Introduction to infrastructure

This page contains information on:

• What is infrastructure?: An introduction to the concept and its importance in the voluntary and community youth sector.

• Resources: Infrastructure resources produced by NCVYS

What is infrastructure?

The voluntary youth sector infrastructure is a loose network of bodies mainly providing services to voluntary and community groups or organisations working directly with young people.

These networks provide this support by:

• offering practical help (advice, information, training, consultancy);

• acting as a voice for voluntary and community sector youth work;

• setting and disseminating standards of good practice;

• acting as an interface with funders;

• providing coordinating and networking opportunities; and

• supporting the development of new and innovative work with young people.

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Resources

Infrastructure resources produced by NCVYS include:

Firm Foundations: A Report into the Infrastructure Provision for Voluntary Youth Organisations in England (1999)

Stronger Links: Research which looked at ways of creating stronger links among voluntary youth organisations and tried to identify an infrastructure model which would enable them to work effectively at a regional level.

Perform: Report outlining the findings from a project to design a performance improvement framework for voluntary and community sector infrastructure organisations.

VCS Engage: A national programme funded by the DCSF voluntary sector infrastructure and capacity building fund, a £3 million investment covering the children, young people and families sector.

Fit4Purpose: A pilot quality development and learning programme designed to assist local youth infrastructure organisations and networks in their support of voluntary and community organisations working directly with young people. It was designed to have links to existing quality frameworks and training.

Momentum: A development programme for local infrastructure networks working with children and young people which evolved out of Fit4Purpose. The pilot uses a unique, holistic approach to building quality local networks and uses innovative e-learning and mentoring opportunities to engage its participants.

Markets, markets, markets: Towards an ecologically sensitive market for children and young people’s services - This article explores some of the key concepts used to inform the restructuring and development of the children, young people’s and families sector. It introduces some new ideas that could enable the development of improved local environments for voluntary and community organisations working with young people.

NCVYS is also a member of the Community Sector Partnerhsip for Children and Young People that developed the talking trusts resources.

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