"We have really tried to make links with other community groups… because we know we can't do everything, and we know we're not specialists in every area - so what we can do we share with other people and make sure they know about it."
– Project staff on informal partnership
These are just some of the benefits of partnership working. Partnership working can also benefit families using services.
In this Reaching Out, Supporting Families paper, we capture feedback from some of the 36 projects who worked in partnership with other community and voluntary organisations and with statutory bodies to help families in Northern Ireland to improve their children's lives. We also look at what enables good partnership working and how it was affected by the pandemic.
CES delivered the learning programme for the 36 projects over a five year period and provided networking events, enabling informal partnerships to form between the organisations involved. We also delivered partnership training and supported individual projects with their joint working arrangements. The Reaching Out, Supporting Families programme was funded by The National Lottery Community Fund in Northern Ireland.
