Anthea Coulter reflects on creating strong local collaborations during uncertain times for the Third Sector Interface Network

Just over two years ago, when I was stepping into the role of chief officer of Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface (CTSI), it was an optimistic move. The Scottish Government’s Third Sector Interface review was underway and uncertainty prevailed. But despite the challenges, in Forth Valley we have developed new strengths and synergies.

A new era of co-production and partnership now sees CTSI and Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise (SVE) share two staff members, several forums and skills bases. We have another staff member we share with CVS Falkirk and in February 2017 the three TSIs held the first Forth Valley Third Sector Conference. In August 2018 we launched the Forth Valley Social Enterprise Network – the first regional SEN in Scotland.

How have we achieved this? Well the three chief officers, myself, Natalie Masterson of SVE and Jen Kerr of CVS Falkirk meet regularly to share practise and development. We are also joined quarterly by Bridget Meisak, chief officer of Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian.

Connections have started to extend even further, with the Forth Valley teams also now working with Claire Pattulo, chief executive of Edinburgh SEN to build a wider support to social enterprises. There are now plans afoot to roll out Edinburgh’s highly successful Buy the Good Stuff brand and hold the Scottish Festival of Social Enterprise in Forth Valley.

SVE has set up the Community Accounting Scotland CIC in conjunction with CVS Inverclyde. This social enterprise supports TSI memberships with a tailored accounting service. We have used it at CTSI and combined with training to bring accountancy back in-house, we have saved £8,000 in two years.

The relationships have come about because we recognise pooling our resources is the most effective way of delivering high-quality services. Since TSIs were created in 2011, there has been no real terms increase in funding. Although we hope this will be reviewed and changed in 2019, we know we have to be pragmatic.

We identified gaps in our work. When I started, in Clackmannanshire this was in coverage of social enterprise development. By signing up to a consultancy service from CVS Falkirk, CTSI was able to get back in the game very quickly. Last year, we helped 17 new social enterprise start-ups get the support they needed.

For Stirling and Clacks, there was also a need to address youth volunteering. The Year of Young People highlighted the need to boost our presence in schools and promote the Saltire Awards for young volunteers. Working together, we have managed to employ a fulltime youth volunteer development assistant, and saw a 49.5% increase in Saltire Awards last year in Clacks alone.

As a senior team, recognising each other’s strengths has helped. Jen has had a long career in volunteer centres and within the TSI landscape, Natalie has a more political and policy background, and I have been at the coalface of challenging settings and charity management over the last ten years. Without our shared values, support and friendship, I probably would not be here today.

So as the TSI network carves out a new role in Scottish society, it is important to reflect on and applaud what has come about in what could have been described as the wilderness years.

For us in Forth Valley, it is has certainly not been that. Instead there has been more collaboration, innovation, impact and greater joint-working to support all levels of the third sector. At the start of 2019, we are getting ready to bring this together once again for the second Forth Valley Third Sector conference in February.

Anthea Coulter is chief officer at Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface