Understanding the long-term impact of the Community Leadership Academy

These reports aim to inform those who wish to better support community leadership in their localities and initiatives, including funders and programme providers, as well as local and national agencies.

Spheres of community influence: Understanding the long-term impact of the Community Leadership Academy

The Community Leadership Academy (CLA) has brought a distinctive perspective to the field. It has taken huge strides in the exploration of the practices and delivery mechanisms that progress the development of community leadership, enabling and empowering individuals to make a difference in their local areas. The programme has provided support and skills development for the volunteers making Big Local happen, including supporting people effecting change in their communities, helping them to develop and share knowledge to benefit the whole community. 

The report draws on in-depth case studies of eight community leaders in seven Big Local areas. It analyses the difference that community leadership training has made to how they worked in their areas and what they were able to achieve, both as part of a Big Local partnership and in their wider communities.

Living, leading, learning: A summary report from a series of community leadership roundtables

To build on learning from the CLA, Local Trust commissioned Just Ideas and IVAR to facilitate three roundtable discussions between organisations and individuals delivering community leadership support and development programmes, including CLA programme participants.

The roundtable discussions addressed questions posed by Local Trust, including:

• How might learning from the CLA be usefully embedded/shared with other initiatives?
• How can we support the development of community leadership?

The aim of the roundtable discussions was to generate peer learning between community development initiatives and a shared understanding about how to collectively shape the future of community leadership support.

Community Leadership Academy practice review: A practical reflection on the delivery of the CLA (2019 – 2023)

Written by Koreo, this paper reflects on the last five years of design and delivery of the CLA.

It provides an outline of the programme journey and how it played out in practice, as well as reflections from the project team on:

• what we have learnt about the kind of space the CLA has been
• the key learning shifts seen in this cohort of learners
• what can be learnt from delivering coaching in this context.

The paper then shares four tools that have been useful in working with community leaders, before finishing with summary reflections.