Your guide to the community engagement fund from the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales

The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales is an independent body asked to look at options for how Wales might be run in the future. The commission wants to hear from as many people as possible, from all walks of life and from every community, about what matters to them and their hopes for Wales’ future.

This funding opportunity has been established by the commission to make sure that the national conversation on how Wales could be run in the future includes a diverse range of communities across Wales.

The community engagement fund gives community groups and organisations in Wales the chance to access funding for engagement projects which will contribute to the commission’s work.

The commission will provide grants of up to a maximum of £5,000 per third sector organisation or community group. Please note this scheme is not open to political parties or campaign groups. There will be other opportunities for these groups to engage in the commission’s work. The total amount available for distribution under this fund is £50,000. It is available to third sector, community groups or organisations.

The commission is looking for a project proposal from your organisation demonstrating how you will work with communities in Wales to support their participation in this national conversation. It is especially important we are including those who might feel they don’t have a voice in this conversation.

The grants are being offered to make sure that the insight, views, concerns and experiences of Wales’ diverse communities are reflected within the commission’s interim report. If you are successful in your application, you’ll be required to report to the commission on your project, along with an evaluation and findings.

You can apply independently or collaborate with other groups to submit a bid for funding. Please consider the following criteria when putting together your bid:

1. The ability to engage with group(s) and/or communities, in an accessible way, on issues of relevance to the commission and to generate insightful analysis. This should be demonstrated in your application by providing an outline of how you plan to engage with these communities. If you have previous experience of community engagement, please include this in your application. If you have no previous experience, advice and support will be available to you.
2. The ability to use innovative methods of engagement to overcome barriers and reach those who feel that they have no voice in the conversation. Please outline any previous experience you may have.
3. The ability to produce a written, recorded or oral report including a summary of evidence gathered and demographic information of participants. The commission will also ask for feedback to be provided incrementally and informally throughout the period of engagement. If you have previous experience in producing evidence-based reports, please include in your application. If you have no previous experience, advice and support will be available to you.
4. The resource capacity to deliver this work by the start of November 2022. As part of your application, you should outline the resources you will commit to this activity and provide a proposed timeline.

We’re looking for applicants across the whole of Wales. Your application however needn’t cover all of Wales – we’re welcoming applications based on locality, community, or subject.

We’d like to hear from applicants that will be able to engage with people from the following communities or with experience of the following themes, and be able to offer engagement through a variety of languages.

The list is not exhaustive and applications related to other communities or themes are welcome too.

• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals
• Faith groups
• Asylum seekers, Refugees, and newly settled communities
• Young people
• Older people
• Community groups
• LGBTQ+ people
• Women/Girls
• Non-binary people
• Disabled people
• Those experiencing or who have experienced homelessness
• Those experiencing or who have experienced unemployment
• Gypsies, Roma and Travellers
• Residents in care settings, within the care system or care leavers
• Ex-offenders

Please provide a proposal of around 2-3 pages of A4 (no longer) which outlines how the funding will be used to engage communities across Wales in a national conversation about how the country could be run in the future. Remember to refer back to the criteria above.

Please provide a breakdown of all costs associated with delivering the project detailed in your proposal.

Please also specify which of the following 4 geographical categories your proposal’s activity covers (please note, local authorities are listed to clarify regional boundaries, but applications do not need to demonstrate specific activity in each local authority within that region).

• Pan-Wales
• North Wales (Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Anglesey, Wrexham)
• Mid and west Wales (Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire. Powys)
• South Wales (Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Swansea, Cardiff, Merthyr, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan)

All applications should be submitted via email to ConstitutionCommission@gov.wales no later than 12th of August.

We are aiming to notify organisations on the outcome of their application by the end of August 2022, and envisage that successful applicants will begin their projects at the start of September.

Applications will be reviewed by an assessment panel. The panel will assess and score applications against the criteria set out above.

Applications will be organised by and ranked by their score agreed by the panel. To make sure we’re engaging with groups across Wales, at least one application from each of the geographical categories (listed above) will be selected for recommendation.

Grant funding will be awarded to organisations subject to the terms and conditions issued by the Welsh Government.

If you have any questions about your application, please email ConstitutionCommission@gov.wales

Have your say (please note the commission is not looking for applications that simply asks these questions to members/communities, it is important to us that the engagement is appropriate, accessible and inclusive for the audience).

• Commission website
• Twitter: @comisiwn
• Facebook: @comisiwn
• Instagram: @comisiwn 
• Email: ConstitutionCommission@gov.wales