Implementation (March 25)
During the design of our Strategy we began to identify ‘quick wins’ where there were opportunities to take action and last year we have lots of examples where we have already started to bring our Strategy to life:
- Our leadership team took part in a values-led leadership programme with other third sector leaders in Fife, which focused on growing their confidence, and connected to our ambition to be the best employer possible for our people.
- We continued to work on our manifesto commitment around housing, which included a new partnership with Shelter Scotland, training for staff, a snapshot survey, and collating case studies.
- Co-producing a new volunteer strategy with staff and volunteers to understand how important volunteering is at Fife Gingerbread, and identifying improvement opportunities.
- The Parents Forum continued its development with a group of 9 parents meeting on a fortnightly basis to guide the organisation. The parents participated in sessions with national partners like Poverty Alliance and OPFS to contribute to influencing work nationally. They continued to inform our development at Fife Gingerbread, and a great example of this in action is parents being part of our interview processes.
- Our Board participated in some sessions facilitated to challenge us to think about how we are more agile as a Board, and how we can lean into the strengths and experience of this incredible team of volunteers outwith the quarterly governance meetings.
- Our staff team is incredible, and we have quarterly development sessions where, without fail, they are enthusiastic and curious. We have worked in those sessions to develop our strategy, share stories, and embed our new values.
In March, we continued to move forward with different areas of the Strategy, and some of this has included getting out of the Fife ‘bubble’, as if we want to grow our impact, then we need to develop new relationships and strengthen existing partnerships to enable success in our systems change approach. This has led to interesting meetings with local MPs and MSPs, which create pathways and opportunities to influence policy & practice, and to better understand the levers for change. And Laura (our CEO) attended some really interesting national events and shares some reflections…
“In March I attended the Aberlour Public Debt conference, which was a really interesting event focused on the challenge of public debt and the responsibility on anchor institutions to consider their contribution to poverty and crisis. We know that social security is not enough, and the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign is an important movement that highlights the deficits. The part which really stuck with me around public debt was how we view this, often we immediately assume fault lies with the individual and that the priority is to set up repayment plans. Professor Morag Treanor challenged this, and proposed that we should see public debt as an ‘emergency flare’ which indicates that systems are failing and individuals need our support. I also attended the Improvement Service event in Dundee around lived experience, and I was pleased to reflect on our own efforts at Fife Gingerbread to embed lived experience in our workforce, service design and structures through volunteering and the parents forum. I reflected on the missed opportunities locally where often strategic decisions across the Fife Partnership are made without input from our communities, and often this input is limited to a consultation rather than meaningful participation. We heard from colleagues in Dundee, Renfrewshire and Aberdeenshire sharing their journeys which was inspiring. Attending both these events was a great reminder of the breadth of work happening across Scotland, and the rich learning opportunities that exist that can enhance our work at Fife Gingerbread and as a partnership.”