Northern Ireland Tenant's Action Project
The Community Capacity Building course, delivered by NI Tenants Action Group is unique in Northern Ireland as it was developed for the community by the community.
It trained a group of residents who were community association representatives for their housing estates, to deal with day-to-day problems such as vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, loitering youths, poor street lighting, rubbish, empty, boarded-up houses, anti social behaviour and neighbourhood disputes.
The residents undertook training to equip them with the skills to improve their environment, remove graffiti and rubbish and more importantly influence housing services improvements by forging links with public agencies such as Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Between November 2004 and June 2005 19 people from community associations were trained in a range of communication and business skills. 17 of them gained a qualification, validated by the Open College Network in conjunction with Armagh College of Further and Higher Education, who funded the pilot. The course is now available throughout Northern Ireland and since the pilot, has been run in Limavady, Bangor, Lisburn and Ballymoney and due to its success a Level 2 programme has been developed and delivered throughout the province.
For further details on Northern Ireland Tenant's Action Project, please contact DEL Press Office on 028 9025 7872.