Jargon Buster

Here is a list of commonly used words, terms and their meanings.

Aims
Aims are the particular changes or differences a project or organisation plans to bring about for its users. 

Capacity Building
Empowering activity that strengthens the ability of VCOs to build their structures, systems, people, and skills so that they are better able to:
1. define and achieve their objectives
2. engage in consultation and planning
3. manage projects
4. take part in partnerships, social enterprise and service delivery
5. Participate in consultation and planning

Commissioning
Commissioning is the process of deciding what services or products are needed, acquiring them and ensuring that they meet requirements and are delivered.  The delivery of services can be through grants or contracts. 

Commissioning strategy
Commissioning strategy is a detailed plan of what is required to meet local needs.  It involves specifying and securing high quality provision of services, defining priorities and choices, and determining how services are best delivered  Commissioning includes monitoring and evaluating services to establish their impact on improvement.

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
The Common Assessment Framework is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people.  It involves the processes that cover the integrated assessment of a child's additional needs, as well as decisions about how those needs should be met.

ContactPoint
ContactPoint will be a quick way for a practitioner to find out who else is working with the same child or young person.  This will make it easier to deliver more coordinated support.  It will be a basic online directory which will be available to authorised staff who need it to do their jobs. It is a key part of the Every Child Matters programme to improve outcomes for children and young people.

Communities of interest
A community of people who share a common interest. 

Community Sector
The Community Sector is a web of relationships, networks, groups, traditions and patterns of behaviour that exist amongst those who share physical neighbourhoods, socio-economic conditions or common understandings and interests.  It is the community itself taking action to get things done.  The community sector ranges form small informal community groups to large multi-purpose community organisations

Compact
Compact is a framework for partnership between Government and the voluntary and community sector, for mutual advantage.  An important principal of Compact is the independence of the sector and its right to campaign.  The Compact is supported by five Codes of Good Practice in which Government and the sector commit to particular actions.  There are also Local Compact Guidelines to inform partnership working between voluntary and community sector organisations and local bodies such as local authorities, primary care trusts and local learning and skills councils.

Contract
Contract is the terms and conditions under which a purchaser pays for goods and services.

Coterminous
Coterminous – having the same boundaries or all singing from the same song sheet.

Early intervention 
The purpose of Early intervention is to stop those children and young people at highest risk developing problems.  It is also to help those who show the first signs of difficulty, from displaying unnecessarily long or serious symptoms.

Every Child Matters (ECM)
This is the Government green paper that led to the Children Act 2004, which identified five outcomes for children and young people: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic well being.

Engagement
Working with and involving people.

Frontline Organisations
Frontline organisations are voluntary and community sector organisations that work directly with individuals and communities to provide services, offer support and campaign for change.

Full cost recovery
Full cost recovery means recovering the full cost of a project or service.  In addition to the direct costs of staff and equipment, costs also include overheads such as finance, human resources, management, IT systems, rent utilities etc.

Generic Infrastructure
These are infrastructure organisations that provide support to all frontline organisations within a particular geographic area.

Governance
Governance is concerned with accountability, responsibilities, consistent management, cohesive policies, processes and decision rights.  It is the systems and processes concerned with overall direction, effectiveness and supervision  of an organisation and how it is directed and controlled, including:
1. Organisation - how a steering or focus group within the organisation works in partnership with external bodies to manage change.
2. Management – established roles and responsibilities to manage change and operational services and the scope of the power and authority
3. Policies – the framework and boundaries established for making decisions and the context and constraints within which decisions are made.

Hubs
Hubs of expertise and facilities to support the sector.

Infrastructures
Infrastructures are the physical facilities, structures, systems, relationships and people.  Knowledge and skills that exist to support and develop, co-ordinate, represent and promote frontline organisations, enabling them to deliver their mission more effectively.

Infrastructure Organisation
An infrastructure organisation is an organisation working behind the scenes to ensure that Third Sector Groups get the support they need.  They provide their members with a range of services, development and support and present a joint voice for the organisations they support.  They can identify where gaps in services are, provide access to information on funding, training and events to ensure local groups have the knowledge, skills and resources to provide services in their communities.

Local Strategic Partnership (LSP)
Local Strategic Partnership is a single non-statutory, multi-agency body which matches local authority boundaries and aims to bring together at a local level the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors.  Local partners working through a LSP will be expected to take many of the major decisions about priorities and funding for their area.

Milestone
A well defined and significant step towards achieving a target, output, outcome or impact, allowing a group to track progress.

Objective
The areas of activity or overall practical steps a project or organisation plans to accomplish its aims.

Outcome
The changes, benefits, learning or other effects that result from the work the project does.

Output
Products, services or facilities that an organisation provides for its users.

Pre-Qualification Questionnaire
Pre-Qualification questionnaire is a form completed by a potential supplier which is assessed by the purchaser.

Procurement
Procurement is the acquisition of goods or services at the best possible cost, taking into consideration quantity and quality at the right time and place, generally via a contract.  It is obtaining best value for money.  This could involve using repeat purchasing or finding long term partners.  It can play an important part in the delivery of public services. 

Safeguarding Children
The Government has defined the term safeguarding children as:
‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.’

Social Enterprises
Social enterprises are businesses whose main objectives are social and whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.

Social Exclusion
The potential outcome of a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, unfair discrimination, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown, leading to people or places being excluded from the outcomes and opportunities enjoyed by mainstream society.

Strategy
A way of mobilising an organisation in its direction of travel, setting direction, analysing what the organisation needs to do, planning and implementing and evaluating the plan.

Tendering
Tendering is the process of bidding for a contract

Trustee
A member of a governing body

Umbrella Organisation
See Voluntary and Community Sector Infrastructure.

Voluntary and Community Sector Infrastructure
This is Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations whose primary purpose is the provision of infrastructure functions (support and development, co-ordination, representation and promotion) to frontline voluntary and community organisations.  They are sometimes called umbrella, second tier or intermediary organisations.

Voluntary Sector
Groups whose activities are carried out other than for profit but which are not public or local authorities.  These organisations would normally be formally constituted and employ paid professional and administrative staff.  They may or may not use voluntary help.