Blog

Gatekeeping and Inclusive Leadership: The Role of Racialised Minority Gatekeepers in Promoting Equity in the Post-2020 Black Lives Matter Protests-Era

In this post blog, Fidele Mutwarasibo, shares his insights and reflections on his experience as a racialised minority gatekeeper in the UK and Ireland, and the lessons he learnt as a pracademic (scholar-practitioner) at The OU researching the leadership of racialised minority networks in the past five years.

28th October 2024

Leveraging Privilege to Advance Equity and Inclusion: The Importance of White Allyship in Advancing Racial Equity in the Post-2020 Black Lives Matter Protests-Era

In this blog post, Fidele Mutwarasibo shares insights and reflects on his experience as an activist in the UK and Ireland, and the lessons he has learned as a practitioner (scholar-practitioner).

28th October 2024

Lost the Plot - A Parting Eulogy to the Sector

Paul Streets, former CEO of Lloyds Bank Foundation England & Wales, picks up some big picture questions for the third sector, drawing on his recent lecture as a Visiting Professor at Bayes Centre for Charity Effectiveness ‘Reflecting Forwards’ which looked back on almost 40 years of working in the sector.

1st July 2024

Why Volunteering Should Be a Workplace Right

This blogpost is a reflective piece written by Ed Mayo (Chief Executive, Pilotlight) on why volunteering should be a workplace right.

24th June 2024

Ubuntu: putting community first

This Blog is part of an occasional series by CVSL’s Visiting Fellow, Dr Helen Britton.

This blog briefly explores the term ‘Ubuntu’ (oo-BUUN-too). If you are into Linux operating systems, you will have heard this term. This blog is not concerned with software but with the notion of putting community first. Pivotal to the Ubuntu philosophy is the importance and value of the human being (munthu) and the community.

9th May 2024

Exploring sustainability credentials: identifying factors to contribute towards long-term resilience

This is the third blog in a series examining sustainability by Visiting Fellow, Dr Helen Britton. When we think about our credentials, we often think in terms of a measurement to indicate our suitability for something: our achievements, a quality, an assumed confidence or ability. This may produce a certificate or a membership to an organisation. As important as these undoubtedly are, this blog post explores the idea that our credentials are more than those important bits of paper.

23rd January 2024

Spending more, giving more flexibly and shifting power: reflections from spend-out grant makers

Sally Vivyan was a PhD student affiliated to CVSL until autumn 2022 and is now a visiting research fellow with the centre. For her day job she had returned to grant making and in this blog she reports on the work done behind a recent Voluntary Sector Review paper she co-authored with Tessa Durham titled “Spending more, giving more flexibly and shifting power: reflections from spend-out grant makers”.

31st October 2023

Strengthening resilience for a more sustainable future

This is the second blog in a three part series by Visiting Fellow, Dr Helen Britton . This blog builds on her previous blog: ‘Trying to sustain practice in a shifting landscape of uncertainty’. It asks the question: How can I strengthen my resilience beyond a survival capacity to make my organisation more sustainable. By making several suggestions, it highlights the need to orient our thinking and to recognise the interconnected elements of building a resilience mindset. Resilience is the ‘the art of thriving’. It is our ability to withstand, adapt and accelerate our responses to crisis, shocks and disruptions. Increasing the knowledge base of factors that influence sustainable practice are central to strengthening the resilience of our organisations.

31st October 2023

In search of ecosystems: reflections from a back-office perspective

In a series of blogs in summer 2023, Carol Jacklin-Jarvis and Steven Parker consider current theory and practice for multi-agency collaboration, drawing on the ideas of hybridity and ecosystems. In this final blog, Steve and Carol reflect on how the experience of engaging with an ecosystem can be different for people working in back-office roles.

25th October 2023

My internship journey and insights gained

In her second blog post, Claire Horn shares insights into the learning from their internship with CVSL. This blog emerged from Claire’s work on a scoping research project that an OU team led by Dr. Wendy Turner and CVSL Director - Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo is undertaking on behalf of MK Community Foundation.

1st September 2023

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