Charlie Fisher appointed as Observatory Facilitator

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has appointed Charlie Fisher to the post of Observatory Facilitator.

The post of ‘Observatory Facilitator’ has been established by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland to engage with the community & voluntary sector and to begin a dialogue that will;

• Outline the challenges and uncover opportunities for continued and effective community development

• Ensure that the sector has a channel for communication and participation in the work of the Building Change Trust.

Charlie who has previous extensive experience working in the sector through posts in both West Belfast Economic Forum and the Social Economy Agency feels that the role of the ‘Observatory’ is particularly important as the community sector enters a period of change influenced by the review of public administration and continuing changes to the procedures for funding community development work.

He explained that through action research the ‘Observatory’ will assist the community & voluntary sector in appraising the impact of changes with a view to:

• Identify best practice and procedures for transformative action in civic engagement and community development

• Explore new models of community engagement, governance and service delivery

• Influencing policy development for continued support and development.

The Observatory will directly engage with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors, academia and with political representatives whose work directly impacts on the community and voluntary sector. In doing so it will:

• Promote the central role of the sector to administer and deliver social change

• Record and articulate new models of inter-sectoral engagement