Strategic Representation
Decisions about health, wellbeing, communities and services are stronger when the organisations working closest to people are part of the conversation.
DVA connects Derbyshire’s VCFSE with strategic partners and decision-makers, bringing community insight and sector experience into the discussions that shape priorities, services and investment.
Community Voices Belong Where Decisions Are Made
Derbyshire’s charities, community groups, faith organisations and social enterprises understand their communities in ways that data alone cannot capture.
DVA works to ensure this knowledge and experience reaches the partnerships, boards and decision-makers shaping services and priorities across Derbyshire.
By connecting strategic conversations with what organisations are experiencing on the ground, we can help partners make better-informed decisions while ensuring the VCFSE is recognised for the vital contribution it makes to healthier, stronger communities.
Your Voice. Our Representation. Shared Influence.
Listen
We hear from VCFSE organisations through our Forums, membership, projects, surveys and everyday conversations.
Understand
We bring together experiences, evidence and emerging themes to understand what matters across the sector.
Represent
We take those priorities and perspectives into conversations with strategic partners and decision-makers.
Influence
We advocate for the contribution and needs of the VCFSE when services, priorities and approaches are being developed.
Feedback
We share information, opportunities and developments back with the sector and continue the conversation.
What We Bring to the Table
A Stronger VCFSE Voice
Bringing together the experiences of many organisations gives the sector greater visibility and influence than organisations working individually.
Community Insight
Our relationships with VCFSE organisations help bring grassroots experience and emerging community needs into strategic conversations.
Evidence
Forums, surveys, projects and sector intelligence help us move conversations beyond individual experiences and demonstrate wider trends.
Connection
We help build stronger relationships between the VCFSE, health services, local government and other strategic partners.
Turning What We Hear Into Influence
Strategic representation isn’t about speaking for communities without involving them.
Our role is to create routes through which Derbyshire’s VCFSE can share experience, raise concerns, identify opportunities and contribute ideas — and then make sure that insight reaches the places where it can make a difference.
Just as importantly, we bring information back, helping organisations understand emerging priorities and opportunities to contribute.
In 2026, DVA asked organisations across Derbyshire about the pressures, opportunities and changes they were experiencing.
The State of the Sector Survey was followed by a DVA Forum bringing organisations together to explore the findings and identify shared priorities.
What we heard is now helping shape DVA’s conversations with partners and decision-makers and providing evidence to advocate for what Derbyshire’s VCFSE needs.
Help Strengthen Derbyshire’s VCFSE Voice
The more we hear from organisations across Derbyshire, the stronger the evidence and insight we can take into strategic conversations.
