infrastructure providers group (1)

At Voluntary Action Leicester this morning for a meeting of the Infrastructure Providers Group. This is meant to review and oversee plans for the support of infrastructure organisations in the city and county. But it seems that there's not a consensus about who these organisations are or what they do. Here's a good definition, from the Home Office in 2004, which describes infrastructure as, "the physical facilities, structures, system, relationships, people, knowledge and skills that exist to support and develop, co-ordinate, represent and promote frontline organisations thus enabling them to deliver their missions more effectively. Infrastructure organisations are those whose primary purpose is to provide infrastructure functions or services (support and development, co-ordination, representation and promotion) to frontline organisations." When visiting the various Voluntary Action centres, or community hubs, in the county and Rutland for REDP's Mainstreaming Equality project, many of them don't want to describe themselves in terms of infrastructure organisations, mostly because they're not being funded to do that sort of work. But they seem happier to be known under the old-fashioned term, "umbrella organisations". A new alternative appears to be "Support Services". I guess one of those will do.