Total Place and the Third Sector conference - 23rd March 2010

Ben Cairns (Director, IVAR) spoke at the joint OTS / I&DeA conference on ‘Total Place and the Third Sector’ on overcoming barriers to more efficient and effective working. The conference, held on 23 March 2010 in London, was designed to look forward and explore the potential role the third sector has in Total Place.
 
Drawing on the findings from IVAR’s Partnership Improvement Programme, Ben argued that partnership working requires sustained investment in relationship-building and communications:
 
 “If we can enable people to recognise, understand and accept their differences, then we will have created some of the conditions for them to work effectively together and we will  have increased their chances of congregating around their shared interests and ideals, and of realising the benefits of working together: learning, innovation and better outcomes for local people.  This process, of laying the foundations, may not look creative or ground-breaking but it is absolutely critical to the success of initiatives like Total Place. Without it, partnerships risk, at best, floundering and, at worst, failing.”
 
Joining Ben on the platform were Helen Bailey (Director of Public Services, HM Treasury) and Irene Lucas (Director General, Local Government and Regeneration, CLG).
 
To download a copy of Ben’s speech click here.
For more information on Total place visit the I&DeA website.