Community Engagement & Empowerment Programme
The Programme aims to enable communities to have a stronger voice and more involvement in the development and delivery of public services in the North East.
Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power
The white paper, Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power provides the Programme's main backdrop. It advocates the shift of power, influence and responsibility into the hands of communities and individual citizens. Reflecting the RIEP's overall ethos, the Programme will engage a wide range of partners and communities in both the Programme development and Programme delivery phases which are described below.
Striving to Achieve better Outcomes for Communities
The new Comprehensive Area Assessment will for the first time hold local public services to account for their impact on better outcomes, specifically taking into account how well the 'duty to involve' is being implemented, and how well the organisation engages local communities and other stakeholders in the financial planning process.
We will also work closely with the North East Empowerment Partnership, to deliver a number of jointly funded activities which seek to maximise our combined resources to deliver better outcomes for the region.
In addition, we will support authorities to deliver against National Indicator targets relevant to Community Empowerment & Engagement.
Phase 1 - Intelligence through Community Engagement (November 2008 to March 2009)
This phase focused on gaining intelligence on regional needs through engagement with communities, authorities, their partners, and regional groups. A number of intelligence gathering events are now complete - click here to see the results of our themed Sounding Board events. We've also completed a number of research projects which shed light on the priority areas we need to focus on in Phase 2. Click here to see the Projects.
Phase 2 - Project Delivery (April 2009 - March 2011)
Using the intelligence gained from phase 1, the delivery phase will comprise a wide range of commissioned pilot, collaborative projects and learning and sharing events that seek to improve community empowerment and engagement. Click here for more information.
Programme Contacts
Programme Manager: Julie Brown
Telephone: 07917 813667
Email: Julie.Brown@northeastcouncils.gov.uk
Community Engagement & Empowerment Projects Coordinator: Karen Wrigley, Telephone 07901 102 725
Local Authority Sponsor/Programme Board Chair:
Paul Hanson, Strategic Director of Community Services, North Tyneside Council
