The Elevate Programme – developing skills in your community

The Elevate Programme will provide opportunities for the development and sharing of skills, knowledge and expertise in community development as a way to tackle health inequalities and is now well underway. The funding for Elevate is provided by the Public Health Agency through the Transformation Work Stream.

The Programme has a strong emphasis on skills development which is being delivered in three main ways:

•    Through the provision of online training
•    Through face to face training in each Trust area
•    Through the delivery of the Mentoring Programme

Who’s involved?

A team of four is now in place and they are looking forward to building connections and developing capacity in their areas. They come with a wealth of skills, knowledge and enthusiasm.

CDHN is working in partnership with Prospect Awards, Rural Community Network and Community Evaluation NI.  Lead mentoring organisations have been appointed in each Trust area as follows.

•    Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership (MEAAP) - Northern Trust area
•    Co Down Rural Community Network (CDRCN) - South Eastern Trust area
•    ARC Healthy Living Centre - Western Trust area
•    Supporting People and Communities Every Day (SPACE) - Southern area
•    Women's Tec - Belfast Trust area

Portal

The Elevate Portal is now live with many resources, tools and training opportunities. The portal will develop month on month as case studies, journals and reports are gathered and training modules are added. Visit www.elevateni.org

Online Community Development Practice Assessment Tool

An online Community Development Practice Assessment Tool is well underway and will be uploaded to the Elevate portal over the next number of weeks. This will help individuals and organisations to reflect on their knowledge and skills and look at ways to develop based on local need.

Mentoring

To support the mentoring work in the Programme, the Elevate Team is developing a Mentoring Guide. This will sit alongside the new Grants scheme that PHA has supported, giving us an opportunity to embrace local creativity and thinking that will make a difference in grass roots communities. 

Capacity Building Programme 

Our Elevate team will facilitate a range of workshops under the Capacity Building Training part of the Elevate Programme. Delivered across a range of locations in Northern Ireland, the workshops will offer learning and development on community development principles, health inequalities and time for reflection and sharing ideas at community level. 

For further information on any aspect of the new Elevate Programme, please contact Catherine Murnin on 028 3026 4606 or email catherinemurnin@cdhn.org