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The Civil Society Covenant – A New Commitment to Working Together

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24 Jul, 2025by Julie GibsonEditorial, Comment and Opinion

The Government has launched the Civil Society Covenant, a long-awaited promise to strengthen the relationship between civil society and the state. It is designed to support everyone who invests their time, skills, and resources into helping others; something that so many of you do every day.

At its heart, the Covenant aims to build an "enduring partnership between government and civil society", encouraging better collaboration and long-term thinking. It also recognises that communities thrive when local government, health care systems, and voluntary organisations work together.

It promotes closer working relationships and gives us a shared approach to solving local challenges.

Why this matters to Norfolk’s VCSE sector:

  • As a result of your input during the consultation stages and influential advocacy from NAVCA and others, local authorities and health systems are now included.
  • The Covenant encourages stronger local relationships, joined-up decision making and improved ways of working.
  • It highlights the need for shared values, trust and mutual respect between sectors.
  • It gives us a clearer framework for pushing for better funding, smarter commissioning and long-term support for the voluntary sector.
  • It calls for improved relationships, joint planning and smarter funding approaches.
  • Crucially, it highlights the need to support local infrastructure organisations, like CAN, that provide support for community groups to grow, collaborate and thrive.
  • It gives us a stronger position to argue for fairer commissioning, longer-term investment, and recognition of the sector’s value in tackling complex issues like health inequalities and social isolation.
 

For the VCSE Assembly, this is a welcome step forward. It supports their work to strengthen partnerships across Norfolk and ensure the voluntary sector is seen and treated as an equal partner in improving local lives.

But this is just the beginning. At CAN, we will be keeping a close eye on how the Covenant works in practice  and will continue to champion Norfolk’s VCSE sector every step of the way.