The Voluntary Sector Resilience Project
The role of the voluntary sector in criminal justice.
We are a team of researchers from Keele, Aberystwyth and South Wales Universities, working in partnership with Clinks. We conducted research on the changes, challenges and opportunities faced by voluntary sector organisations working with offenders and their families.
Our project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust, an independent research funder. Data collection took place over two years. We wanted to understand how changes in government policy, funding structures, monitoring and evaluation, partnerships and collaborations, and service user needs, affect the day to day work and operation of organisations, as well as the impact this has on previously established partnerships. To this end, we spoke to individuals and organisations in the voluntary sector who work with offenders in custody or the community, providing services such as resettlement, mentoring, legal advice, housing support, assistance with drug and alcohol or mental health problems, or criminal justice interventions. We also spoke to policy makers, commissioners and strategic decision makers in the criminal justice field.
Ministry of Justice (NRC ref 2015-298).
