Upper Horfield’s Pride of Place Initiative: Residents and Partners Working Together for Change

Learning points

• we recommend taking time to grow residents’ confidence so they can become the driving force behind this work. This means not imposing organisational timetables or priorities onto the group. Our residents are the experts and we should be able to evidence everything we do in the neighbourhood back to their needs and concerns. This has been fundamental to the success of this project as our residents know that they call the shots. Agencies come to answer questions, provide updates and enable action to take place.

• Understanding how to create an effective local partnership that is more than a mere extension of top-down management is vital. The partnership is there to serve the residents’ needs. Further guidance on creating effective partnerships can be found in the OECD publication 'Successful Partnerships'

• Achieving the Neighbourhood Quality Mark from Keep Britain Tidy was a major boost for our group and really helped to cement the partnership as a team. Agreeing a set of partnership goals each year helps to retain that sense of achievement by the group.

• As our project depends so much on the goodwill of volunteers we recognise that we can’t overdo the amount of work we ask of them without remembering to reward their achievements. Each year we take all our volunteers (Street Reps and Community Champions) out somewhere for a meal which gives us a chance to thank them for their hard work.

• Don’t forget to keep the local press updated about your activities. All our members feel a sense of achievement from the positive press coverage the project brings to their neighbourhood and organisation.