Active Birmingham is a partnership between Canal and River Trust, The Active Wellbeing Society, Birmingham City Council and Sport Birmingham. The fund forms part of the Birmingham 2022 Legacy, bringing communities and people together to improve wellbeing and act as a catalyst for change across the region. Furthermore, the fund wishes to promote and encourage people and organisations to work collaboratively together.
The Active Birmingham Approach
Vision – What we want to achieve:
To create a city where physical activity is the norm; inequalities are reduced; systems are changed to remove barriers; and sport and physical activity is accessible and integrated into daily life.
Mission – Why we exist:
Using the Commonwealth Games as a catalyst we will continue to use an adaptive approach and to tackle inequalities in, and barriers to physical activity by focusing on the 3 key priority areas:
- Building sector integration
- Strengthening community and individual capacities
- Tackling structural inequalities
We aim to support community organisations that can help us move towards achieving four key long-term outcomes:
- Physical activity becomes the norm
- Inequalities around physical activity are reduced
- Systems are changed to remove/reduce physical activity barriers
- Sport and physical activity is accessible and integrated into daily life
Active Birmingham is concentrated in the following geographic areas:
Areas where we are ‘Deepening’ our understanding and support of place
These areas have been selected because they have high levels of both deprivation and inactivity, and four out of the five areas have a high proportion of young people. There are both challenges and opportunities for these areas. Analysis of insight data, and partner/stakeholder engagement has identified the following challenges:
- Low Level Skills
- Low levels of physical activity
- High Unemployment
- Population density is highly concentrated in some parts
- Outdoor spaces are limited, and they are perceived as unattractive and unsafe.
Engagement Partnership Approaches
Active Birmingham Operations Group: Inclusive, Connectivity, Needs Driven, Co-Design & Enabling
We aim to empower communities by listening to their needs and providing relevant support. We seek partners who are passionate about connecting and learning about funding opportunities in their area.
If you are a:
- System Partner
- Cross sector org
- National Governing Body
- National Governing Body
We want to connect your offers to the greatest need, local people and services. As well as connect you with likeminded organisations where you can share & connect.
Learning approach:
The West Midlands Learning, Evaluation and Evidence Plan (LEEP) is designed to support the evaluation of whole-systems and place-based approaches in the region. The aim is to enhance our understanding of effectively addressing physical activity inequalities by capturing learning from WMCA and Sport England Memorandum of Understanding funded projects. Through this plan we aim to identify commonalities, strengths, weaknesses, and failures, fostering a culture of shared learning and innovation. This environment of collaboration and continuous improvement will lead to effective solutions for promoting physical activity and reducing health inequalities in the West Midlands.
Consultation Approach
Aim:
1) Collaborate/design scope for initial consultation workshops in x5 focus wards and wider community engagement strategy, confirmation of anchor / Connector and Ops roles.
2) Deepen knowledge, understand need and broker further connections with community groups, community organisations, key networks, systems partners and other key-cross sector stakeholders in focus areas to tackle physical inactivity inequalities.
How:
1) Identify key stakeholders / target audience and invite to attend workshop – providing an introduction to Active Birmingham
2) Using the Conceptual Framework and cross cutting conditions design questions / activities to …
- Engage key stakeholders with the work of Active Birmingham
- Better understand current context of the ward including cultural and social norms in terms of PA- experiences,
- Better understand the enablers and barriers to PA – what are they and how have they impacted your experiences / community / delivery offers?
- Better understand community capacity, capability and need – How has your
Why: The Active Birmingham Operations Group members agreed that local organizations should lead the consultations. This decision was based on several key reasons:
- Trust Issues – Local residents and organizations have had negative past experiences with consultations, often feeling that those conducting them were not trustworthy, leading to incomplete or withheld information.
- Lack of Feedback – Organizations frequently do not receive any follow-up or “playback” from consultations, making them feel excluded from the process.
- Concerns About Larger Players – There is a perception that system partners or larger organizations use the information gathered to apply for major funding bids without involving or benefiting the smaller, local groups that contributed to the process.
By allowing local organizations to conduct consultations, we aim to build trust, encourage honest engagement, and ensure fairer participation in future opportunities.
Key Learnings
Building Sector Integration
- Co-produced strategies with more community voices and system partners
- Identifying where partners add value/wider connectivity, through shared responsibilities and joint decision making
Strengthening community and individual capacities
- Adaptive approaches
- Trusted local organisations are playing a pivotal role
- Shared capacity, resource, insight and increased physical activity and training offers
- Fostering trust, transparency, and direct community input
Tackling Structural Inequalities
- Creating environments for shared learning
Active Birmingham Connectors:
Purpose
Partners recognised the need for programme capacity and continuation of x2 roles from phase 1 with the requirement to broaden and refresh the roles and re-define the responsibilities focusing on connecting systems partner and community groups. One will be hosted at Sport Birmingham and the other at The Active Wellbeing Society. They will work closely together to achieve the aims.
A key element of the Connector role is the building and maturing of relationships and connections as well as capacity building with local people, community organisations and system partners, ensuring the inclusion of more community voices and system partners in strategic decision making – incorporating collaborative processes .The role will work closely with a range of partners to map and maximise breadth of local assets available, with particular focus on local spaces and places, including parks and the canal network and use locally driven insight/assessment of need to steer priorities.
How to get involved:
Active Birmingham Connector Details:
Callam Dunne
Role: Development Manager (Youth & Community) Email: callam.dunne@sportbirmingham.org
Katie Bolam
Role: Activity Manager – Communities and Placemaking Email: katie.bolam@theaws.org