AVA Annual Report 2022

POLICY & CONSULTATIONS
... ALASDAIR ROSS,
AVA & ACVO POLICY & CONSULTATIONS
OFFICER
AVA’s role as an advocate for the third sector is long
established, and it was strengthened this year by the
Board’s commitment to a new role concentrating on
Policy and Consultations, shared with ACVO in Aberdeen.
It has been a busy first 6 months in post digesting local and
national plans and gaining an understanding of the huge
capacity of our third sector in Aberdeenshire. A particular
highlight of this short period was AVA’s contribution to
Aberdeenshire Council’s consultation on their UK Shared
Prosperity Fund bid. The resulting Investment Plan now
includes significant funds for the third sector including
significant spend on growing the local social economy
which we hope will be a catalyst for the wider Community
Wealth Building movement.
The squeeze on public sector funding and the wider costs
crisis has brought the future of the sector into sharp focus
this year. For many, it has been hard to focus on the future
when faced with the immediate pressure of surviving dayto-day.
Looking ahead though the lens of economic instability and
political uncertainty, it is clear that the third sector needs to
keep on top of the rapidly changing policy landscape and
the local and national government priorities which, in their
view, are measurements of success. In doing that we must
have a stronger say in the development of these policies
and plans in the first place, and that is what AVA is now able
to help our members, and the wider sector in Aberdeenshire,
achieve.
32 // AVA
ANNUAL REPORT 2022