Preparing for Different Futures series.

• How the voluntary sector has been affected financially by the coronavirus pandemic
• How we can build on the community response to coronavirus
• Delivering services post COVID-19
• COVID-19 and influencing decision makers
• How voluntary organisations can tackle climate change post lockdown
• What COVID-19 means for creating a wellbeing economy

Preparing for different futures series – the follow up

COVID-19 has impacted on everybody’s lives. The lockdown has forced us all to do things differently, and to do different things. It has opened new possibilities – good and bad.

As policy-makers start to look ahead, these events provide a space to share learning, consider implications for the future and discuss what this means for decision-making today.

Although the series of six events concluded on Thursday 18 June, the conversations around these topics and others, continues. We want to continue to learn from the sector and use these discussions in our wider work.

This series will conclude with a report that covers four key questions we tackled throughout each session.

You can sign up to our COVID-19 daily updates (Mon – Fri) for the latest COVID-19 news for the voluntary sector in Wales, and get the booking link straight into your inbox as well as other useful information on COVID-19. You can also email policyteam@wcva.cymru to feed into any of these topics and more.

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