Track The Act, Carers Wales monitoring and evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 on carers rights, has returned after a three-year, pandemic-related hiatus. 

If you are an unpaid carer in Wales, Track the Act is your chance to tell us how your rights are working for you and how this affects your life.  If you are a carer, please complete the survey or share across your networks. 

For more information and to access the survey, please follow these links: Track the Act and Take the Survey

Voluntary organisations in our area have just received a share of £1.6m in easyfundraising donations, meaning they can update their facilities, buy new equipment, and improve their services.

Through easyfundraising, 8,000 online retailers including Sainsbury’s, eBay, Amazon, M&S, Just Eat and Argos will donate money to your organisation.

To find out more and receive funds in easyfundraising’s next #donationday in May, visit:

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/merthyr-tydfil

If you support adults to learn or develop in any way, this is for you. It does not imply a certification or qualification process or formal setting.

Taith is an international learning exchange programme established to create life-changing opportunities for people in Wales to learn, study and volunteer all over the world. It is for people in every part of Wales, and in every type of education setting.

The programme is Welsh Government funded and provides funding for projects ranging in length from a number of days to up to a year.

Taith are currently encouraging organisations who support disadvantaged or diverse communities to apply.

Diverse Cymru were lucky enough to be successful under the scheme to take a number of staff, volunteers and adult learners to Crete last summer, click here to see the short information video of the trip and its outcomes.

Pathway 1 – Mobility of participants  

This supports the physical, virtual and blended outward and inward mobility of individuals or groups of individuals, providing opportunities for flexible short and long-term mobilities to learn, work or volunteer abroad.

The programme is open to organisations and groups in Wales that work with adults. These organisations can apply for funding to enable disadvantaged people in Wales to study, train, volunteer, and work worldwide. They can also invite international partners to do the same here in Wales.

Diverse Cymru, as the Taith Champion for Adult Education, offers support to organisations who support disadvantaged communities, to apply for the Taith programme, including raising awareness, providing advice and guidance, project development support, logistical support, and ongoing support throughout the implementation of the project.

For more information, please get in touch at Taith.Champions@diverse.cymru 

What Matters to You survey provides invaluable insights into the challenges, needs, and aspirations of older people 

 Age Cymru and the key organisations that represent older people in Wales have launched their fifth annual What Matters to You survey of the over 50s across Wales, to gain a better understanding of their challenges, needs, and aspirations.    

 More than five thousand people responded to previous surveys which provided the charity with crucial evidence to inform and influence key decision makers and service providers in Wales including the Welsh Government, local health and social services, and the wider care sector.   

 The charity says the bilingual survey also helps to prioritise its work so it can better reflect what matters most to older people in Wales.  It covers a wide range of issues including access to health and social care, personal finances, housing issues, caring responsibilities, opportunities for paid work, and the quality and availability of local transport, including hospital transport. 

 Age Cymru’s head of policy, Heather Ferguson says “We know that many older people are facing some tough challenges right now such as difficulties in accessing health and social care, coping with the cost-of-living crisis, and facing cutbacks in areas such as public transport and face-to-face banking. So, we need to know what older people’s priorities are and what their ideas are for addressing some of these challenges.   

 “The more information we gather the more influential and effective we become when campaigning with and for older people in Wales.

 “If anyone would like to campaign with the charity on any of the issues raised in the survey, please let us know.  We are always looking to work together to raise issues with the media, politicians, and many other key stakeholders.  Please contact my colleague Michael Phillips for an informal chat on 07794 366 224 or email michael.phillips@agecymru.org.uk”  

 How to complete our survey  

Visit www.agecymru.org.uk/annualsurvey to complete the survey online.