Community Capacity Building - Partners-and-Projects - Upstream

Community Capacity Building

An important aspect of Upstream’s ‘Time for Life’ work has been to identify gaps in the provision of community activities for older and more vulnerable people, and to build the capacity of communities to make provision that is suited to those people’s needs and wishes. This has also been reflected in Upstream’s recent work with the South West Well-Being programme and with Awards for All.

To this end, Upstream mentors work as much with community organisations as with individual participants. Key to the success of this work is not only the identification of participants and their needs in any local community but also the identification of local organisations willing to open their doors to wider use by the community (such as a local pub in Thorverton) and the involvement and training of local ‘champions’ willing to nurture a new group and take some responsibility for its long-term sustainability.

In East Devon and in Mid Devon, Upstream has developed this three-prong approach: participants, host venue, local ‘champion’. When all three of these elements have been available and in place, there is a strong possibility of sustainable success.

Since the start, Upstream has developed more than 100 local groups, mostly in the rural and market town areas of Mid Devon, with a few in East Devon, and supported nearly 2,300 older and more vulnerable people on a one-to-one basis.

Most groups have been developed in response to one or other of Upstream’s key contracts, such as the Healthy Living Centre project, South-West Well-Being, Time for Life, Falls Prevention, etc. Early on, a 2-year grant (2005-07) from the Big Lottery Community Fund enabled an ‘Open Studio’ project for three long-term groups to encourage those who were least confident with a core of activity and mutual support for newcomers.

Two subsequent grants from Awards for All have also contributed toward the development and self-sustainability of Upstream local groups. All groups have always aimed to be easily accessible to people in local communities, rather than expecting people to travel distances. From the start, most groups focused on cognitive or mental stimulation, a variety of creative activities, from craft skills, art and music to reminiscence and local history, alongside social involvement. Exercise and dance have become increasingly popular, where people recognise a need and experience clear benefits. Social interaction remains a vital part of these activities. Cognitive and dietary activities are regularly added for further benefit. Whatever the activity, the group also is a strong agent for developing community integration, and for providing a focus for the exchange of information and advice on a range of issues relating to health, care, quality of life and local services.

Recent groups developed or worked with to increase community capacity include:

• Best Foot Forward dance groups in Tiverton and Crediton.
• The Dolphin Group based in a pub in Thorverton.
• Knit and Natter Group at the Culm Valley Health Centre in Cullompton.
• Culm Valley Care Home group for residents.
• Tiverton Stroke Support Group for exercise with Upstream.
• Felt-making group in Crediton.
• Men’s Walk & Talk group in Tiverton.
• Honiton Gentle Moves, with seated exercise.
• Seaton Sit & Get Fit group.
• St George’s Residential Home, Tiverton.
• Falls Prevention Groups in Silverton, Tiverton & Crediton.
• Cameo Club, Hemyock, variety of activities.