9. How we have developed this guide
The Devon Strategic Partnership has recently published its Community Engagement Policy after working with a wide variety of residents, partners and stakeholders. Rather than engage with all these groups of people again and find the same answers again we adopted the approach they have already implemented. Also, as we are working in partnership with many of these organisations we felt that it was important we all have the same approach.
The Devon Strategic Partnership Policy was developed by:
- Devon County Council
- NHS Devon, Plymouth & Torbay
- Stakeholders from the voluntary and community sector including Devon Association of Councils for Voluntary Service (DACVS) - This partnership works to support the voluntary and community sector to develop and improve its contribution to the lives of local people in Devon
- Devon Consortium - Formed in January 2005 to provide a body with the skills, expertise, authority and mandate to work for and in partnership with the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Devon.
- Fusion - At the time this policy was written by the Devon Strategic Partnership Fusion was the principal user-led organisation for Devon. Fusion involved service users and their carers in its day to day running and brought them together to work with public sector agencies, such as NHS Devon and DCC, as well as with other charities and organisations.
- Voluntary Voice - At the time of writing this policy the DACVS project aimed to enable the voice of the voluntary and community sector to be strengthened and increased the number of voluntary and community groups involved in partnerships, communities of interest and forums. Representatives were mandated through fair and transparent election processes and had clear methods for communicating within the sector.