Last week we held two major events for the sector - our annual Members event (this year themed around Resilience), and the Showcasing Third Sector Partnerships in Cluster Development event with NPTCVS and Swansea Bay University Health Board.

A key role of SCVS is bringing together the diversity of the local voluntary and community sector to share ideas, build connections, and provide opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills we all need to run our organisations - both of these events delivered just that.

At Resilience, on Wednesday 10th June we were joined by a wide range of representatives of our member organisations, where we explored what ‘resilience’ means for the local third sector.

After the return of our popular ‘Who’s in the room?’ networking sessions, we were joined by Laurie Wynne, Emergency Response Operations Manager at British Red Cross and Chair of the South Wales Local Resilience Forum Third Sector Group, and Ben Cromie, Principal Emergency Management Officer at Swansea Council, where we looked at ways to strengthen the partnership between the public and third sector in relation to emergency response and explored the support that the sector can offer. 

During the afternoon delegates were given a choice of sessions related to different aspects of resilience, including social value plus; practical financial resilience; using research evidence to frame your volunteering and protecting wellbeing from burnout. 

On Thursday 11th June, the focus turned to the significant contribution of third sector organisations to the design and delivery of community-based health and wellbeing services across local clusters in the Swansea Bay University Health Board region at the Showcasing Third Sector Partnerships in Cluster Development event held at the Swansea.com stadium. 

The day was very well attended by representatives of voluntary and community organisations across Swansea and neath Port Talbot, as well as health professionals from across the Swansea Bay region. 88 engagement sessions were delivered generating a range of priority actions to strengthen collaborative working and inform future cluster development.

In addition, 13 workshops covering cancer, frailty and older people, emotional health and wellbeing and women’s health were held. 
Feedback highlighted the positive impact of these sessions in creating stronger connections, fostering innovation and building confidence in collaborative approaches, with participants emphasising the value of bringing together professionals, community organisations and people with lived experience to identify shared priorities and co-produce solutions.

SCVS exists to support the huge variety of voluntary and community organisations across Swansea, and we are never more proud when we hear first hand from groups about their outstanding work. We’ve loved reconnecting with our colleagues from other organisations, and can’t wait to do it again soon! 

Is your organisation an SCVS member? Check here, and join us (for free) if not!