'How Strong Are Your Neighbourhoods?' toolkit - April 2010

How Strong Are Your Neighbourhoods?

IDEA (the Improvement and Development Agency) has recently released a toolkit for local authorities and partners to help them assess how strong local communities are.

Every organisation takes a different approach to their work. Likewise every community and neighbourhood is different. Some communities feel stronger and more empowered than others. It make business sense for organisations to understand the different needs of the neighbourhoods that they serve. They need to respond and adapt to these needs, as well as considering how they approach empowering different neighbourhoods.

IDEA's mapping tool should help local authorities, local strategic partnerships (LSPs) and their partners identify existing practice within their organisations and as assess the strength and depth of empowerment in the neighbourhoods and localities in which they work. It should provide the baseline, from which you can move forward on what is a complex and challenging agenda.