Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the Community Sports Initiative is split into two strands.

Strand 1 is the Community Sport Programme (CSP), which is delivered by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and follows on from their pilots, which were carried out in partnership with Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure. CSP has provided Community Sports Development Officers in 20 disadvantaged areas across Northern Ireland. The CSDOs work with local people and organisations to develop a range of activities and local capacity to involve people in physical activity. They work with the regional Physical Activity Co-ordinators where they are in post. These CSDOs are in post for up to three years. The programme has a budget of £2.4 million.

Strand 2 of the Community Sport Initiative in Northern Ireland is Active Lifestyles. This is a varied programme of around 90 small and medium sized projects lasting up to three years, and 175 one-year projects with grants up to £1000. The programme focuses on testing out ways of engaging particular target groups such as older people, people with disabilities, disaffected young people, young mothers and people in rural areas. It uses a range of physical activities tailored to the needs and interests of its target group and aims to build capacity in the local area to keep these activities going after the funding is complete. The budget for Active Lifestyles is £2.1 million.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published research on relative poverty in Northern Ireland, which may provide a useful backdrop to your project. The following link gives a summary of key findings, and describes how to get a copy of the full report, which covers a wide range of social inclusion factors, from benefits and employment to housing and health.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/1968.asp