Who is it for?
Women’s organisations interested to learn about the commissioning and procurement process.
What’s it about?
The gradual shift from public sector grants to contracts and the more recent reduction in commissioner numbers are having an adverse impact on specialist women’s services. The process of commissioning services via competitive tendering has meant that women’s organisations are now in competition with larger, often generic national charities and private sector organisations.
The size and complexity of competitive procurement processes and increasingly larger value contracts are squeezing out smaller organisations. To be successful women’s organisations are having to work together either as partnerships or consortia.
This workshop will demystify the procurement process and provide you with the tools you need to improve your success in writing bids and winning tenders. Learning will include: group work, discussion and interactive exercises.
What will you take away?
By the end of the workshop participants will have a better understanding of:
About the Women’s Resource Centre and the Women’s Commissioning Support Unit (WCSU)
WRC, as the umbrella body, is committed to having a thriving women’s sector that is able to deliver services to reduce gender inequalities, which in the current economic climate are growing. The women’s sector has a vital role to play in public service delivery, but the size and complexity of the competitive procurement processes and increasingly demanding contracts makes it difficult for smaller organisations to compete on their own.
As a result the Women’s Commissioning Support Unit (WCSU), led by Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) will work with partners in four specified locations (Cambridge, West Midlands, Greater Manchester and the North East) to help local organisations enhance their ability to shape this agenda and develop specialist women consortium.
