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NWTWC showcasing our work

North West Together We Can (NWTWC) was funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) between 2007 and 2011, and supported by CDF and Stockport Council. During that time, NWTWC engaged with local authorities, third sector organisations and voluntary groups right across the north west, supporting exciting new ways of working to empower communities. 
NWTWC sponsored and encouraged many innovative techniques and methods, developing a wealth of experience to guide future action. This short film reflects on NWTWC’s achievements, highlighting just some of the empowering ideas pioneered by NWTWC and its partners.
Featuring case studies that illustrate their practical application, the film looks at:
•    Social Enterprise and the research NWTWC commissioned into how locally-based groups can become ‘enterprise-ready’;
•    Appreciative Inquiry and its value in bringing residents and service providers together to resolve intractable social problems;
•    Peer research by LGBT youth, which NWTWC was able to support through TSF funding; and
•    NWTWC’s own Community Empowerment Awards, an initiative which the organisation set up both to celebrate and to further develop projects’ capacity to measure the impact of their work.
Though DCLG funded work ceased in 2011, NWTWC’s work is set to continue, thanks to support from a Manchester-based organisation, Our Life, which has offered to ‘pick up the baton’ and champion the best of NWTWC’s methods.
Our Life is a social enterprise which aims to identify and tackle barriers to better wellbeing and health across the region by mobilising individuals and organisations to campaign for changes to policy and business practices. The Our Life philosophy dovetails closely with that of NWTWC and, with key NWTWC personnel joining Our Life, the stage is set for community empowerment of the kind seen in this film, to gain a renewed impetus.
As communities across the north west and beyond struggle to cope with the effects of recession, the lessons from projects featured in this film are perhaps more relevant than ever.
NWTWC and Our Life hope you find the film useful and thought-provoking. And we encourage you to consider how the empowerment methods it champions could potentially benefit your own activities, services and communities.

If you would like a DVD copy, please email info@ourlife.org.uk with your contact details or ring Our Life on 0161 233 7500.