Government research highlights vital role of organisations like Community Action

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published the findings of a 12 month research project, carried out in 2024, on Local Civil Society Infrastructure (LCSI).

Community Action Derby is a local infrastructure organisation - we provide support and development for Derby's Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (also known as civil society organisations).

The purpose of the research was to develop the evidence base on LCSI in England by identifying the positive impacts of effective LCSI, the negative impacts of its absence and the conditions and approaches for building effective LCSI in areas where it is weak or non-existent.

‍This research is good news for local infrastructure, as it has plenty of evidence about the impact of and need for local infrastructure organisations, and strongly supports the case for local, quality provision.

Headlines from the report include:

1. LCSI was identified to have five functions: facilitating funding, organisational development, advocacy, volunteering and community participation, and convening.
2. The most direct benefits from LCSI are to frontline VCSE organisations; with benefits to local communities through stronger frontline organisations and increased volunteering activities; and statutory bodies gain a greater insight of local needs, improvements in commissioning processes and local policy decisions.
3. The most important factor in the quality of LCSI provision is being knowledgeable about the local area.
4. LCSI organisations were seen as an effective bridge that can support open and honest communication between the VCS and public bodies especially in context of funding or commissioning relationships.
5. LCSI activities led to three broad outcome pathways of: better targeted resources, improved policy making, and increased community trust, empowerment and belonging.
6. ‍LCSI works best when there is a close relationship with the public sector. This is easiest to achieve when decision-makers in local government and health systems take a strategic interest in LCSI that comes from a recognition of its value and its ability to contribute to their own priorities.
7. ‍Strengthening LCSI will almost certainly continue to rest on taking a local first approach and on ensuring that any reform is delivered with patience, sufficient resource and recognition of local concern and sensitivities.
8. Enabling strong LCSI is based on a combination of factors: funding, local knowledge, effective relationships and local buy-in.

Find out more about the report

• We are a member of the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), which supports local infrastructure organisations and represents us at a national level. NAVCA has produced a useful summary of the report, which you can read here.
• The Third Sector website published an article about the report, which suggests that addressing challenges in the funding system and enhancing strategic buy-in from decision-makers could improve local civil society infrastructure.
• You can also find out more about the report on the Gov.UK website.