Building Connections, Reducing Inequalities: Our Year with the Elevate Programme
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Lisa with some of her Mentor Group members at the Elevate celebration event
For the past four years, Supporting Communities has been proud to play a role in the Elevate Programme, a capacity-building initiative funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and developed and delivered by the Community Development and Health Network (CDHN).
This year, our Community Development Officers, Lisa McKim and Clodagh Cooke, continued our involvement as mentors, working alongside six community groups across Northern Ireland.
The Elevate Programme sits at the heart of the PHA’s ‘Expansion of Community Development Approaches’ Framework, which examines how community development can tackle health inequalities and contribute to transformation. For us at Supporting Communities, mentoring within this programme is a natural extension of our core mission.
The groups we supported this year
A few folks from our brilliant groups!
In 2025-26, Lisa and Clodagh provided mentoring support to six organisations:
Through the mentoring relationship, our CDOs supported groups in a range of practical areas, from monitoring and evaluation and succession planning to exploring funding opportunities. Just as valuable were the group mentoring sessions, which created space for shared learning and allowed organisations to connect with and learn from one another.
“The creativity, passion and commitment across the mentee organisations have been genuinely inspiring. We’ve seen so many innovative, change-making projects and programmes that are making a real difference in communities — often with limited resources but with huge determination and heart behind them.”
A two-way learning experience
Building The mentoring relationship
One of the things that makes Elevate so distinctive is how much it offers to both sides of the mentoring relationship. For our team, working with organisations across a wide range of communities, including those working in areas we wouldn’t normally encounter, has broadened our understanding of how health inequalities are being tackled on the ground across Northern Ireland.
The programme has also deepened our connections with CDHN and our fellow mentor organisations, creating a wider network of practice that we hope will continue long beyond any single programme year.
“I truly hope this is just the beginning of lasting relationships and future collaboration. A big thank you to CDHN for involving Supporting Communities and creating space for meaningful connection, learning, and change through such an inspiring programme.”
About the Elevate Programme
Elevate supports community organisations through five core elements: a community mentoring and grants programme; evidence-based training on health inequalities; information sharing and networking; reflective practice tools; and a Community Development Practitioners Forum bringing together practitioners to share good practice and hear from specialists.
Applications are now open for the next round of the Elevate Community Mentoring & Grants Programme. If your group is ready to tackle health inequalities using community development approaches, this programme is for you. Elevate places a strong emphasis on mentoring, offering groups tailored guidance, support, and shared learning to help strengthen their ideas and maximise their impact. Through dedicated mentoring, participants will build skills, confidence, and practical approaches for addressing the challenges their communities face.
If you would like to find out more about the programme or explore resources, visit www.elevateni.org
