BIVAR Seminar 3 - Collaboration and participation
To what problem is collaboration an answer? This was the starting point for the first presentation in the third seminar of the 2010/11 BIVAR seminar series which took place on Thursday 3rd March.
Funders and policy-makers often recommend that voluntary organisations should ‘collaborate’. But is this good advice from the point of view of voluntary organisations themselves? Margaret Harris offered insight from an examination of 70 IVAR studies which had touched on this theme over the last 10 years. They underlined the importance of the idea of ‘exchange’ whereby different parties give up something in order to gain something greater. The notion of ‘collaborative advantage’ - used by writers in the organisational field - can also be helpful in understanding the process.
The results of the synthesis, discussed by Margaret, are published inThinking about... collaboration - A 10-year research synthesis.
The second presentation focussed on the different, but linked idea, of participation. Veronique Jochum and Ellie Brodie from NCVO reported on the Pathways through Participation project. The project was spurred by the insight that participation was much broader than originally thought – it could entail helping a neighbour, boycotting a consumer product as well as associating together in groups or formal participation such as voting. They adopted a broad approach to exploring how individuals take part in a wide range of social or civic activities over the course of their lives.
The final report is due in the summer of 2011 but a range of material related to the project is available on the NCVO website.
View Veronique and Ellie's presentation
Margaret Harris is Emeritus Professor of Voluntary Sector Organisation, Aston Business School, Birmingham; Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London; and Academic Adviser to IVAR.
Véronique Jochum is Research Manager at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) leading on the research team’s work on citizen engagement. Ellie Brodie, also at NCVO, is one of the researchers working on the project; she is responsible for the suburban case study.
The next BIVAR seminar takes place on Thursday 12th May 2011. The theme is: Tackling Poverty, Giving Money and Getting Involved in the Era of Big Society with Julia Unwin (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and Cathy Pharoah (Sir John Cass Business School).
If you would like to receive information about future seminars, please email your contact details and key interests in the sector to: diana@ivar.org.uk.