Trust attends SDLP Annual Conference

Trust attends SDLP Annual Conference

18 November 2014

The Building Change Trust attended this year’s SDLP Annual Conference at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on Saturday at part of Strategem’s #CoffeeClub.

Following on from the success of Stratagem’s first ever #CoffeeClub at the UUP Conference some weeks ago, they returned with a Coffee Club agenda for the SDLP Conference, to allow attendees to engage in debate on how the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector is adapting to survive in ever competitive markets.

In a discussion entitled ‘Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector in NI – change or die?’ Maeve Monaghan and Nigel McKinney took to the stage for Building Change Trust.

Input came from Patricia Flanaghan at Social Innovation Camp (SI Camp), which designs innovation programmes that use technology for social good, Andrea Egan from Collaboration NI, which offers collaboration support to the sector, and Tiziana O’Hara from Co-operative Alternatives, the only body in Northern Ireland entirely devoted to developing successful co-operatives and community benefit societies.

The Trust shared a stall alongside Aongus O’Keefe from Inspiring Impact NI, the UK wide initiative that aims to change the way VCSE organisations and their funders think about impact and put impact practice at the heart of their work.

Nigel McKinney, Director of Operations at Building Change Trust, said: “We at the Trust are dedicated to making a positive change in Northern Ireland through the development of the VCSE. However, we cannot do this alone and need government to meet with us, and the sector as a whole, on a number of issues. 

“With this in mind, we are attending the major party conferences in an effort to engage with political parties and representatives in meaningful and thoughtful debate about what we have identified as the key issues that need addressing within the sector – namely Social Innovation, Social Finance, Creative Space for Civic Thinking, Inspiring Impact and Collaboration.

"We hope attending the SDLP conference, along with our other public affairs actions, will help us open up a dialogue with government to the betterment of the NI VCSE”.

What was said on Twitter: