Communities Minister Gordon Lyons and Minister for Economy Caoimhe Archibald joined with Community Wealth Building partnerships from Larne and the North-West to launch their new Prospectus at Stormont. Both Ministers praised the work as a clear example of how Community Wealth Building can move from concept to reality through local leadership and shared ambition.

Supporting change through research and partnership

Dr Andrew Grounds from QCAP has supported this process through engaged research with both area-based partnerships. Whilst much of QCAP's work has supported communities across Belfast, notably the Markets and the Greater Shankill, the Community Wealth Building partnerships represented an exciting development of this work into new areas. QCAP's support has been advanced across two tiers. First, policy advocacy work grounded in evidence and wider best practice – working alongside Trademark and Development Trusts Northern Ireland (DTNI) to produce five Technical Advisory Papers exploring how to advance Community Wealth Building across Northern Ireland. These were developed alongside input and representation on the Ministerial Advisory Panel through Prof. Brendan Murtagh, who made a key contribution to the drafting of the 22 Community Wealth Building recommendations published in 2022. Second, QCAP has supported the practical development of each partnership – providing direct research support, technical assistance, and detailed data analysis for through a bespoke area-based data profile.

What the research and evidence shows

The data analysis revealed compelling evidence of these partnerships' economic importance, demonstrating that members across both areas – four organisations in Larne and thirteen in the Northwest – are collectively asset-rich, generate substantial revenue, remain profitable, and employ significant numbers of people in both full-time and part-time roles. Such member organisations show financial diversity through various social businesses operating with strong asset bases across their local areas. Crucially, they return high proportions of unrestricted income, which means they can offer competitive salaries and support local supply chain development and recycle their economic spend. As such, these are not simply community organisations, but economic anchors driving real change across their respective Local Government Districts.

QCAP also worked with DTNI to develop a roadmap exploring the possibilities for Community Wealth Building in both regions and beyond. Since the inception of this process, this relationship has also brokered valuable connections with the Democracy Collaborative and individuals who can draw on learning from Scotland, Preston, and other global examples – connections that will prove vital as this work continues to develop.

Looking ahead

The department's support for pilot work following the Ministerial Advisory Panel recommendations is positive to see. However, the current seven-month timeframe and the £300,000 government investment mean it is already important to start thinking about longer-term enabling support, not just for Larne and the Northwest, but for other areas seeking similar change through local community wealth-building partnerships. This is encouraging, but success won't depend solely on new funds – it requires exploring existing institutional financial tools and repurposing them to support Community Wealth Building, potentially through joint departmental budgets and cross-departmental working.

For QCAP, the Stormont launch reaffirmed that place-based research, engaged partnership, and community advocacy are essential not only for understanding local economic challenges but for building practical solutions that create genuine local impact and benefit. The work aligns strongly with Programme for Government priorities of enhancing local ownership and increasing communities' stake in their own futures – demonstrating how ownership at a local level can drive meaningful economic change, when properly supported through the kind of research-practice partnerships that QCAP works to advance.