How it worked
How it worked |
The aim of the pilot programme was to develop and test a model of resource sharing by working with four “clusters” of agencies. The groups we worked with had already formed around other issues, and had identified resource sharing as an area they wanted to explore.
Each cluster had access to six days of facilitation from HACT’s lead consultant on this project, Alan Cripps, and one of his team of colleagues. In three of the four clusters, HACT also provided an initial assessment of ICT systems and capacity from the programme’s ICT consultant Rob Stead. The aim of this input was to:
- help each group identify which of the many possible areas for resource sharing were most likely to deliver benefits for all of the group members; and
- undertake some of the leg work in getting the priority areas under way.
the consultancy team
- Alan Cripps: lead consultant and author of the toolkit
- Mary Carter: facilitator – Collaborate London
- Kevin Ireland: facilitator – Collaborate Bolton and Durham
- Jan King: facilitator – Collaborate Nottingham
- Rob Stead: specialist ICT input and development of on-line tools
funding issues
Each cluster was also allocated a budget of up to £15,000. Unlike the previous round of Collaborate projects, groups were not asked to specify at the outset how the budget would be spent. The key task for each cluster in the first phases of the project was to identify the priority area(s) for resource sharing, the goals which it wanted to achieve, and a plan setting out how the budget would be deployed to achieve the goals. The plan was then submitted to HACT for approval before funding was released.
There were no preconceived limits on what the budget could be used for – the only criteria were that the proposal must:
- focus on resource sharing;
- spell out how the chosen activities would strengthen the capacity of the cluster’s members;
- include a section explaining how the gains from the pilot programme would be sustained and built on;
- come with the recommendation of the lead consultant.
Sharing learning
In addition to the meetings of the individual clusters and meetings between the members of the facilitation team, HACT hosted a shared learning event towards the end of the pilot programme. The aim of the event was twofold: to give participants a chance to get to know each other and share ideas face to face, and also to distil and evaluate some of the learning from the programme so that it could be disseminated more widely. It was a condition of grant that each cluster should participate in this event, and in the wider process of evaluating the programme.
The pilot programme ran from December 2008 to September 2009. The evaluation will be published in 2010.