- EVOC

ERA is Moving On

31 August 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

by Michael McCarron, Senior Development Officer…

After nearly 3 years with EVOC, the time has come for Edinburgh Recovery Activities (ERA) to move on to pastures new.

For those of you unaware of the ERA story, the project began as a response to the closure of a much loved and much needed recovery project in Edinburgh. A hardy team made up of community members, volunteers and staff banded together in what was arguably, a very dark period. However, as we so often see within the recovery community, the will to start from scratch and move on was present and strong. With amazing support from the Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (EADP), I was given the task of speaking to the recovery community in Edinburgh and reporting on the needs and concerns moving forward and to ultimately answer the question – What Next?

In its purest essence, the community wanted a safe space, a place to be around therapeutic support, a place to build recovery capital and a place to meet with peers and share experiences and knowledge. An interim project was formed, which became Edinburgh Recovery Activities. With the support of EVOC, ERA began putting on events and activities and even more importantly, providing support to the community and filling the gap that had been left. Weekly groups, one off events, drop in spaces, signposting, advice, accessing support, highlighting amenities and many other arms became a daily part of life with ERA.

In the past few years, the project has gone from strength to strength, becoming dynamic, inclusive and innovative and capable of responding quickly and concisely. This was in large part thanks to many people. The ERA Steering Group has proved pivotal in decision making, guidance and insight – we are truly grateful to have had such amazing support from them and look forward to a future that continues to utilise their positive input. Likewise, EVOC has been exceptional. For Jemma and myself, EVOC has been like having an incredibly supportive family backing us. Always on hand with knowledge and advice, providing us with support and allowing us the freedom to try, adapt, revise and proceed. Without EVOC, ERA would never have covered the ground it has and we will always think of our time there with great happiness and thanks. I’m sure we will continue to work closely with EVOC – no doubt, firing more questions to the staff team, whom we have yet to stump – and look forward to a future that they have helped shape. From Wednesday 1 September we officially join the team at Cyrenians who are already supporting the next stage in ERA’s development – finding, creating and opening a safe space for the recovery community in Edinburgh. An exciting time ahead for sure.

Before we go though, Jemma and I want to take a minute to say how much we will miss not only the support of EVOC as a team, but also the banter at team meetings and events. We will never forget the responses for the Christmas party survey nor the insanely hot staff trip to a nuclear power station. We have to say a special thanks to the management team: Ella, Ian and in more recent times, Bridie. Likewise, Maria was instrumental with helping us travel in the right direction. Whilst we ready ourselves to say goodbye to EVOC and hello to Cyrenians, we will always be grateful for our time at Ferry Road.

Get in touch with Mick or Jemma at Cyrenians (From Wed 1 Sep)

A Transformation is Happening

10 August 2021 By Esther Currie 2 Comments

by Ian Brooke, Deputy Chief Executive…

Welcome to a blog about the voluntary sector and the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership’s Transformation Programme.

No, don’t click to another page or wander off to see if the paint is dry, this is something worth spending five minutes thinking about!

The ‘transformation’ work began in 2020 and has been developed by a dedicated staff team who are employed to make change happen. My experience of the way this is working is it’s like an icebreaker cutting through the frozen ocean – successfully driving the programme forward with senior officers at the helm, who themselves are leading various pieces of work.

Here’s the list of work with the official titles and my quick explanation:

Three Conversations – continuing to roll out the three conversations way of working to increase uptake of preventative support
Community Frailty Service – working with Primary Care and others sites to identify and support frail older people.
Medical Day Hospitals – a programme to ensure that Day Hospitals offer the best support and facilitate the move away from the Liberton Hospital site
Community Mobilisation – part of the Edinburgh Pact work, the aim here is to mobilise local communities including groups and voluntary organisations and invest in prevention
Home First – putting into place systems that try to make sure as much care is provided at home as possible
Bed based care – changing the way care is provided and reviewing the number of beds in institutions
Home based care – re-design of care at home across all sectors
Edinburgh Pact – re-thinking the way that we work with citizens to ensure everyone has more good days
Transitions – particularly around young people moving from children to adult services in late teens
Workforce Strategy – ambitions for the future of the EHSCP workforce bringing together NHS and CEC staff

In summary, you’ll see how the voluntary sector is important in many if not quite all of the work – but what does your organisation do and how can it influence this work and become involved is the correct question to ask at this point…!

Well, EVOC staff attend the ‘Programme Boards’ that are responsible for overseeing the work and through our forums and networks, the work is discussed as relevant moments arise.

We also have a webpage dedicated to Transformation to keep everyone up to date.

So please get involved, keep up to date if you can, and make sure the voice of all our work is heard!

Learning From Lockdown in Edinburgh: Sharing Your Experiences

8 July 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

by Hugo Whitaker (Development Worker – Disability and Carers)…

A lot of us are getting more than a little tired of the current restrictions and wanting to get back to being in buildings and outdoor spaces with others again – in the ways we used to. Recently some of us at EVOC took a few hours as part of ‘wellbeing morning’ to meet up in person and go for a walk. I really enjoyed meeting some colleagues I hadn’t seen face to face since March last year, as well as meeting one ‘in real life’ for the first time. We spoke about how while being on line has some benefits, there is no substitute for meeting in ways people have always met – in small or larger groups, for work, learning, recreation, catching up with friends, going to a gig, film or festival. We’re looking forward to doing more of this, as well as making use of the some of new ways of communicating and meeting that we’ve learnt through the pandemic.

However, for some people, for instance unpaid carers and people with additional support needs like a learning disability or long-term condition, it is very unclear what opportunities will be available over the next few months. We’ve heard a lot of concerns raised through voluntary organisations that meet as part of the Edinburgh Carers Forum and Edinburgh Disability Forum that EVOC supports. We’re hearing that in some cases people have had no contact with anyone, apart from those who live with and care for them, since March 2020. Some carers have lost respite services, which they tell us are not coming back. Even if a service is open, we’re hearing that travel arrangements have been challenging.

Some people with additional support needs, and their carers, desperately want to be back doing what they did before too – meeting up with friends, doing voluntary work, going to college, social events, training or work. Others have got out of the habit of taking part in group activities, lost confidence in going out, or are really scared of catching Covid, so are not leaving the house at all through their own choice – particularly with plans to move to Level Zero and the high levels of infections in Edinburgh. People are also telling us that they’ve discovered new experiences during lockdown e.g. meeting on-line, meeting people locally, going for walks in places they’d never been before.

Following discussions with forum members, colleagues in the Health and Social Partnership and the Council’s Transport Department, we thought it would be a good idea to find out more and have put together two brief surveys.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE SURVEYS HAVE NOW CLOSED

Our first survey asks people with additional support needs, and those that care for them, their experience of respite breaks or the lack of them. We also want to understand how they travel to places to do the things we all like doing, in buildings and outdoor spaces across the city and beyond. There is also an easy read version of the survey here.

Our second survey asks member organisations about their experiences of supporting unpaid carers and those using day support.

I’m on carer leave for the next few weeks, but look forward to sharing the findings with you when I’m back ‘at my desk’.

Hugo Whitaker, Development Worker – Disability and Carers

EVOC Survey for Organisations I EVOC Survey for Service Users & Carers I Easy Read Survey for Service Users & Carers

A New ERA For Edinburgh Recovery Activities

21 April 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

A guest blog by the team at Edinburgh Recovery Activities (ERA):
Michael McCarron (Senior Development Officer) & Jemma Eveleigh (Community Development Worker)

From the outset, we wanted ERA to be fresh, innovative and community led. We were both very excited about how the steering group was set up – full of members of the community as opposed to a tokenistic approach – making sure they had the loudest voice in driving the organisation forwards, from our activities through to the operation of the project.

We officially launched in August of 2019 with our community BBQ at Bridgend Farm. In our minds we thought about 30 to 40 folk would turn up and we’d be sending them home at the end with the leftover food. The main focus of our chats was if the weather would be good. On the day of the BBQ, it was scorching hot, we had well over 100 people, ran out of food and had to go and buy more supplies! All that was left at the end was some ketchup and a few cans of juice. It was at this point we both realised we hadn’t sat down all day, never mind getting to eat one of the burgers we’d had our sights set on for a week!

ERA has had its share of challenges to overcome, like the fact loads of ideas for groups but no building to run them from. A lot of our time was spent meeting organisations to see if we could rent space from them, but in Edinburgh that’s no easy task. On a few occasions we were met with apprehension due to the stigma around alcoholics and addiction. However, in time, we managed to piece together various groups – HIIT, Yoga, Book Group and Mum’s group – and began holding one-off events and monthly activities. Who knew there was so many avid bowlers in the recovery community? Our karaoke nights at the Biscuit Factory were a great laugh – at least once people got over their initial fear of the mic. Sometimes tuneful – sometimes not so much 😊 – they were also full of fun and family friendly.

When lockdown hit, we had to change our approach, quickly diverting our focus from designing a service policy to a pandemic plan! Taking lessons from the speedy response of the anonymous fellowships we moved our established groups online and finding ourselves with the freedom to run groups throughout the day – without the constraints of building availability and having to travel from venue to venue – found space to develop new ones.

The ERA mantra has always been ‘Proceed until apprehended’ and while we often worked to that notion, in response to COVID-19 it soon became a firm motto. Being fully aware of the purpose of our organisation, we couldn’t ignore the challenges our community was facing, and had to become flexible in defining ‘recovery activities’. We put in place our ‘Keeping Connected Fund’ which provided devices and data for those in need to get online and introduced crisis grants to help those having to make choices between food and getting online to support their recovery.

In the two years since the project begun, we have had some fantastic highs. Things like the Karaoke nights seeing everyone up, singing and dancing. The formation of Mum’s Groups which has now evolved into a Parents Peer Support group. The success of the Creative Writing group – one published book featured at the Portobello Book Festival and a second about to launch. Recovery month during lockdown – we managed to put together a celebratory day where we sent out picnics to community members all over Edinburgh and played bingo on Zoom! There was also a very funny moment during our Graffiti workshop when Jemma and Holly were working on the “Y” at the end of the word Recovery. Let’s just say, it looked more like something suggestable than a “Y”! It’s still impossible not to see it when we look at the photos.

We find ourselves excited about what the future holds; getting back to Ten Pin Bowling and developing more fun activities and events. We’re very much looking forward to moving into a ‘new ERA’ which will see us with our own building to run out of and continue to grow along with all the amazing folk we get to work with every day.

We also have to say a massive thank you to EVOC for their continuing support of which we are truly grateful.

Mick & Jemma (April 2021)

Oh no… not another blog!

24 March 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

A response to the Feeley Report by Ian Brooke (EVOC Deputy Chief Executive).

People often talk about circles ‘coming back around’.

Or maybe sometimes we see patterns where it’s simply random.

What I do know is that there are a lot of well-meaning official think tank (Scottish or UK Government) infrastructure bodies reports cascading out of pdf formatting software at any one time – but so many of them talk a good game but offer few practical steps to getting to grips with the issues at hand. Then, last week another one appeared:

Only commissioned in the autumn, we knew that the review would report quickly. And we all hoped that it would focus on real people, organisations on the frontline and present practical actions. Well, to cut to the chase, it does.

‘We in the carers and independent living movement are pleased that our
intensive advocacy work has paid off so well’ _{Sebastian Fischer VOCAL CEO}

All 109 pages burst with an ambition and phraseology many in the voluntary sector live and breathe every day. ‘Rights-based’, ‘People Powered’, ‘Fairness’ – to name but a few.

Ten years on from Christie’s ground-breaking commission and through the birth of the Frankenstein IJB restructuring, is this the breakthrough into puberty as the system had settled-down into its infancy?

The danger inherent in the ambition is that the system’s apparatchiks could easily get caught up redesigning process or structural niceties. Furthermore, the sensible reforms proposed might not even survive exposure to the real world – what would unions, CoSLA, IJB Chief Officers think? Are politicians brave enough to pull it off? We already know, disappointingly, that there is a split along constitutional lines amongst parties. And of course there’s the question of investment money. Keeping people well and safe and achieving everything they have the right to achieve isn’t cheap…

Breadth of ambition with practical steps – tick.

Difficult teenage years to come?

Scottish Charity Law Consultation

27 January 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

In 2019 OSCR began a process of reviewing the powers that they have and consulting with charities and other stakeholders on their views. As OSCR was established in 2003, it was a good time to look at what administrative efficiencies the regulator has as well as looking at what powers required reviewing and strengthening in order to ensure public trust in charities was maintained. Very broadly, the areas that OSCR was looking at were things that would increase transparency and make OSCR’s powers clearer.

Since then, we’ve had a government focused on Brexit and then hit by COVID-19 and lockdowns, and this is why OSCR is now revisiting this consultation process after a bit of delay. Having taken on board input from the first stage of the consultation, they have refined their request for feedback and we are running an event to look in detail at some of the questions they’re asking.

YOUR FEEDBACK / VIEWS MATTER
You may be wondering how something like this affects your charity and why you might want to take the time come along to our discussion event – especially if you’re from a small charity that has had very little contact with OSCR apart from submitting your annual returns. But no matter the size, some of the proposals will affect all charities – for example, a register of all trustees for charities in Scotland or giving OSCR the power to instruct trustees that they must or must not take some action. As well as this, it is important for the voices of smaller charities to be heard so that it’s not only lawyers or large charities influencing policy. Our aim with this event is to bring together people from smaller, local charities to discuss the proposals, give OSCR a report on the feedback that we gather, and increase the confidence of organisations to submit their own individual feedback as well if they would like to.

There are some parts of this consultation that we think are more likely to affect the organisations attending, so we are going to focus on the first three proposals. It will be helpful if you’re able to read through som e of the questions they’re asking ahead of time and come with queries or thoughts.

Christina Hinds, Development Worker, EVOC

EVOC: Your Views – Strengthening Scottish Law (Wed 17 Feb, 10am to 12noon)

Looking Back at 2020 by Roisin Hurst

6 January 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

I don’t think 2020 is a year that any of us will forget anytime soon, so as we start a new year, it seems like a good time to reflect on both the challenges and positives (there were some!) of the last 12 months.

I started working at EVOC on the first day of lockdown, which was an unusual way to get to grips with a new job (although 9 months later probably not so unusual!) Grappling with new technologies, hearing “you’re on mute” 20 times a day and meeting colleagues via Zoom and Teams chats became the norm very quickly.

A few weeks after I started, EVOC was asked to manage the COVID-19 Food Fund project in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council and third sector organisations. EVOC’s role was to bring together the statutory and third sectors to co-ordinate provision of food across the city. The project, which was funded by money from the Scottish Government Food Fund, was designed to support the most vulnerable people in the city who would otherwise struggle to access food due to the pandemic; to ensure that all of the money allocated to this critical project was used to supply and transport food to those who needed it most.

Because our roles were all changing we didn’t need to use any of the funding for staff etc, I was re-deployed from my original role at EVOC to support the project. My job was a very practical one – ensuring that the referrals EVOC received from the Council were sent to the right hubs and providers across the city to ensure that people got food quickly. I was liaising with local organisations and the Council on a daily basis and sorting any queries that might arise. I was also able to refer people for additional support that they might need such as dog walking, shopping or befriending.

I would also call people who needed help urgently, just to check how they were doing and find out exactly what they needed. In some cases, I was the only person who had spoken with them in the last few days and they were really appreciative of a friendly voice on the other end of the phone. For me personally, it felt really rewarding to be doing something useful and practical to help people.

I also enjoyed getting to know everyone working at the fantastic organisations that were supporting the project. We were all learning as we went along and we didn’t always get it right, however what we all had in common was our desire to ensure that no-one went hungry because of COVID. As a result, new partnerships have been formed which will stand us in good stead for the future!

The first phase of the food fund project finished in September, however we’ve recently stepped up the project again on a much smaller scale to mitigate the impact of the increase in COVID cases and the approach of winter. For now, the level of demand is much lower, partly because the Council are operating a cash first principle for those in crisis as advocated by Scottish Government. Hopefully this helps people to have more choice and dignity in terms of self-determining the support they need, and food deliveries help those who really need them.

So, while I will be glad to see the back of 2020 for lots of reasons, on a personal level, I feel very grateful that I was able to work with wonderful partners to do a job that has hopefully made a positive difference to peoples’ lives.

Roisin Hurst, Development Worker (Community Investment)

If you are currently aware of people in crisis please encourage them to call 0131 200 2388 or apply online for support. Find out how we are working with City of Edinburgh Council, Caring in Craigmillar, Cyrenians, Pilton Equalities Project and Space to those who need it during the current lockdown and restrictions.

Regional Resilience: The Big Picture

17 December 2020 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

This is a guest blog written by John Beresford (Senior Resilience Co-ordinator on the East of Scotland Resilience Co-ordination Team).

My name is John Beresford and I am the Senior Resilience Co-ordinator on the East of Scotland Resilience Co-ordination team. The Scottish Government has three of these teams which are aligned with the East, West and North Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs). The RRP’s are created by the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) which also defines categories of ‘responders’ – organisations who have certain duties and responsibilities in preparation for and in response to national emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, we have become aware of the fantastic work being done by the community side of the voluntary sector that we do not often engage with, co-ordinated by the TSI’s. Recognising we have a gap in our knowledge and therefore capability, we are keen to build on the links which COVID has created for us and wanted to share more details about what we do with our voluntary sector partners.

The Civil Contingencies Act places certain duties on responders and those in Categories 1 and 2 are required to cooperate and share information in planning for and response to civil contingencies incidents.

Category 1 responders: Police, Fire, Ambulance, Local Authorities, NHS Boards, SEPA, Maritime & Coastguard Agency. (There is currently a consultation to give Health and Social Care Partnerships Category 1 status in Scotland.)

Category 2 responders (co-operating bodies): Utility companies, Transport authorities and providers, NHS NSS, Health and Safety Executive

The third group of responders or Key Stakeholders is where we (for the Scottish Government) and the voluntary sector come in. These groups meet as Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs) to plan for civil contingencies events, and then in activation mode to respond to their consequences. They include: Met Office, Faith Groups, Industry, Military, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Communities.

Each of the three Regional Co-ordination teams is made up of a Senior Co-ordinator, two Resilience Co-ordinators and a Learning and Development Co-ordinator. We are Scottish Government employees, but are in place to support the resilience partnerships and their members in a number of ways. For example

Co-ordinators facilitate the all-important relationship building with partners, which maintains trust and encourages inclusion in the resilience effort. They provide co-ordination support for the Regional and Local Resilience Partnership structures to ensure the right people are brought to the table to discuss the relevant issues at appropriate meetings, sharing out tasks/responsibilities in order to effect better outcomes – the ethos of ‘right people, right place, right time.’This helps share knowledge, address capability gaps, and build resilience across the full range of risks more effectively.
In ‘response’ mode, the Co-ordinators can also maintain the crucial Scottish Government Liaison Officer (SGLO) role, which allows them to provide accurate and detailed briefings to the Scottish Government Resiliance Room (SGoRR) with good awareness/knowledge of responder activities. Accurate, timely, consistent information allows Ministers to tailor messages towards improved public confidence.
Provide 24/7 on call communication and information links between SGoRR and Category 1 and 2 responders in civil contingencies matters. Co-ordinators provide SGORR duty officer colleagues with information so they can produce briefings for Ministers. The role of the co-ordinator may include attendance at a Multi-Agency Coordination Centre (MACC) as well as participation in Resilience Partnership meetings in order to report back to SGoRR. Co-ordinators ‘on-call’ may work with the lead agency to organise, assist facilitate and co-ordinate multi-agency meetings in support of on-going response to incidents.
Co-ordinate multi-agency training, debriefing and gathering of lessons learned across their areas.

East of Scotland Resilience Co-ordination team: eosrrp@gov.scot
West of Scotland Resilience Co-ordination team: wosrrp@gov.scot
North of Scotland Resilience Co-ordination team: nosrrp@gov.scot

Another part of our division is the Scottish Resilience Development Service (ScoRDS) who are our training, debriefing and ‘lessons learned’ experts. They deliver training on the Integrated Emergency Management model used in response to emergencies in Scotland, and like me are keen that TSI’s engage with their programme.

They have just launched an online training hub which we would encourage you to sign up to.

What are the Best Actions that Organisations Can Take to Avoid Burn Out?

23 November 2020 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

This is a guest blog written by Duncan W Wallace (Facilitator, Coach, Consultant & Trainer).

As we all head into winter from this unprecedented year, I have been working with multiple organisations about how to avoid Burn Out. The graphic above outlines the results from a recent survey, and – for me – the number one answer is no surprise.

The Maslach Burnout Inventory offers a fairly good definition:

“a decreased sense of personal accomplishment and increased sense of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization”

The core proposal from this work, is that organisations should include personal wellbeing time within their working time.

We know that there is more fatigue involved in switching to remote online working methods. We know that organisations have been over booking their time and ‘zooming’ from one meeting to another, without accounting for travel time like they would have had to. We know that some people are finding that efficient, whist others are also finding it a struggle. We know that going through significant change takes a toll, and a lag can build up within the very workforces who have ‘gone for it’, ‘met the challenge’, ‘been agile’, ‘adapt rapidly’.

And now, unsurprisingly, the cracks are beginning to show.

The need now it to act with wisdom and consider more sustainable working practices. To continue to recognise that everyone’s experience of lockdown is different and that compassionate, ethical leadership is required. We need to continue to listen well, build trust and work strategically.

We also know that the deep changes in the economy have only just begun. In fact, those who create strategy in the health and social care sector are beginning to know about the ‘Long-Covid’ effect, where the types and quantities of health and social care long-term conditions are beginning to be quantifiable as the disease spreads through our first winter. This isn’t all doom and gloom, yet you cannot deny that we are only just beginning to understand the impacts on our organisations.

So here are 4 actions you can take:

Build in personal wellbeing time… call it thinking time not ‘duvet days’.
Modify the strategy to be realistic to the actual capacity you have now… don’t expect further bounce… there won’t be a normal, may not even be a new normal that was being predicted 4 months ago.
Make sure everyone takes proper holidays? Keeping going… working through… all this is only an option for the very very privileged.
Engage with your staff about structural options. Work together to discuss changing contracted hours or adjusting the flow of work so that EVERYONE has work that is meaningful, motivational and purposeful. Now is not a time for work to feel or be slavery.

These come from the action research in workshops and the executive coaching I’m doing with CEO’s across Scotland. The ranking exercise in the photograph comes from the recent Managing Time. Harness Energy. Avoid Burn Out events, and as I reflect on it, the findings fit with much of the primary research about how to get the most from your business and make it truly sustainable. Contact me if you want any help finding the very practical tools for changing the culture of your organisation.

Finally a heartening word from one of the leaders at my Avoiding Burn Out Workshop was:
‘Working with my team through this will help take us navigate through the turbulent time and take us beyond ‘How are you?’

Lessons Learned: COVID-19 Food Programme

11 November 2020 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

COVID-19 has challenged us all in so many different ways. We’ve made new alliances, tested established partnerships and put real commitment into supporting the communities and people we care so much about.

From zero to 100mph is high octane stuff and the food delivery programme was a task-intensive pressurised programme at every stage in the process – whether it was delivering the food to someone’s door or checking the accuracy and eligibility of the actual referral. It’s fantastic that we have been able to draw breathe and honestly reflect back on our learning.

Food Fund and Lessons Learned report Final

While this was a national fund and there was a referral route established, it was developed on the back of significant local knowledge. The immediate learning is the need to streamline the referral process with clear and co-ordinated communication across statutory partners (and departments) and our voluntary and third sector partners. There were many nail-biting days when the sustainability of the programme was in doubt as we waited for information about funding – never a good scenario when colleagues knew the need within and felt the dependence from the community on this humanitarian programme.
In and of itself reflecting on learning is always worth the effort, however as everyone is aware in the world we live in its vital as there might be the need to re-establish the programme. There is agreement that we need to produce a Memorandum of Understanding with City of Edinburgh Council which clarifies our expectations of each other and how we will work together. This programme is only possible when we work together and everyone has limited time so we will develop a provisional structure which can be deployed quickly and effectively. It’s not possible to mitigate against all possibilities but by focusing on the core need of community resilience it will be possible to provide a flexible response. Most importantly any re-established programme has to be delivered with dignity and integrity; it has to be sustainable, provide choice for people as well as value for money.

Finally, I want to reflect on the importance of listening to people. This report reflects the shared experience of voluntary and statutory partners delivering a city-wide programme. It was only possible to sustain this programme beyond the immediate crisis because we were able to bring together strategic coordination, national funding and local knowledge. Local knowledge comes from working with people in communities. Mind the Craic provided a clear challenge to all of us to work with, listen to and acknowledge the skills and expertise of people and without that ethos at the heart of all our partners this programme wouldn’t have been possible and this report would not have provided the rich learning that takes our thinking and planning beyond a crisis response.