Grenfell Recovery Strategy

Community Leadership Programme (CLP)

CLP1

The first CLP was established as part of the Grenfell Recovery Strategy to support local residents and contribute towards North Kensington’s community-led recovery.

As part of the CLP1, the Council partnered with a variety of voluntary sector organisations to provide a free programme of workshops that aimed to help residents strengthen their knowledge and gain new skills. 

You can find out more about how residents benefitted from these workshops by taking a look at the case studies below.

Case studies

Beverley Duguid

In 2019, we began working with local voluntary sector organisations to roll out a selection of free training courses to upskill residents across North Kensington as part of the Community Leadership Programme (CLP). 

One of these included Portobello Business Centre’s Rocket Launch Your Business course– a programme that helped to equip residents with the information and skills required to set up a business.

North Kensington resident and local success story Beverley Duguid is one of the people that took full advantage of this course, using the knowledge she gained to launch her own freelance business. 

InsightMind, which supports disadvantaged people through mindful creative courses in meditation, poetry and intuitive coaching, was created in 2020 after Beverley recognised the need for more health and wellbeing support for marginalised groups in society.

Beverley said:

At the time when I saw the course being advertised, I knew I wanted to do something to support mental health, wellbeing and mindfulness, but I was still undecided about what this was actually going to be. The course really helped me to focus in on my goals and create a business that offered more targeted support.

With previous experience working to highlight issues that affect residents who are blind and partially sighted – and living with a serious eye condition herself - Beverley initially set up the business to help tackle anxiety and social depression among this community.

However, after Covid-19 highlighted how widespread these issues were among other marginalised groups, Beverley decided to extend her offering to those with other disabilities and diverse groups who may have experienced similar disadvantages. Using the Council’s Health Equalities Programme and Grants for the Arts, InsightMind has since hosted a series of low-cost mindful courses online and in-person to help North Kensington residents deal with the aftermath of Covid-19 by becoming more present and self-aware. 

She continued:

Without the Community Leadership Programme, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to launch my business. It taught me how to set clear objectives, and properly brand and market my services to reach my target audience. 

 

Even if people attend the courses and don’t end up setting up a business, drawing out the talent within the local community and showing people that they can help themselves and be role models to other residents is incredibly important, which is why I think the Programme is so great.

Beverley is currently looking at ways to elevate her business, hoping to re-launch the website and offer more coaching services to expand her offering.

To find out more about InsightMind or to access its services, please contact Beverley by emailing [email protected].

Farzana Khan
Farzana Khan sitting down speaking on stage at COP27 about national flooding issues

The first part of the Community Leadership Programme (CLP) had many successes, partnering with voluntary sector organisations to help residents across North Kensington to gain new skills through free workshops and training courses.

Full time parent Farzana Khan is one of these successes, setting up local and national initiatives after taking part in TPAS’ Communication Skills and Committee and Meeting Skills training as part of the CLP.

Discovering the Programme through our bi-monthly newsletter North Ken News, Farzana signed up to help her make a real difference, gaining skills that enabled her to spearhead three campaigns. These included helping connect women through a female fund, reducing western immigration by positioning countries like Pakistan as tourist destinations, and creating funding and action plans to combat flooding.

Farzana said:

I learned so much while taking part in the courses which has since helped me to fight for causes I’m passionate about. The sessions gave me the confidence to present ideas to key stakeholders and taught me important skills like effective communication, leadership, people management, decision-making and conflict resolution.

As well as campaigning for change, Farzana has also used her skills to become a Class Rep at her children’s school, acting as a key member of the community by connecting and communicating with parents and organising events.

She continued:

Following the Grenfell fire, the sense of community in North Kensington has massively increased and these courses have really supported that. The CLP has empowered residents and given them a reason to come out of their homes and connect with other people. It’s also given residents skills that can be applied to Grenfell-related public meetings and has encouraged them to be proactive about making change, which has never been more important.

 

I’m very grateful that the Council partnered with local community organisations to host these courses and I know I’ll benefit from the skills I learned on them for years to come.

Sophie Macdonald

Throughout the first part of our Community Leadership Programme, we partnered with some amazing voluntary sector organisations to offer a selection of free courses to help residents across North Kensington gain new skills.

Sophie Macdonald, a 44-year-old carer and youth worker with a passion for art, was one of these residents – making the most of the Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work Practice course hosted by The Harrow Club.

Initially a volunteer at Earls Court Youth Club, Sophie was keen to undertake the course so she could run her own community art projects and support young people across the north of the borough.

Sophie said:

Art is essential to personal development and creative expression, so I think it’s really important that we encourage young people to engage in artistic projects. Before taking part in the course, I didn’t have the confidence to lead my own projects or properly understand how to get the most out of the young people I worked with.


However, after completing the qualification, I now know the importance of listening and responding to individual needs, establishing boundaries and how to properly safeguard participants. I also know more about where different behaviours come from and why, and how to deal with them effectively. It’s helped to boost my confidence so much and given me the extra skills I needed to manage bigger projects.

Art work completed in Sophie Macdonald’s community art classes at the Harrow Club that sign posts to Chelsea Youth Club


As part of the course, Sophie also completed a portfolio of practical work

across nine units – including a project at Worlds End Youth Club creating six large signs that directed people to the youth centre. After encouraging participants to think creatively, they decided to include animated self-portraits on the signs.

Sophie continued:

I really enjoyed working on the project at Worlds End. It was so rewarding to see how proud the kids were of their work and how much they enjoyed the process. Youth work is such an important part of community development, even more so after the Grenfell fire, and young people need care and support as they process the tragedy. This course was a big help in helping me to improve my youth work skills and I know I’ll be putting them to good use in the future.

Since undertaking the course, Sophie has been awarded more responsibilities in her current youthwork roles at Earls Court Youth Club and Kids on the Green. She is also planning to roll out her own artwork projects to young people across North Kensington.

Goitom Seyoum and Henock Hailemarium

One of the courses that was funded throughout the first part of the Community Leadership Programme (CLP) was a Wellbeing Coaching Level 1 course hosted by the Venture Centre.

Accredited by the International Institute of Complimentary Therapies, the six-to-eight-week course aimed to empower and develop residents, acting as the first stepping stone to becoming a qualified Holistic Wellbeing Coach.

Amenti Quashie Francis, a Holistic Wellness Consultant and Wellbeing Strategist who worked with the Venture Centre to facilitate the course, said:

The CLP initiative has really been impactful for the community because it’s all about helping them to not only gain the skills they need to further their opportunities, but also help them to deal with some of the challenges they may have faced due to the impact of Grenfell.

 

Through this programme, we’re aiming to empower, encourage and inspire those in the community to be a part of that healing and to be a part of that change.

Equipping residents with tools to provide wellbeing support and advice for themselves and their peers, the course covered topics such as physical, emotional, financial, social and career-based wellbeing.

Goitom Seyoum, a North Kensington resident who took part in the course, said:

This is really an amazing course which is helping us a lot in our community and our social life. The CLP is one of the most in-demand and highly effective programmes that I’ve found. A life-changing course that I can really focus on to help the neighbourhood and the community.

Residents learned how to recognise the potential impact of poor health and wellness practice, gaining the skills to share, advise and support others with assessments so they can help them meet their wellbeing goals.  

Henock Hailemarium, another North Kensington resident who took part in the course, said:

We’ve learned so many techniques and been given a lot of tools in order to analyse ourselves. It’s been an amazing experience for me, being able to practice it on myself and on my loved ones.

 

I think this course will really benefit people like me to rebuild our life following the traumatic events so that now we can see a light. We will be able to start healing by doing courses like this.

The Venture Centre is currently providing free wellbeing workshops every Tuesday from 11am to 6pm. If you’d like to hear more about these sessions, please email [email protected].

CLP2

After coming to the end of the CLP1 in March 2022, and with £200k dedicated to the second round of the CLP, we’ve been looking for local North Kensington residents to join our existing resident panel to help decide how we can maximise this funding and ensure the Programme is as effective as possible. 

If you’re interested in joining the panel, please email [email protected].

Once the new panel members have been selected with the help of our existing panel, we will begin to provide updates on how they are shaping CLP2.

The panel’s role in CLP2

This role includes attending regular meetings with the Grenfell Community Team, recommending ways to improve service delivery and evaluating the CLP’s impact on the local community.

The panel will also be working alongside the Grenfell Community Team to deliver Programme outcomes based on the following themes:

  • Leadership and community action skills 

Teaching residents valuable practical skills such as trauma informed practice, public speaking and conflict resolution.

  • Community leadership vocations

Informing residents about community leadership roles and how to acquire them, like being a charity trustee, school governor or a resident association chair.

  • Business and financial skills 

Learning practical skills that include forming and running a community organisation, digital skills or creating a business model.

  • Health and wellbeing for community leaders

Encouraging community leaders to think about maintaining good mental health and wellbeing, including setting boundaries, nutrition and developing safe spaces. 

Free training sessions are also provided for all panel members to help guide them through this process and to contribute to their own personal development. Refreshments are provided throughout the sessions, and members receive vouchers to thank them for giving up their time voluntarily. 

The role of the resident panel so far

The panel was initially created after months of engagement with residents where they requested greater transparency over how money was allocated for both the Grenfell Projects Fund and the Community Leadership Programme. The panel roles and responsibilities so far have included:

  • Sharing their personal experiences of both the GPF1 and CLP1
  • Shaping the GPF2 grants programmes and the CLP2 community commissioning processes
  • Co-designing the GPF2 grant application and assessment processes
  • Quality assuring the GPF2 grants programme

The panel will now be working on shaping the CLP2, as well as continuing to monitor and evaluate the GPF2.

Last updated: 20 June 2023