Posted on: 1 October 2020
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (WY&H HCP) will host a community resilience event on Friday 9 October titled ‘Third Sector Resilience: Before and during COVID-19’. The event will be held using digital technology and builds on the first in the series which took place in July 2020.
Working closely with the voluntary community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) across Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, WY&H HCP will welcome over 150 VCSE partners to the event.
Guest speakers include Charles Khaula, Executive Director of The Association of People with Physical Disabilities in Malawi, a Disabled People's Organisation working to enable people with physical disabilities in Malawi to access their rights – including to education, health and other care services as well as livelihood opportunities; Sam Dhanjal from the Sikh Elders Service, Touchstone based in Leeds; Peninah Wangari-Jones, an anti-racist activist, organiser and Director of the Racial Justice Network. Another international speaker includes Manuchehra Shaknamova who runs a women’s civil society organisation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, who will focus on gender equality.
Cultures and communities around the world, including here in the UK, face different challenges, injustices and inequalities. Our guest speakers will talk about community resilience around the world and how different communities work together and with others to tackle those challenges, injustices and inequalities.
A life line to many of the 2.7million people living across West Yorkshire and Harrogate; community groups, charities and voluntary organisations have been delivering vital services for years, including the renewed focus in recent months to those in need of vital help.
WY&H HCP has supported the sector during this pandemic. For example, it has enabled its priority programmes of work to align funding for VCS provider collaboration, for example the new Grief and Loss Support Service and ‘Keeping people with a learning disability or autism connected to vital support during COVID-19’. A further £503,000 health inequality funds has been made available to voluntary and community organisations to help tackle the impact on people’s health affected by COVID-19, including towards supporting Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities (BAME). More recently WY&H HCP has launched Great Minds, a new collaborative project carried out in partnership with State of Mind Sport to support men’s health and wellbeing - working closely with a variety of clubs across WY&H including super-league and smaller community clubs.
Rob Webster, CEO Lead for WY&H HCP and co-host of the event said: ‘Our voluntary community partners and charities are playing a crucial role in supporting those who are most in need, building on the strength and relationships they already have with local communities and neighbourhoods. We need to do all we can to support them and to address the future of the sector, bringing partners together is just one way we can help to discuss learning whilst importantly giving them the opportunity to share good practice both locally and internationally. The event can also be watched live online at www.wyhpartnership.co.uk’.
Recognising the role of volunteering, Hilary Thompson, Chair of Third Sector Leaders Kirklees and Senior Responsible Officer for WY&H HCP, Harnessing the Power of Communities, who is also c—host of the event said: ‘Volunteers are truly amazing, dedicated, caring and enthusiastic. There has been unbelievable community spirit throughout the world to help others and I’m really looking forward to welcoming all our guest speakers and event participants, listening and learning from everyone. I am sure this will be another successful Partnership event’.
Imran Patel, Senior Manager (Strategy, Change and Delivery), NHS Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and member of the WY&H HCP BAME Network commented: ‘Our community and voluntary sector organisations are a vital part of the work we do, especially when we look to actively address some of the health inequalities that affect our communities. This event will shine a spotlight on the work going on across both regionally and internationally, offering us an opportunity to share best practice and hear some inspiring stories resulting in sustainable change. ’
You can find out more about the event at www.