What is the Quality Management Programme?

Funded by the Big Lottery, the quality management programme (QMP) is designed to encourage and facilitate the application of quality management tools and techniques within the ethnic minority voluntary sector.

It is a new and innovative 4-year programme, which allows all organisations and community groups regardless of their size to benefit either through training sessions or through working towards an accredited quality management level.

What is the aim of the QMP?

The aim of the Quality Management Programme is twofold, firstly, to increase the sector’s awareness of quality management and the potential benefits that can be derived from the development of these systems and processes.  Secondly, to enhance the capacity, sustainability and leadership within organisations by nurturing them towards the ‘committed to excellence’ stage of the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management).

Who is it for?

The training sessions are for any organisation or community group within the ethnic minority voluntary sector.  The EFQM accreditation is for organisations that are ‘quality ready’, in another words, they have already reached an enhanced level of capacity and now wish to proceed to a quality recognition.  These organisations will usually have already been on CEMVO Scotland’s capacity building programme or social enterprise capacity building programme.

How does it work?

CEMVO Scotland defines quality management as:

‘Quality management a philosophy and a method of management that can help organisations to measure internal effectiveness and set standards in the design, development and implementation of services to meet or exceed service user’s expectations’.

The quality management programme has two distinct elements to ensure all organisations and community groups can benefit.

Quality Management and Evaluation Training - These half-day to one-day training sessions take place on a regional basis, and are open to representatives of all organisations and community groups to attend.  These sessions will provide you with an overview of quality and evaluation and its relevance and application within your organisational setting and a better understanding of how quality management and assurance systems can improve the way you deliver services, your infrastructure, and the impact on your long term survival.

‘Committed to Excellence’ Recognition Level - This is open to organisations that already have an enhanced level of capacity in other words fully fledged organisations with staff, premises and internal infrastructure.  The quality management officer will provide 7 organisations support for one year to reach the committed to excellence level.

The process for this is:

• Self-assessment through a diagnostic tool where organisations can grade themselves against a set of detailed criteria under each of the nine headings.
• The overall score acts as a European benchmark and helps organisations identify areas for improvement.
• The quality management officer will help organisations to develop and implement improvement plans that deliver sustainable growth and enhance organisational performance.

The 9 areas of self assessment are:

Source: http://www.qualityscotland.co.uk

How much does it cost?

The QMP offered by CEMVO Scotland is free to ethnic minority voluntary sector organisations and community groups across Scotland. The training seminars are also free for all ethnic minority individuals to attend.

For further information, please call us on 0141 248 4830 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .