User:Vicki Howling
From Norfolk RCC
Vicki Howling
Fens LEADER+ Project Officer
I am employed by NRCC as the Building Success: Developing Networks Project Officer for the Fens LeAP Leader+ area. At the moment I am the only member of NRCC staff not based in the office at Dereham. You can contact me by email: vicki@norfolkrcc.org.uk or by telephone: 07981 642171
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LEADER+
Leader+ is a European Union initiative aimed at assisting rural communities towards improving their quality of life and economic prosperity. The Leader+ method is built around the principle that decisions taken in the local area are more likely to meet the needs of the community. Communities that invest their own time and effort into designing, developing or delivering a service are also more likely to use and maintain that service. The UK Leader+ initiative aims to co-fund small-scale, innovative projects that address local rural development issues. These issues are identified through a local development strategy which is drawn up by a Local Action Group.
Fens LeAP LEADER+
The Fens LeAP LEADER+ programme is focused on the theme of ‘Improving the Quality of Life’ in the Fens. The Fens LeAP LEADER+ strategy will deliver innovative solutions to address the three key inter-linked issues of Access, Aspirations and Communications. Our target groups are the young (ages 11-25) and older people (55+). These target groups are at present particularly affected with poor access to services, low aspirations poor use of communications.
The Fens LeAP Area
The Fens LeAP Programme area covers 1,075 km2 of the Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk Fenlands, encompassing 101,260 people across four districts and two counties and forty parishes. Below is a list of the West Norfolk wards covered by the Fens LEADER+ Programme:
- Spellowfields
- The Walpoles
- St Lawrence
- West Walton
- Mershe Lande
- Wiggenhall
- Emneth
- Downham Market
- Denver
- Upwell, Outwell & Delph
To find out more about the Fens LEADER+Programme and to see a map of the area covered please take a look at the website: www.fens-leader.org.uk
Bulding Success: Developing Networks
The overall aim of the Building Success: Developing Networks project is to promote, boost and record the efforts, lessons and opportunities of rural development through the LEADER+ programme in the Fens. Fens LeAP LEADER+ is all about improving the quality of life for people living in rural areas. But how do we measure this? How do we know we are making a difference? Yes we can set targets such as the number of people using a new service - but what about the "added value" of projects - the differences made to individual lives - these are perhaps the most difficult successes to gauge.
It is my job to find out more about the individual projects that the Fens LeAP LEADER+ Programme supports; to hear the human stories behind them from the people who make the projects happen. By talking to these people and, perhaps more importantly, getting them to talk to each other, I am able to find out not only what difference the project has made to the participants and surrounding area, but also what they have gained personally from the experience.
And it sounds so easy – getting people to tell you how good they are and how well they’ve done, but actually getting people to “blow their own trumpet” and recognise their own successes can be incredibly difficult! Below are some of the methods I am using to engage people with the Building Success: Developing Networks Project:
LeAP Ahead – The Fens LEADER+ Newsletter
A quarterly newsletter that reviews and highlights the huge variety of projects that the Fens LeAP LEADER+ Programme supports. If you would like to be added to our mailing list please contact me.
Showcasing the difference LEADER+ makes
Two Showcasing Events have been held in the Fens area so far. These events have been an excellent opportunity to highlight the successes and achievements of LEADER+ supported projects in the Fens area and a chance for projects to find out more about each other and what else is happening in their local area.
Surveys
By conducting telephone, postal and email surveys (and sometimes face-to-face interviews) I have been able to learn a great deal about the many projects that are supported by LEADER+.
Networking
Over the past eighteen months I have been working with Jackie Squires from the Borough Council of Kings Lynn & West Norfolk and together we have organised regular Community Groups Networking Meetings in West Norfolk. These meetings are open to any community group or community activist working or volunteering in the Fens area. The meetings are an opportunity to find out more about what’s happening in the local area and hear the latest information about various events, training and funding opportunities.
Vicki Howling
