As 2020 approaches, it is clear that some EU regions are further along the track for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth than others. With a vicious cycle of under-investment, weak employment and a skills gap in relation to the labour market, especially for young people, many of our medium & small communities in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal and Romania have been especially hard hit by the economic crisis and recession. Business closures, decline in agriculture, the demise of public schools, libraries, post offices; and poor connectivity (both public transport and broadband), has left communities isolated, “at a low ebb” and “demotivated”. Community organizations work on the frontline helping individuals affected by these issues, supported by local authorities and development agencies. But their actions have been curtailed by a reduction of funding over the last 10 years and there are underlying, structural challenges, including, “the lack of public transport, difficulty of engaging with NEETs, limited capacity and willingness of local community groups to engage in decision-making structures. The barriers faced by leaders seeking community development: - a narrow, single-issue approach means leaders are unaware of large scale, strategic approaches to community development; - weak linkages to other organizations and a lack of experience in collaborative/ collective impact; - scarce training opportunities outside capital cities and focus on technical topics for community leader such as compliance, In 2015, LYIT, Momentum & UIIN embarked on an innovative project called Restart Entrepreneurs to show that business failure is not the end, but part of the learning path towards success for individual entrepreneurs. In Restart + we evolve this approach, working with community leaders to provide them with the knowledge, tools and collective learning spaces required to catalyze community investment and regeneration. The project engages the following target groups: 1) Leadership, board members and staff of voluntary and community sector organizations especially those working in community regeneration in small towns and villages and/or those working with vulnerable or minority groups; and organizations working for local development, such as chambers of commerce, business advisors & economic development organizations. 2) Leadership & staff of local public authorities (municipal councils), funding bodies 3) VET and HEI colleges whose teaching staff, students & researchers wish to apply their pedagogical, research & innovation capacities to real world problems & new groups of learners. The results of the project will be the following intellectual outputs: - IO1Restart + Communities’ Toolkit, a practical guide on why and how to set up a Restart + Community Alliance. - IO2 Restart +Community Alliances: 4 collaborative bodies which bring together 12 members of our target groups in each country (Ireland, Northern Ireland (UK), Portugal and Romania) to be trained as facilitators of transformative regeneration and long term change. Each Alliance will deliver the subsequent IOs in their regions. - IO3 Restart + Communities' Self-Assessment Tool: an online, interactive tool helping participants to assess their community’ strengths, opportunities and assets, and identify individual learning needs - IO4 Restart + Communities Open Educational Resources, comprising a curriculum, trainers’ guide and toolkit of learning materials and resources organized into 6 modules, for leaders who wish to train themselves, or facilitate the training of others. - IO5 Restart + Communities' Online Learning Platform, a multilingual, interactive portal enabling direct access to educational resources and skills development activities. In this project, the intangible results are just as important. The high levels of small community decline challenge us to develop new insights into causes of failure, and innovative approaches to catalyzing growth. The overall result of Restart + will be that individuals in leadership positions from the nonprofit, public and educational sectors are skilled and able to rise to the challenge. We believe they can make transformative changes in community regeneration by improving their knowledge, skills, confidence and connections act in specific areas such as community leadership, cross-sector collaboration, social enterprise, innovative investment approaches, cultural heritage, impact evaluation and more.
CONTEXT/BACKROUND The Restart+ project emerged as a result of the increased needs that small communities are facing, especially after the economic crisis and the global recession. The effects of the economic crisis are still very evident in communities across Europe. The communities from small towns and villages have been worst hit: staff reductions in public services, a great number of businesses being closed in the first years of existence and high levels of unemployment, contribute to the hollowing out of community life. With a vicious cycle of under-investment, weak employment and a skills gap in relation to the labour market, especially for young people, many small communities in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal & Romania have been especially hard hit by the economic crisis & recession. The vulnerabilities of communities and society has been highlighted by the devastating impact of the Co-Vid pandemic which occurred during the project. As part of this Erasmus+ funded project, the international project partners have worked to create innovative learning tools and resources which equip leaders of community groups, public authorities and educational institutions with the knowledge and skills needed to adopt a transformative approach to community reactivation. The international project team consists of specialised institutions, all of them having experience in project implementation, so that the Restart+ project has benefitted from member’s past experiences and knowledge. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT RESTART+ worked with community leaders to provide them with the knowledge, tools and collective learning spaces required to catalyze community investment and regeneration. Specific objectives were: 1) Produce a Restart + toolkit (IO1) and use it to create 4 Community Alliances (IO2) comprising 12 community leaders in each country (Ireland, Romania, Portugal and Norther Ireland) 2) Create a Self-Assessment Tool (IO3) to help community leaders identify strengths, opportunities and assets for community reactivation 3) Develop a unique training model, delivered through OERs (IO4) and an online course (IO5), to provide community leaders with the knowledge and skills to adopt a transformative, sustainable approach to local community investment and regeneration 4) Consolidate the capacity of the Alliance members through a Communities of Best Practice training programme 5) Disseminate results widely to enable scaling of the Alliance + training approach in participating countries and replication in other regions of Europe. NUMBER AND TYPE /PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The target group included: 1) Leadership, board members and staff of voluntary and community sector organizations especially those working in community regeneration in small towns and villages and/or those working with vulnerable or minority groups; and organizations working for local development, such as chambers of commerce, business advisors & economic development organizations. 2) Leadership & staff of local public authorities (municipal councils), funding bodies 3) VET and HEI colleges whose teaching staff, students & researchers wished to apply their pedagogical, research & innovation capacities to real world problems & new groups of learners. ACIVITIES UNDERTAKEN In addition to the delivery of the 5 Intellectual Outputs, Activities relating to 1) Project Management 2) Dissemination and Sustainability and 3) Quality Management and Impact Evaluation was carried out under the grant for Project Management and Implementation. These 3 horizontal activities complemented the 5 Intellectual Outputs and were essential for effective project implementation. These activities involved regular engagement and communication between all partners e.g. regular project and trans national meetings. SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND IMPACT The above results together with our strong dissemination plan, produced the following impact within the project’s lifespan: - 61 voluntary community organizations, local development agencies, public authorities, educational institutions and other stakeholders participated in Restart + Alliances and engaged in training to improve their skills and to transform approaches to community regeneration; - 12 members from the alliances trained in a virtual learning activity - 544 Regional Alliances Tool-Kit down loads - 4029 Self-Assessment Tool Kit logins - 5444 downloads for the OERs and the online course, acquiring the knowledge and skills to design and execute effective, sustainable and scalable solutions to the problems they address at a community level and developing stronger leadership and collaborative skills. - 635 downloads for the Facilitator's Guide - The platform had a hit rate of 1,063,024 - 236 participated in multiplier events