Hi All,
As well as being involved with the NW VAPC, my ‘day job’ is Greater Manchester Combined Authority Armed Forces Programme Lead. GMCA is the sum of the 10 local authorities that comprise Greater Manchester and we are working towards a level playing field of Covenant delivery in all Boroughs. My role is to support the 10 local authority leads and embed the Armed Forces Community into Public Service Reform initiatives across GM, rather then reinvent the wheel and create isolationist projects that fall over when the funding does.
In terms of support, the Mayor of GM, Andy Burnham, is a huge advocate of the Programme and I also have a Lead Chief Executive of one of the Local Authorities who champions support to the Armed Forces Community in senior strategic meetings. In this way, the support and advocacy reaches out across GM at senior, middle and frontline levels.
There is much to do and it will be a long journey to achieve that level playing field. However, the Combined Authority has agreed to retain my post once project funding has run out (in April 2021). In that way, GM has committed to sustaining the Armed Forces Programme for good, rather than it being a short duration project.
Happy to talk specifics to anyone interested. We have a work in progress website at:
http://www.gmarmedforces.com
We also have the first of 5 short animations on youtube with more to follow in the first 3 months of this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6TTLqH2y6A&feature=youtu.be
Chris