For our next Learning from Lockdown, we’re going back to the start of the year to review which factors caused change in the VCSE sector before the pandemic hit.

This QuIP analysis, completed for Voscur by Bath Social & Development Research (BSDR), is the third of our annual assessments of the positive and negative factors shaping the VCSE sector and its work.

Although at the time income and service development were widely seen in a positive light, and this changed almost overnight in March, other factors are still relevant today and will need attention as we move from crisis through recovery: staff wellbeing, reduced influence, increasing inequalities, and funding challenges.

We need to hold onto other positive trends, such as increased collaboration, greater leadership capacity, and more closely meeting the complex needs of service users, as the fallout from COVID-19 presents obstacles at every turn.

The QuIP methodology starts with change in all its forms, rather than checking what a particular Voscur service delivered or testing defined theories of change – that’s why it’s useful for stakeholders across the VCSE sector who want to understand current challenges and future opportunities.

If you’d like to know more about the stories of positive and negative change outlined in the study, do get in touch by emailing info@voscur.org. In the next Learning from Lockdown, we’ll review early frontline surveys of the pandemic’s impact as we continue to plan the recovery.