Catalyst announces the LEx Leaders Training Programme 2022-23

Site Admin • 19 July 2022

source: Catalyst 4 Change CIC
published: 20 July 2022

After several months of planning and discussions with our funders and training providers in Birmingham, Catalyst 4 Change has announced the first cluster from our season of FREE good governance training modules from the LEx Leaders Development Programme, running from September 2022 to March 2023.

Who is eligible to attend our sessions? (You must meet one or more of the following criteria):

Registered members of Catalyst and/or registered participants of the LEx Leaders Development Programme
Participants must be user led initiatives or organisations that have significant operational input from people with lived experience of mental health issues
Members of any community organisations that provide mental health and wellbeing services to a significant African and Caribbean user base
Participant organisations with an annual turnover of less than £25,000
All participants must be in need of significant operational, governance or strategic development support

The modules cover broad topics that are critical to good organisation management and will be delivered at an introductory level by skilled and experienced providers including EW Accounting, Birmingham Voluntary Services Council, BlueSky Coaching and Training Personified.

Each of our modules are delivered twice over the life of the programme giving attendees choice and flexibility – they can also select modules that they need the most and opt-out of others. In the first cluster topics will include Legal Structures, Good Governance Practice, Financial Management & Accounting, Business Planning Processes and Good Practice, Standards & Evaluation.

See a full listing of all the first and second cluster modules here (pdf) >

The second cluster will be announced in December 2022.

Help with start-up essential costs:

Selected registered members of Catalyst 4 Change and/or registered participants of the LEx Leaders Development Programme will also qualify for cash support of up to £300 towards essential resources, e.g. laptops, affiliation fees, accessibility and/or language needs or essential office stationery needs etc.

Background to the LEx Leaders Development Programme:

The National Lottery's Leaders with Lived Experience Programme aims to support lived experience (LEx) leaders and their organisations to be central to recovery and renewal efforts as we move through and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

The National Lottery said; “The programme builds on the Leaders with Lived Experience Pilot Programme and is part of a wider journey to share power with communities, improve perceptions of LEx and create parity between different types of knowledge and experience. The impetus for the programme, its shape and vision, came from witnessing the commitment, innovation and resilience of the pilot cohort, particularly in the early stages of the crisis when mainstream organisations were retreating. This confirmed that LEx experience leadership needs to be at the forefront of strategies for the future of civil society."

Catalyst 4 Change said; “At Catalyst, we believe that to successfully renew civil society it is imperative that we make access to services equal and that those services are culturally representative and responsive. We believe that we can only affect meaningful change by empowering and equipping grassroots African and Caribbean communities to provide high quality, culturally relevant, mental wellbeing services and by co-producing and co-designing statutory mental health services.”