The Vodafone Foundation is searching for eight UK-based people to make a difference by giving something back to society and working for a UK charity overseas for one year as part of its 2009 World of Difference campaign.

Anyone with passion, drive and commitment can apply for these unique roles. Applicants can work for a charity of their choice as long as that work takes them overseas and their chosen charity is registered in the UK.  Relevant skills, experience and knowledge that meet the needs of the charity will also be considered.   Taking part involves completing an online application form at vodafone.co.uk/worldofdifference by 30th July.

Eight individuals who are  prepared to make a difference and grab a once in a lifetime opportunity,  will receive up to £25,000 salary plus £20,000 expenses for costs directly associated with the work from the Vodafone Foundation.   Vodafone will give each winner the latest mobile phone so they can share their thoughts and experiences through the internet.

Becoming a winner on 2008’s World of Difference programme enabled Lucy Caslon to dedicate herself full-time to a charity she co-founded in Africa.  She set up ‘Msizi Africa’ with a friend after a visit to Africa in 2006 with the aim of helping to  relieve the hardship of children, where the AIDS pandemic has left many without parents or an  extended family.

Lucy believes World of Difference has changed the charity for the better. “The World of Difference programme has catapulted ‘Msizi Africa’ from an unknown charity to one that’s making a major difference to children’s lives in this sector” she explains.

“Vodafone Foundation’s World of Difference award is a fantastic opportunity for highly talented individuals to commit a year of their life to a charity they believe in” added SolarAid Executive Director, Nick Sireau. “At SolarAid, we’ve found it invaluable to have World of Difference awardee Miguel Ramirez working for us and a huge boost to our solar work in the developing world.”’

Improvements have been made to the presentation of the Hansard section of the parliamentary web site, which documents the debates in both Houses (Commons and Lords). These have been released as beta versions - the old format is still available.

All of them can be accessed via http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/, news item at
http://parliamentlabs.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/improving-hansard/. Comments on the changes are invited.

Angela Smith is the new minister for the third sector following the reshuffle of government positions. She has the status of ‘minister of state’, rather than the lowlier ‘parliamentary under secretary’ as previously. Her background includes working as head of political and public relations at the League Against Cruel Sports and as a supporter of the RSPCA, and she is involved with a number of Essex organisation - Smith is MP for Basildon. Society Guardian item http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/09/angela-smith-charities-minister.

John Denham, who now heads the Department for Communities and Local Government and so oversees a number of relevant areas (such as housing, regeneration as well as councils), started off after student posts as a campaigner with Friends of the Earth (where your editor met him) and development organisations. More on DCLG ministerial posts at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news/article/new-ministerial-line-up-at-dclg-revealed/.

Some of the responsibilities of the new arrangements following the merger of Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills into what is now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are not clearly defined at time of writing. The official explanation of the role of ‘BIS’ is at http://www.berr.gov.uk/aboutus/pressroom/page51711.html. Expect more details on ministerial portfolios on departmental web sites soon. The full list of ministers can be found on the Number 10 web site at http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19564.

The Future of Membership project, run jointly by NCVO and Royal Society of Arts, is doing research into what membership means and what motivates people to become members. As part of this it is looking for membership organisations to take part in a series of focus groups in July.

The sessions will take no longer than two hours, at NCVO in London and reasonable travel costs will be reimbursed. http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/research/index.asp?id=14234

The Office of the Third Sector has published a short briefing on the key elements of the Comprehensive Area Assessment and its relevance to the third sector.

The CAA is a framework for independent assessment of how well people are served by the public bodies in their area, which came in from April 2009. “The CAA can act as a lever for the third sector to hold local government to account. It is important for the third sector to have a coordinated approach to engaging with the CAA locally, in order to effectively have their voices heard and to be able to maximise the contribution of the wider sector to the assessment process.”

Download ‘Comprehensive Area Assessment: Briefing for the third sector’ (pdf, 80KB) from http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/090522_caa.aspx.

The Big Opportunity “is the voice of the (London) Third Sector; building, inspiring and generating Third Sector activity around the 2012 challenge”, that is the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, http://www.thebigopportunity.org.uk.

Information from NCVO’s National Campaigning Conference, which looked at embracing future opportunities as well as protecting against uncertain times, has been captured online at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/events/archive/2009/?id=12674.

The Sheila McKechnie Foundation, which works to equip campaigners with the skills they need to change the world, is open to applications for its 2009 awards.

The winners will have shown commitment to a cause and a desire to create change (or stop change that will make things worse), and are supported with mentoring, coaching and shadowing decision makers.

Apply by 30th June, http://www.sheilamckechnie.org.uk/showSub.php?id=116&page=3.

The Charity Commission’s latest Economic Survey of Charities, following up one conducted in September, has found that 52% of charities surveyed said that they had been hit by the credit crunch, compared with 38% previously, but only 3% of charities had considered collaborating with another charity and 3% had considered merging.

Read the main results in the news item at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/downturn.asp, or download the full research report (pdf, 204KB) from http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/common/downturn.pdf. Or Charity Finance news item, http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2664.

The union Unite believes that the picture for charities, particularly job losses, is bleaker than the survey reveals. News release at http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?resourceid=3942213. In Edinburgh, Unite and Unison members demonstrated outside the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday (17th March) to mourn the loss of key voluntary sector jobs and services. See New Start news item.

A guide to “running smart and sustainable events” has been produced by the third sector greening group, Every Action Counts. It provides practical advice such as hints, tips, checklists and direct experience from those who have done it themselves.

‘Event Action Counts .. for our event‘ is in pdf, 408KB, EAC Guides page at http://www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=230&n2=281.

The National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning, which aims to improve the involvement of third sector organisations in all aspects of commissioning (purchasing of services by the public sector), is being evaluated by Shared Intelligence.

A follow-up survey to the initial baseline study is looking for individuals who are responsible or involved in commissioning to take part - there’s separate commissioner and third sector surveys.

See http://www.sharedintelligence.net/sinews.php?id=66 (no deadline given).

Detailed information on the operation of the new performance assessment system for local authorities, the Comprehensive Area Assessment coming in from 1st April, is at the Audit Commission’s web site, http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/caa/framework.asp.

Department for Communities and Local Government news item with some background at http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1143084.