Reflect | Recharge

After a decade of Big Local, we wanted to create an offer that allows you to reflect on your incredible progress and achievements so far, whilst getting the boost you need to get to the end of the programme.

Reflect | Recharge is a unique support offer which gives you the opportunity to supercharge your Big Local plan by taking part in a series of reflective and action-orientated sessions – and it’s only open to a limited number of partnerships.

What is Reflect | Recharge?

Through four expertly facilitated sessions you will have space to celebrate your achievements, identify your strengths, and explore challenges and support options. At the end of the support, your partnership will own a six-month action plan that maps out the steps and support you need to take to deliver your Big Local plan.

It has been great focusing on what we want and thinking about solutions – with the partnership being able to say what we want.
Blackpool Revoe Big Local

Using a series of visual and engaging activities each session builds on what has come out of the previous one:

1. You’ll begin by briefly mapping your Big Local achievements and what made them happen, as well as starting to think about any challenges to achieving your plans.
2. From the mapping activity, you will move on to exploring the issues and solutions you can come up with as a partnership, as well as identifying the bigger challenges that may need further support, with an activity called SWOT(NOT)!
3. Next, you will move on to a process of prioritising what you need to take action on or where you can seek further support.
4. The final session brings together the priorities for support and further action to deliver your plans in a simple six-month action plan. The facilitators are on hand to follow up with you after this session.

This diagram gives you an overview of the sessions, and the facilitator would meet with you in advance to tailor them to suit your specific needs.

What are the benefits?

Reflect | Recharge helps Big Local partnerships feel more equipped to deliver their plans.  Participants felt the following benefits:

• dedicated time and space to review where you are on your Big Local journey, and the opportunity to share the experience of Big Local with new partnership members
• space for collective reflection of achievements and mapping future direction
• creation of a realistic action plan for the next six months to deliver your Big Local vision, and friendly accountability follow up from the facilitator team
• help with accessing Make It Happen support as well as drawing on the experience of the partnership e.g. taking forward plans for a future community hub
• making sense of Big Local roles and structures as the programme enters its final years.

This process has done more to connect experienced and new partnership members than any other session we have done.
Gaunless Gateway Big Local

Richard Usher, from Just Ideas, has written a blog on the experience of the three Big Local partnerships that this offer was piloted with, which you can read here.

Who delivers the support?

Reflect | Recharge is free of charge and provided by experienced facilitators from Just Ideas. Just Ideas is an independent social consultancy established in 2007, supporting communities, charities and public sector organisations working towards positive social and environmental change.

The team has extensive experience of working alongside Big Local areas since the beginning of the programme – with experience of the rep role, training and support on measuring change, and a range of research and evaluation projects including current work evaluating the Community Leadership Academy (alongside IVAR). Just Ideas is known for working with engaging and energising participatory approaches.

You can also speak to your area advisor / area coordinator if you’d like to chat through your options.

DISCLAIMER: Whilst in-area support with our partners is open to all, if certain support offers are oversubscribed, we will need to prioritize this depending on which areas need it most. This doesn’t mean your area will not get to take part in the offer – just that you may have to wait until support has been offered to priority areas first.