The contract holders for the North Belfast Strategic Good Relations Programme met on the 24 September 2019 as part of their on-going group support meetings. Representatives from CRC, The Executive Office and Belfast City Council were also in attendance.
The event presented an opportunity for each organisation to share about their work over the summer period and to reflect on the learning coming from each of their programmes. Groups also shared about the work that they will be delivering in the coming months and what opportunities existed for others to get involved or to offer support.
Colleagues from The Executive Office made a presentation to those attending about the on-going development of the Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA) evaluation work. Each organisation will now complete a specific OBA evaluation of a selected programme and present the findings to TEO for further analysis. The purpose of this work is to help with the analysis of the impacts that the work is having geographically and thematically.
CRC staff provided an update on the vouching and evaluation requirements for the year including the key deadline dates for returns. It has been an important role for CRC to develop new ways in which it can bring added value to the work of the groups. CRC, through its various grant schemes, has provided additional support for joint programmes as well as core funding support for some of the groups.
Outside agencies are often invited to attend the meetings and this time we were joined by Margaret Higginson from Belfast City Council’s Good Relations Programme. Given the work of the groups in North Belfast the Council wants to explore how it can include community partners in the delivery of services and address the issues of on-going issues of concern.
The next meeting of the group will be on the 7 November 2019 (Venue TBC).
Further Information
Learn more about North Belfast Strategic Good Relations Programme.