The third sector is being encouraged more than ever to work in partnership.

That’s why we’re bringing you Engage! – the collaborative working conference. Taking place at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on Tuesday, 9 July, it will provide an opportunity to tackle new and different ways of working and explore how the third sector can work together and with others to meet the challenges ahead.

Featuring a range of keynote speeches, workshops and discussion sessions, the conference will examine all aspects of collaborative working, discuss the benefits and obstacles of joint working and help you make informed decisions about whether and how to work collaboratively. Successful collaborations will share their experiences and experts will offer guidance about the practical considerations.

Speakers include Rhian Bowen-Davies, Chief Executive of Calan DVS, and winner of the Leading Wales Award in the Voluntary and Not for Profit category. She will be sharing her story of establishing Calan Domestic Violence Services: a merger between Lliw Valley Women’s Aid and Neath Women’s Aid. Rhian will talk about her experiences of seeing a merger through to completion; discuss the reasons for deciding to merge, and explore some of the difficulties that arose during the process and how they were overcome.

Also, Ian Bottrill of CaST Cymru and Derith Powell of Community Development Cymru will share their experience of forming a partnership of six organisations that successfully tendered for a Joseph Rowntree Foundation research project on ‘Ethnicity and Poverty in Wales’.

Other subjects covered include:

• sharing back office services;
• developing effective consortia;
• replicating good ideas;
• and the relationship between the Welsh offices and head offices of UK-wide charities.

Read the full programme here.

Book your place here.