City-wide networks
Viva + projects + churches + local governments + international organisations = a network
What is a network?
A network is simply a group of people and projects in a local area who have officially joined up to work together.
In cities all over the world, thousands of Christians are responding to the needs of children at risk: large international NGOs; teams of dedicated local people; individuals with a passion to change the world.
Some have lots of professional training and expertise, and have easy access to funding; some have great knowledge of their local area and strong relationships within the community; and others have influential contacts with the power to campaign and advocate on behalf of children. So we need to combine those strengths so that whole cities and communities can unite to help the children who need it.
The idea of a network fills an important hole in the way that people respond to issues faced by children at risk: instead of creating new projects, when statistics show that there are more than 3 million registered charities worldwide, Viva brings together the work that is already going on. We all have the same goal of helping children, and when we do it together we can help more children in a longer-lasting way.
How do you create a network?
Detailed research in a city or community gives us really important information about where people working with children at risk are and what they are doing in that city. Then we work to gather those individuals into a city-wide network. Networks consist of between 30 and 80 similar local projects, mixing small grassroots initiatives and bigger international organisations. Each project carries on doing its own work, but their strengths and skills are shared across the city. That means that some things can be done once for a whole city instead of once per project. It also means programmes can grow more quickly, and projects can then collectively address the issues which their communities face.
What can networks accomplish?
Network activities can range from organising city-wide events and holding scaled-up training sessions, right through to lobbying governments and starting up new programmes. When projects work together they can impact a wider circle of people, and can begin to proactively meet the needs within their local communities. Partnership of this kind means that a greater number of children can receive a greater measure of support, and it means that a better quality of care and assistance can be offered to children at risk.
How does Viva work with the networks?
- Viva locates: we carry out research into all the projects that exist within one city, to create a ‘map’ of all of the work going on to help children at risk in that area
- Viva connects: we unite the projects that are willing to work together into a city-wide network
- Viva equips: we give trainings to whole networks of projects, project workers, and leaders and decision-makers, so that we know the care they are providing for the vulnerable children in their city is of great quality and has the potential to really make a difference
- Viva advises: each network has its own Viva staff member, who can give projects advice, keep an eye on progress and make sure that everything is running smoothly
- Viva finds funding: Viva can look into different NGOs, trusts and foundations who offer grants to projects working with children at risk. Then we can write professional funding proposals which will give projects the chance to grow and develop