With Scottish Government elections in 2011 and local government elections the following year, colleagues from Third Sector Interfaces are invited to get involved in discussions on the potential to develop local manifestos for the third sector.

A number of local manifestos were developed in the run up to the 2007 elections, including in Fife and West Lothian.

Bryan Poole, Manager of CVS Fife, said: “The voluntary sector manifesto for the 2007 elections in Fife was drawn up following a number of meetings with local voluntary organisations. The manifesto document was issued to all the political groupings in Fife and was used as the basis for a series of meetings between them and the voluntary sector. Looking back at that manifesto it is possible to pick a number of significant achievements over its lifetime - a move away from single year service level agreements, three year funding agreements, annual inflationary uplifts and the rationalisation of monitoring arrangements. Of equal importance, though, was the opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue about the future. That dialogue has continued and there is every reason to believe that all the political groupings are signed up to an on-going relationship. We want to move on from 2007 and put more emphasis on what our sector can offer the public sector, as well as communities and society in general. A manifesto for next year’s elections will give us the opportunity to articulate that.”

Paul White, Director of Networks at SCVO, said: "All of the major political parties have recognised that our sector has an even greater role to play in public service delivery, in engaging people in voluntary action and in supporting communities to do more for themselves. By developing manifestos for the third sector, we can create a vision of a new and better Scotland. The narrative is no longer about how government can support us. Instead, our challenge is to articulate the role of charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations in supporting government to achieve change."

Colleagues with an interest in manifesto development should contact Paul on 0131 474 8034 or send an email to paul.white@scvo.org.uk. An exploratory meeting is planned for August, with the date and venue to be arranged to suit the majority of participants.