• Capacity Building Programme
• Regional Stakeholder Consultations
• Partnership Working
• Key Achievements

Capacity Building Programme

Our local knowledge of the Southeast region is reflected in the wealth of information captured through the unique diagnostic toolkit used to assess, plan and engage each client organisation in a participatory process of continuous learning, skills and organisational development work.

CEMVO Southeast has established South East Regional Ethnic Minority Partnership. SEREMP is a partnership project that has been developed by CEMVO SOUTH EAST Capacity Building Team. It´s mission is to “ promote and provide sustainable and inclusive solutions to the identified economic development needs of ethnic minority organisations in the south east and enable them to have an effective voice and promote good practice among service providers”.

This consortium is a partnership between CEMVO organisations and the Berkshire Learning and Skills Council. The purpose of the consortium is to:

• To explore the potential contribution of the BME VSC to widening the participation in learning and the creation of a culture of lifelong learning
• To act as an intermediary body for the release of funds to smaller BME voluntary organisations and to build capacity within the sector to meet LSC requirements

CEMVO Southeast Regional CBOs have worked with over 70 organisations across the region and have secured over £500,000 in the past 2 years for the groups which have been on our Capacity Building Programme.

Regional Stakeholder Consultations

As part of their capacity building work, our CBOs regularly carry out regional consultations with a variety of key stakeholders including minority ethnic voluntary groups, community leaders and statutory agencies, among others. This process allows them to gather intelligence, identifying needs and sharing best practice as well as feeding into our Policy and Research processes by providing evidence-base knowledge. All CBOs conduct research and needs analysis of the organisations they work with, in order to:

• Provide evidence of existing needs and difficulties experienced by their constituent groups
• Devise community-based solutions to meet those needs
• Influence Government policy, so that if effectively targets resources into the sector

Partnerhsip Working

CEMVO’s work in the Southeast Region includes building partnerships with key stakeholders as well as expanding our existing networks. Among the many partners from the voluntary, community, private and statutory sectors that CEMVO has engaged with there is the Berkshire Community Foundation, Berkshire Learning Skills Council, Reading Borough Council and Slough CVS.

Key Achievements

• Database: CEMVO Southeast Regional Office has established a database of the minority ethnic voluntary and community sector; having gathered information from one-to-one visits to over 180 minority ethnic organisations across London, spanning such diverse ethnic groups as Somali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Hindu, Muslim, Chinese, African, Refugees and Asylum seekers; covering activities such as health, education, housing and employment; and catering for the specific needs of groups as varied as young people, women, the elderly, the disabled and faiths communities.
• Capacity Building Programme: established its Capacity Building Programme and currently over 80 organisations have been capacity built across London in the past 2 years
• Funding Surgeries: Southeast Regional Office have been running funding surgeries in the past 2 years and have invited funders from Berkshire LSC, Reading Borough Council, Berkshire Foundation and other charitable trusts to inform BME voluntary organisations about there funding process and funding opportunities which they can apply to operate effectively with the necessary resource. There are currently numbers of funding surgeries planned for year 2007-08.
• Working in Partnership: CEMVO Southeast has established a working partnership with BME voluntary organisations, Berkshire LSC, Reading Borough Council, Next Step, Slough CVS and other statutory organisations across the Southeast region.