British Council: Active Citizens Recruitment
Overview
The UK organisations selected (known as ‘Delivery Partners’) will be responsible for project managing and steering the Active Citizens programme in their UK community.
The cycle includes the following core elements:
Partner Development Workshop: this gives partners the information and advice they need to plan the detail of delivery in their community and meet the network of UK Delivery Partners;
International Facilitator Development Workshop: facilitators new to the programme who have been nominated by their Delivery Partner are trained in how to deliver the Active Citizens methodology (the Learning Journey);
Workshops within each community: facilitators train the 30 participants (aged 18 years and over) recruited in their community. The Learning Journey involves exploring cultural diversity and its impact in the context of local or national communities and how to value difference within communities in participating countries. Facilitators then work with participants to plan their social action;
Social Action Projects (SAPs): these are delivered by the participants, supported by the Delivery Partner. SAPs should be principled, well-planned, aware of local-global links and enhance community life;
International Study Visits (ISVs): each Delivery Partner selects three of their participants to attend an ISV. These are week-long events in the UK and abroad where an international group visits a country and particular communities to explore social development issues and the methods the community has found for addressing these issues. Delivery Partners also work with their Active Citizens and facilitators to host a group of ISV participants in their own community.
Profile and Role of a Delivery Partner
Delivery Partners have experience of working with a wide cross section of people on community led social action, and have experience of designing and facilitating programmes that bring about sustainable social impact in/with a deprived and marginalised community. They have strong local, regional and/or national partnerships and networks. It is essential that they have wide reach and networks that connect them with future participants. Delivery Partners are also able to identify the potential for and achieve growth at an organisational, community, regional and/or national level through their involvement in the Active Citizens programme, for example in generating changes to the policy environment or institutional change, in policy environment or institutional change, in policy environment or institutional change, developing their staff capacity or in improving their organisation’s policies, procedures or processes.
The role of the Delivery Partner includes:
- Deciding how the organisation is going to deliver the programme, working with stakeholders, partners and networks in their community to design and deliver the Active Citizens programme;
- Identifying two facilitators to deliver the Active Citizens Learning Journey;
- Recruiting 30 participants and running Community Workshops where the facilitators deliver the
- Learning Journey; Supporting the participants to develop their own local social action projects;
- Supporting the participants to design and host a visit from a group of UK and international Active Citizens as part of an International Study Visit;
- Selecting three participants to take part in an International Study Visit in the UK or internationally and supporting their cascade on their return;
- Managing the grant, monitoring and reporting on progress, and submitting an end of cycle project and financial report to the British Council on programme completion.
Criteria
- Be UK based and work with a community in the UK
- Have a UK based bank account that requires two signatures
- Operate from a sound financial position, demonstrated through their latest audited accounts
- Have no conflict of interest relating to their involvement as a grantee
- Be able to guarantee the commitment of a Project
- Co-ordinator and two facilitators
- Be able to contribute the necessary staff time and additional costs to ensure effective delivery of the project, including monitoring, evaluation and reporting commitments, with an in-kind contribution of at least 20 per cent of the value of the Delivery grant
- Accept the requirements in relation to intellectual property rights
- Have completed the activity from any previous cycle(s). (This applies only to organisations who have been involved in previous cycles of the Active Citizens programme.)