Sector News

A service for vulnerable people that has influenced working practises across the UK and a co-operative responsible for diverting £93,000 worth of food from landfill are among four Welsh charities recognised for their work at a national awards ceremony.

A design team making specialist equipment for children with brain conditions and a community-run project where 95% of residents have helped smash recycling targets were the other recipients in the Third Sector Awards Cymru.

Organised by umbrella organisation Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and supported by voluntary sector services specialist Class Telecommunications, the awards were presented at Cardiff’s Park Plaza Hotel last week (Thursday 19 January) by BBC Wales’ Jason Mohammad.

The four category winners were Zero Waste Presteigne from Powys; Llandudno recycling enterprise Crest Co-operative; Carmarthen charity Cerebra, which provides support to children with brain related conditions; and Cardiff-based Safer Wales, which works to help people feel safer in their daily lives.

The groups were among 13 shortlisted after being nominated by members or service users in the following categories:

· Best communications activity - for organisations that have an effective or innovative way of communicating their message

· Green award - for organisations that have an innovative policy on reducing their carbon footprint

· Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Award – for organisations that have helped people to be happier and healthier through intervention/preventative work

· Most admired organisation

Jonathan Levy, Chief Operating Officer with Class Telecommunications, said: ‘Class is proud to sponsor the Third Sector Awards Cymru for the fourth consecutive year. Supporting the awards is our way of giving something back to the third sector in Wales, which continues to work extremely hard, often in innovative ways, for the communities it represents.’

WCVA Chief Executive Graham Benfield OBE said it was pleasing to see an increase in both the quantity and quality of nominations for the awards, year on year.

‘While the recession is hitting the third sector particularly hard, these organisations have proved that they are not allowing financial uncertainties to hinder their excellent work,’ he added.

‘The Third Sector Awards Cymru performs the important task of highlighting the achievements of these outstanding groups.’

Third Sector Awards Cymru winners 2012

Class Award for Best Communications: Zero Waste Presteigne

The Zero Waste Presteigne and Norton Service is run by the community with support from the Cwm Harry Land Trust with the aim of reducing waste sent to landfill.

The two-year project is funded by the Welsh Government and Powys Zero Waste Action to see how close the community can get to the challenging Wales ‘Towards Zero Waste’ targets or reducing waste by 1.7% a year and recycling 70% of all waste by 2025.

But after just 18 months, the service has smashed both these targets with waste down by 25%, and 75% of what is left being recycled - which compares with just 24% recycling at the start of the scheme. A massive 95% of the community is taking part in the project.

Communications, led by Project Manager David Clarke, have been vital in changing the community’s attitude to waste through a multitude of different forms of contact with residents.

These have included making waste visible. Rather than whisking it away in a big truck early in the morning, the service uses a converted milk float to collect from just 250 homes a day. This means the team is in the street all day to answer people’s questions.

And instead of being hidden in a black bag, landfill refuse is collected in a clear bag as a prompt to take out that last bottle.

Last September, a series of events were held during Zero Waste Fortnight, including a town crier informing each street how much it was sending to landfill that could have been recycled, and a light show projecting landfill statistics that made Presteigne look ‘like Leicester Square’ for two hours.

Volunteers have also devised their own communication initiatives, such as handing out recycled fabric bags to mark the introduction of the 5p charge for single use bags.

‘Through communications, the community have gained a better understanding of how to reduce their waste and why it is so important, and this has led them to change their behaviour,’ said nominator Katy Anderson, Zero Waste Development Manager with the Cwm Harry Land Trust.

Green Award - Crest Co-operative

The Llandudno recycling enterprise provides work opportunities for the unemployed and adults with learning disabilities, benefiting some of the most vulnerable people in Conwy and Denbighshire and providing jobs, skills and meals for people living in food poverty.

Established in 1998, Crest has diverted 55,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, helped more than 900 people find jobs, provided 60,000 hours of voluntary work and awarded 9,300 qualifications to employees, trainees and volunteers.

One of three social enterprises run by the co-operative, Wales’s first community food network - Fare Share North Wales - was established in October 2010 and has since diverted more than 77 tonnes of good quality, in date food from landfill, providing community groups with £93,000 worth.

In 2011, Crest was awarded a two-year local authority contract to collect textiles from the homes of 50,000 residents across Conwy. It operates a community store where good quality textiles are sold to create supported work opportunities. In just a year, 200 tonnes of textiles have been diverted from landfill.

Crest is also working with housing association Cartrefi Cymru, in a partnership unique in the UK, to save waste housing materials from landfill. To date, more than 4,000 old kitchens and bathrooms have been collected, most of them sold on in the community store.

‘Our recycling enterprises have resulted in the creation of job opportunities for prolific offenders and the under-25s, and have led to the launch of this year’s over-50s project – helping them back into the workplace – and the Gateway project, working with housing association tenants to increase confidence and skills,’ said Crest Publicity and Promotions Officer Anna Glover.

Health Award: Cerebra

Cerebra is a national registered charity, based in Carmarthen, which provides support to children with brain related conditions such as brain injuries, neurological disorders, mental disabilities and developmental problems – anything from cerebral palsy and autism to epilepsy and ADHD.

The Cerebra Innovation Centre (CIC) is a research and design service set up to help children with disabilities find specialist equipment and adaptations that are not already available to buy.

The CIC comprises a small team of engineers and designers with expertise in electronics, design and engineering, who work with a range of industry partners and other charities to ensure products are tested to the highest standards.

Parents contact the CIC if their child needs something that is not yet available to buy, and the team design and make it with guidance from the family about what it is needed for, the abilities of the child, and so on.

For example, the parents of five-year-old Annie-May - who has cerebral palsy - contacted the CIC about a form of transport for her as she was unable to walk and had to shuffle around on her bottom. The centre invented the ‘scoot seat’, a low, padded platform with space for the little girl to hold on and robust castor wheels.

‘It enabled Annie-May to get around the house at speed, which she loved,’ said nominator, Cerebra Trust/Corporate Development Officer Sarah Robey. ‘She is now seven and still uses the scoot seat. Her parents have recently contacted the CIC again to design a scoot seat suitable for use on grass.

‘The conditions the children we support have can mean specific equipment or mobility aids are needed to ensure the children can participate as fully in social and school activities,’ Sarah added. ‘The main aim is to produce functional, yet aesthetically pleasing products that help.

‘The CIC works with more than 50 families each year, making a positive difference to the lives of children. Each item that is designed and built or adapted has a different meaning to the child it’s made for.’

Most Admired Award: Safer Wales

Cardiff-based Safer Wales set up its Women’s Safety Unit in 2002, creating the first service of its kind in the country and pioneering the Multi Agency Risk Assessment approach to addressing the issues of domestic violence. This approach is now embedded in multi-agency working in all local authority areas across the UK.

With help from Safer Wales, the StreetLife initiative – which was started by volunteers researching the experience of street sex workers in Cardiff – is now a fully funded project providing support and advocacy services for 60-70 sex workers every year, along with jointly provided temporary accommodation.

The Safer Wales Anti Hate Crime project, recognising the issues of underreporting of hate crimes across Wales, has successfully developed a ‘third party’ reporting system to support victims and signpost to appropriate services. It also raises awareness of hate crime within a range of organisations, including schoolchildren.

‘The project is unique in providing a Wales-wide system, enabling all victims of hate crime to report,’ said nominator, member of the public Alex Hicks. ‘It also undertakes preventative work by teaching short courses to schools students, youth clubs and private and public sector workers.’

The Women’s Turnaround service was started in 2007 in an effort to prevent female offenders re-offending. It was the first optional women offenders’ support project in Wales, offering a range of help to women with very complex needs, and the service has been replicated by agencies across the country.

Safer Wales has also set up a series of innovative projects working with young people, including the Restart Bus mobile youth centre, which provides somewhere to go for young people in danger of becoming marginalised and excluded; the Less Stress anger management programme, which helps young people threatened with school exclusion; and the Building Our Futures scheme, set up to create dialogue between local employers and young people from the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) communities who experience discrimination and difficulty and training.

‘I believe Safer Wales is unique in creating new and innovative projects with the most excluded and disaffected, improving design and delivery of services, listening to service users and responding with real change,’ Alex Hicks concluded.