Session: I'm Over Here!
Our sector is made up of people who tirelessly and ceaselessly work within our communities doing stuff which helps, bridges, heals, builds, takes away the pain and gives hope. They do this because they care and because they can. And they don't ask for thanks. It's this utterly selfless nature of our sector that means we don't take full advantage of tools that we could utilise to support what we do, illustrate why we do it, express how it makes us feel or indeed, celebrate our impact. This presentation will look at one project that is working with 'Hard to Reach' groups to develop support to try to help change this.
Biography
Sam, as he is known to friends and colleagues alike, has worked his way through a varied engineering career which began underground in the Derbyshire coal mines, took in agricultural roles and work for National Council's in West Africa and includes an assortment of ICT support and strategic guidance work here in the UK.
As the North East Regional ICT Champion based with the Voluntary Organisations' Network North East (VONNE), he primarily supports voluntary and community organisations to understand and use digital and communication technologies to better achieve their goal of delivering high quality services.
He keeps up to date an ICT support website, compiles a monthly E-Bulletin, stays on top of and disseminates relevant regional and national policy issues and generally networks as much as possible with the sectors infrastructure and front-line organisations.
He is currently managing a number of projects which revolve around two main initiatives;
- A NAVCA led piece of work focussing on the issues raised by each of the four Capacitybuilders initiated sub-regional Consortia.
- A Capacitybuilders funded Improving Reach project which aims to enable the supporting Infrastructure Organisations of 'Hard to Reach' groups to better use ICT to be more effective and efficient in supporting their members.
Sam is a governor of St Teresa's Catholic Primary School in Heaton which, after a 2009 Ofsted inspection has been judged outstanding in all areas.
He likes wellington boot throwing but doesn't like gristle.
