Developing Community Leaders is an innovative community leadership programme which is being developed by NCSL in partnership with Community Action Network (CAN) and the Bromley by Bow Centre. The aim of the programme is to support school and community leaders in their interactions with schools and to build a cohort of skilled advocates and facilitators who can creatively broker partnerships between schools and their local communities.
This is an empowering pilot programme with a strong emphasis on community leadership, social entrepreneurship and creative thinking, designed to generate better outcomes for young people, families, schools and their communities.
The project involves community leaders drawn from a variety of settings within London communities working through a leadership development programme designed to support proactive partnerships between schools and communities. Each community leader identifies and works with a school in their area; the school will support the programme in contributing to building practical relationships, developing case study material and feeding into the project as it develops.
The pilot programme is run in four modules over eight days.
This course is aimed at community leaders drawn from a variety of settings within London communities. An initial pilot group (cohort 1) of 20 community leaders from London completed the programme in January 2005. Cohort 2 has recruited an additional 20 community leaders who began the programme in September 2005. The third cohort is aimed at senior school and community leaders this programme begins in January 2006.
Details of how to apply can be found on the CAN website, or email communityleadership@ncsl.org.uk for more information.