London Region ICT Champion

The London ICT Sub Group is a sub group of the ChangeUp London Regional Consortium. It has several functions:

• provide strategic oversight of the London Regional ICT Champion project
• Develop an London ICT Strategy (PDF 760kb)
• Influence funders and policy-makers to invest in sector ICT
• Map gaps in ICT provision and ensure co-ordinated solutions have a strong-user led focus

Recruitment
We’re always looking out for new members, particularly from BMER, Equalities, Homeless, social enterprise and other thematic areas of work - so if you are interested in capacity building voluntary sector ICT and would like to contribute to the strategic discussion, please let me know.

London ICT Strategy
Voluntary and community organisations form the backbone of civil society and are at the forefront of efforts to build healthier, more vibrant, and more inclusive communities. They also play “a crucial role in delivering public services” and technology plays an important role in enabling the sector to respond to social needs. Download the London ICT Strategy (PDF 760KB)

• Regional ICT Champions: Regional Champions have been recognised by Capacity Builders as a model of good practice for advocating to funders and policy-makers, developing a strategic over-view and functioning as a link between national support services and local delivery.

• Circuit Rider projects: Reports from HM Treasury and the Home Office ChangeUp report and research from Lasa and others shows Circuit Riding to be an efficient, effective and flexible model of delivering ICT support to the sector. However, since demand for Circuit Rider projects (16 CVSs identified it as a ChangeUp priority) far out-strips supply (8 Circuit Riders) we urge that funders support new and existing projects – including funding for 7 ChangeUp funded Circuit Riders which is due to expire in March 2008.

• Professional Development of new and existing Circuit Riders: Our research shows a significant gap between the demand for Circuit Rider projects and the number of Circuit Riders available. Providing a framework of professional development and accreditation will provide a career path and attract new riders to the sector.

• Online resources: The Knowledgebase and Suppliers Directory provide the voluntary sector organisations with quality independent advice on all aspects of planning and managing their ICT.

• Funding total cost of ICT: Voluntary organisations struggle with the cost and complexity of ICT, hindering their ability to deliver effective services and outputs to their stakeholders. With full cost recovery now an accepted practice, funders should consider recognising ICT as a legitimate cost of doing business that brings real benefits to VCO and their stakeholders.

• Expert impartial advice: Funders need expert and impartial advice to help them and their grantees understand the impact of ICT on the activity they are funding.

• Capacity building ICT Skills and Knowledge: Funders should support the web based Knowledgebase and Suppliers Directory as resources that are freely available to help the sector make better informed decision about their ICT.

• Smaller organisations: The City Parochial ‘Building Blocks’ report highlights the capacity of smaller organisations to engage withe mainstream. A useful first step would be investing in circuit rider projects that support the ICT needs of smaller organisations working together in a community of interest or partnership;

• Social enterprise: Social enterprise models of ICT support should be considered a long-term goal as their viability and sustainability for ICT support to the sector is largely unproven at this time.

• Accessible computing: As a matter of good practice funders should encourage all bids to support accessible computing for all members of society. Check out these guides.

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