Member

That civil buy-in is achieved because local people know that their efforts and knowledge really matter—that through the structure of the RFCA their voice is heard at a higher level and that their knowledge, concerns and, indeed, achievements are being fed through to national decision-making. The RFCAs enable a sense of local ownership, and that matters, because what follows from it is a feeling of local empowerment. That is what many of us fear will be put at risk by centralising governance and decision-making through a new NDPB. If the Government agree that the contribution made by the volunteer membership is important, as the Minister says he does, we have to keep those volunteers enthused and motivated.