Between September and December 2025 a brand new Network Academy cohort of community heritage leaders will embark on an online, co-designed learning and development journey.
The online programme will raise the skills of members to improve their organisation’s delivery, resilience and engagement, enabling them to secure funding and be more successful with their projects.
The topics that will be covered are:
- Fit for funding (including effective bid writing)
- Developing your organisational strategy
- Diversifying your income streams
The cohort will work on real-life issues that participants are experiencing and there will be plenty of reflection and action-planning time built-in.
To tell you a bit more about what you can expect from the Network Academy, we have interviewed Cwmpas who will be delivering the programme for us.
Who are Cwmpas?
Cwmpas is a development agency working for positive change, in Wales and across the UK.
We are a co-operative, and our focus is on building a fairer, greener economy and a more equal society, where people and planet come first. Our economy and society could – and should – work in the interests of people and the planet. We were established in 1982 as the Wales Co-operative Centre and changed our name to Cwmpas in 2022.
We have over ninety staff and run multiple Wales-wide programmes, including: business support for social enterprises and co-operatives, community shares, digital inclusion, and co-operative housing.
Our Business Growth & Consultancy team delivers Learning and Development programmes and events, including the Start Something Good® social hackathon model. We also provide strategic work in social value, digital strategy, and evaluation.
What experience does Cwmpas have in delivering programmes like the Network Academy?
We have been delivering place based and national learning programmes for several years, with in-person and online delivery. In 2024 over 1000 people attended our learning events.
We have delivered online enterprise learning programmes for heritage organisations through the Catalyst project (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) and through our Social Enterprise Academy offer, including a joint Wales and Scotland Community Tourism project (funded by the National Lottery Community Fund).
Since 2021 we have worked in partnership with Clore Social Leaders and the WCVA to deliver the Social Leaders Cymru programme of place based and online learning cohorts for community and Third Sector leaders.
What are you most looking forward to about delivering the Network Academy?
The power of working together to make a difference.
As the Irish poet W. B. Yeats memorably put it, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
Our role is not to transfer information, but to co-create learning and ways of working that will make a tangible difference to the sector.
What can participants of the Network Academy expect?
For any organisation that has an opportunity to be part of the Network Academy you can expect the following:
- A learning environment that is “High on challenge and low on threat.” The sessions will have that balance of stretching understanding but in a setting that is welcoming, encouraging, and supportive.
- Practical tools that work, and wisdom to apply that will help to build capacity and capabilities. Each organisation will have access to a Padlet of resources that we will be using throughout the programme and which they will be able to access after the sessions have finished.
- Expertise on strategy, digital, fundraising and bid writing, enterprise, community engagement, and leadership. All essential topics needed for us to survive and thrive.
- A safe and honest space to ask questions, be curious, build new connections, and (crucially) time for reflection with others on the same journey. We want to have open conversations about where we are currently “stuck” and need to move forward. Peer learning will be at the heart of this experience.
There are two spaces available for every organisation joining the Network Academy. That is really important to us as it helps to better embed the learning in each organisation.
You can find read more about Cwmpas on their website here: Cwmpas Home – Cwmpas
Applications are now live for the Network Academy. You can find out more about the programme and apply here: Network Academy – Heritage Network
