Community Capacity and Leadership
SIF provided funding of over £745,000 for a capacity building initiative offering training programmes to improve the capacity and leadership within local communities. The purpose was to build effective community organisations and networks, building confidence and developing skills in promoting leadership within the community with a focus on good relations.
Project Name: | Community Capacity and Leadership |
|---|---|
Zone: | Belfast East |
Category: | Revenue |
Social Investment Fund Outcome: | Reducing Deprivation |
Status: | Delivery Complete |
Funding awarded: | £745,039 |
About the Project
This project delivered community capacity and leadership training with the aim of building effective community organisations and networks, building confidence and developing key soft skills to promote leadership within the community and a focus on good relations in the SIF Belfast East zone. By focusing upon building confidence, capacity, leadership and management skills and expertise based upon the practical issues and challenges of those leading organisations, it was intended that individuals could apply the skills and expertise to their organisations. In turn, it was intended that the resilience and sustainability of the local groups and the local infrastructure could be enhanced. The focus on a community development ethos and partnerships would also support the development of active networks and meaningful partnerships. The areas of training included were; Facilitative Leadership, Introduction to Leadership, Leadership for Building Active Communities, Leadership for Collaboration: Pathways to Change, Leadership in Diverse Communities and Leading Networks. The programme also delivered an OCN Level 1 Youth Practice Qualification, via Youth Action and a Governance Review Programme carried out by NICVA. The Programme was delivered via a consortium of four organisations led by NICVA including, IISC, TIDES Training and YouthAction NI.
Key outcomes of the project were: 602 individuals took part, 181 organisations were engaged, 279 programmes and 323 sessions were delivered and 102 participants gained qualifications.
Progress to date
This project has completed delivery. This was a successful project which exceeded its targets and provided support to the community sector within the SIF Belfast East zone by strengthening community infrastructure, development and capacity, contributing to a new cohort of skilled community leaders, encouraging community participation and improving relationships across the interface. The project has provided accredited qualifications to youth workers and training courses to community organisations having a positive effect on the well-being, skills and knowledge of those who participated. One significant beneficial outcome of the programme has been the formation of an Emerging Leaders Group. The project has been recognised by Belfast City Council as an exemplar of excellent practice and the Council has developed the approach used in this SIF project into its city wide programme ‘Transform for Change’ constituting a lasting legacy of SIF. The programme also won the Titanic Eastside Award for Innovation at the Eastside Awards in January 2020.
Impacts:
Monitoring and evaluation of all Social Investment Fund projects is carried out using “Outcomes Based Accountability” (OBA). The infographic below details some of the key impacts of the SIF Community Capacity and Leadership project.
