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Catch up on five sessions from the Big Local North West Learning Programme, exploring community-led change, funding, inclusion, rural communities and social infrastructure.
Over the past few months, we’ve been bringing people together to explore what more than 15 years of Big Local can teach us about community-led change.
Led by Voluntary Sector North West in partnership with Local Trust, the Big Local North West Learning Programme brought together community organisations, funders, commissioners, infrastructure organisations and others to explore what helps communities build power, develop local solutions and create lasting change.
Across five sessions, we explored community-led systems change, rural and dispersed communities, long-term funding, inclusion and social infrastructure.
If you missed any of the sessions, you can now catch up on the learning, with slides and recordings available below.
29 June 2026 | Online
We kicked off the programme by exploring what Big Local can teach us about community-led systems change and public service innovation.
The session looked at how communities and partners can work differently together, how power can be shared and what it takes to create the conditions for communities to influence decisions and shape change in their local areas.
We heard from organisations and communities involved in Big Local across the Liverpool City Region and explored how these approaches could inform wider public services and community-led development.
17 September 2026 | Online
What does it take for communities to lead change in their own places when communities are geographically dispersed and local resources and infrastructure can look very different?
This session explored what Big Local can teach us about resident-led leadership in rural, coastal and dispersed communities, including the importance of local strengths and assets, relationships, long-term support and funding.
We also considered what funders, commissioners and other partners can do differently to create the conditions for sustainable, community-led change.
22 September 2026 | L30 Community Centre, Bootle
We took the learning into a Big Local community for this in-person session at L30 Community Centre.
The session explored what more than 15 years of long-term, flexible funding can make possible, including local leadership, innovation and community-led solutions. We heard directly about the experience of St Oswald and Netherton Big Local and L30’s Million.
We also looked at what happens when a long-term funding programme comes to an end, including how communities can sustain and build on the relationships, leadership and local infrastructure developed through Big Local.
23 September 2026 | Online
Who gets to have a voice in local decision-making? Who has influence? And what does meaningful participation actually look like?
This session explored power, representation and inclusion in community-led change, looking at how programmes and organisations can create more equitable opportunities for people to shape decisions about their communities.
Drawing on Big Local learning, we explored the importance of understanding who is involved, whose voices may be missing and what needs to change to make community-led approaches genuinely inclusive.
30 September 2026 | Our Sale West, Sale
We finished the programme with a visit to Our Sale West Big Local, exploring the role that social infrastructure can play in helping communities lead and sustain change.
The session looked at the places, organisations, relationships and spaces that connect communities and create the foundations for local action. We also explored the role of support infrastructure, including relationships, resources, capacity building and practical support.
The visit gave participants the opportunity to see this in practice and hear directly about the experience of Our Sale West and the wider Live Well approach.
There are no slides available for this session due to the venue, but if you’d like to find out more about the learning from the event, please get in touch at info@vsnw.org.uk.
The end of the learning programme is not the end of the conversation.
We hope the sessions have given people new ideas, challenged some assumptions and created opportunities to think differently about how we support communities to lead change.
As part of the programme, participants will also have the opportunity to apply for a small grant to develop an idea inspired by the learning and put it into practice. We’ll share more information about the grants programme and how to apply shortly.
Thank you to everyone who joined us throughout the programme, shared their experiences and helped make these conversations possible. And a special thank you to all of the communities, organisations, hosts, chairs and speakers who shared their time, knowledge and learning with us.
There’s lots to take away from 15 years of Big Local. We hope these resources help you continue the conversation and put some of that learning into practice.
