May 14th saw Laura, our CEO and Jenny, our deputy CEO board the train up to Birmingham for the annual NAVCA conference. NAVCA are the nationwide organisation who support infrastructure charities like OCVA. Each year we have hoped to attend the conference but this year we seized the day and were pleased to represent Oxfordshire.
This year’s theme ‘Neighbourhoods and Communities’ gave us a chance to come together as local infrastructure organisations from across the UK to look at the important role voluntary and community organisations play in building connected, resilient communities.
The conference included workshops, where Jenny took part in one focussed volunteering hosted by Oxfordshire based Chris Wade from Time for Impact and a second about building trust in divided communities. Laura attended workshops on healthy neighbourhoods and place-based working.
A real highlight was the powerful keynote from Olivia Field, Chief Executive of the The Jo Cox Foundation who shared a powerful presentation about the current issues in our communities today. It was interesting to hear the progress of approaching these with empathy and seeing common ground, and how infrastructure has its place in these conversations.
It was a really valuable day of conversations, shared learning, and connecting with colleagues from across the country. Laura and Jenny were pleased to catch up with partners including Team Kinetic, who host the Oxfordshire Volunteers Platform. It was also lovely to see familiar faces from Community Impact Bucks, as well as meeting lots of new people.
We were so pleased to be part of conversations and know that NAVCA represent charities just like ours in wider discussions.