Neighbourhood Challenge

Top tips for future apps

Alice Casey - 28.01.2011

We received a huge response to our Neighbourhood Challenge project. Here are some useful tips for those of you wanting to go through a similar process again.

Thank you once again to all who applied to the Neighbourhood Challenge! The level of interest was extremely high with around 600 applications received at the first stage.

We really enjoyed reading your expressions of interest at round one and are currently working through the shortlisted proposals to select the final Neighbourhoods who will take part in the programme.

Successful applicants will be announced in mid-February

It is a very exciting time for the project at the moment. We will announce the successful Neighbourhoods in mid-February, and will post the list on our website.

Because we had so many people expressing an interest in the programme, feedback on a 1-2-1 basis for nearly 600 organisations sadly isn’t possible for us to manage.

From talking to organisations who were not taken forward we understand that it would be valuable to have some tips on how to improve future bids to a programme of this kind.

We have talked with our reviewing team to compile some top tips which were drawn from common features of the expressions of interest submitted.

Thanks all for your suggestions and patience in receiving this - we hope it is helpful!

Application tips for similar projects

The Neighbourhood Challenge aims to learn from community organisations’ approaches to stimulating and supporting local people themselves to address issues of local concern. Here are some top tips for interested organisations to be aware of if going through a similar process again.

Tips which might apply to many other programmes

Be as clear and succinct as possible when describing your approach to the project
The strongest applications were able to succinctly describe a very clear approach to galvanising communities with a coherent set of activities that would take place. They could also provide strong reasons for choosing this approach in their selected neighbourhoods.

Go beyond the stats
The strongest applications showed a deep understanding of their neighbourhoods’ specific challenges and strengths which included stats and research, and went beyond those to describe the real conditions and concerns in the areas chosen. They considered the strengths, motivations and needs of people as well as describing the geography and demographics.

Provide evidence and explanation
The best proposals explain and demonstrate far as possible how they meet the criteria. For example by using quotes or survey results, and by describing relevant previous experience and reflecting on how lessons from this experience inform their ideas. The weaker proposals often tended to repeat our questions and language back to us without further evidence or explanation as to why their proposed approach could work.

Avoid jargon where you can
We know that some specialist terms are there for good reason, (eg. social capital!) and that’s absolutely fine, but too much of this can hinder rather than help understanding of what it is you are actually proposing to do.

Tips for applying to a programme with similar aims to the Neighbourhood Challenge

Demonstrate your commitment to open learning
The best proposals demonstrated a strong commitment to learning from their community, from each other and in sharing those insights with others. We were looking for organisations to work with who could generate clear lessons about how to effectively encourage and support community-led solutions to local issues.

Clearly demonstrate how the approach will unlock potential through working collaboratively with the wider community.
The best proposals were very clear about how they would enable others including new groups of people to engage in and take a lead on activities.

Be clear around how you will engage people in activities
The strongest proposals described how they would engage local people actively in their approach, and some clear reasons as to why these people would want to take part in the proposed activities. The best applications described approaches in which local people would be genuinely generating and leading the solutions that the project encourages and supports.