Creating a framework for a communities policy for Wales: call for stories and ideas 

To read in Welsh click here.

Over the last 15 years, accelerated by austerity, demographic changes and the impacts of the pandemic, community and voluntary organisations across Wales have played an increasingly vital role in providing support to our communities, across everything from poverty mitigation and mental health to protecting the local environment.  

While these organisations have stepped up, particularly in disadvantaged areas, they are often faced with structural barriers when trying to work alongside the public sector and without a cohesive national policy to recognise, support or strategically invest in the sector, there is increasing risk of fragmentation, missed opportunities and un-tapped community potential.   

Together with WCVA and BCT, New Local has launched a call for stories and ideas to explore local approaches which are looking to change this. 

About the project 

The aim of this project is to develop a framework for a communities policy for Wales. As part of this, we’re inviting contributions from voluntary, community and public sector partners and policy makers to help us create a compelling set of findings and recommendations.  

To get the conversation started we have developed some principles which we want to shape further with people working across Wales. These principles provide a starting point, based on our initial research, that we believe could open further discussion to help us collectively develop a framework to support and enable a thriving and sustainable voluntary and community sector across Wales which is underpinned by deep collaboration with public sector partners.  

To bring these principles to life, we want to invite you to imagine what might be possible if they were in place.  

• Imagine if… we had a shared vision for how the public sector could work together with voluntary and community partners, drawing on the unique skills and perspectives which sit across local systems to deliver effective outcomes. 

• Imagine if… we had a deeper, shared culture across the public, voluntary and community sectors which valued and incentivised learning, experimentation, risk sharing and innovation.  

• Imagine if… partners working together in local systems had more time and capacity to build and sustain strong and diverse local markets which are responsive to the needs of local people and communities, built on trust and collaboration rather than competition, helping to  build a thriving and sustainable sector across Wales. 

• Imagine if… voluntary and community sector partners had greater flexibility to shape long term approaches for local people and communities supported by funding, resources and relationships.  

• Imagine if… we reframed the way resources were distributed and utilised to fully realise the potential of local communities and deliver sustainable approaches to early intervention and prevention. 

• Imagine if… we had a stronger collective focus on place-based and people-centred outcomes which span organisational and departmental priorities and silos. 

We want to hear from you 

This project is unashamedly ambitious and forward looking with a strong focus on finding where the creativity, energy and innovation is today so that we can create actionable recommendations to support long term, sustainable system change.  

We know that in some places, these principles are already very much in place and enabling the delivery of brilliant initiatives across Wales. We also know that these principles are a starting point and that’s why we want to invite people to get in touch to share their stories of where and how these principles are showing up in their work so that we can begin to understand the different conditions which are enabling people and organisations to work in this way. We also want to hear from people about their experiences of barriers that are preventing them from working in this way and hear your ideas about how we could overcome them.  We’re looking for examples from across the public sector, voluntary sector, local businesses or communities themselves (or any combination of these). 

Your insights will help shape the direction of the project and inform our findings. We’d love to hear about any projects you’re involved in, plus your ideas and experiences on this topic.  

Contribute to our call for stories and ideas 

We are keen to learn about current practice and approaches across Wales – this includes both work that has recently concluded and work that is still ongoing (including in early stages).  

We’d welcome contributions from those working in councils, NHS, other local public sector organisations, voluntary and community organisations, community groups, and other organisations both locally and nationally working to deliver community centred approaches across a range of policy areas including wellbeing, cohesion, poverty mitigation, regeneration, and environmental sustainability. 

You can contribute by responding to the questions in the form below.

Alternatively, if a different format of submission, such as audio, would be more accessible to you, or if you have attachments you would like to share directly with the project team please email callforevidence@newlocal.org.uk. 

The call for stories and ideas will close on Friday 8 May 2026 

What will happen next?  

Over the coming months, we’ll build on our call for stories and ideas with a series of participatory workshops. We’ll reflect with participants on current practice and learning and take a deep dive into our principles, helping us both build on and step beyond current approaches. As part of these sessions, we’ll utilise the collective experience and expertise of participants to help identify what it would take to turn this vision of the future into a practical reality. 

In the summer, we’ll publish a report sharing what we’ve learnt from the project alongside a series of practical recommendations for policy makers working locally and nationally across Wales. 

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