Mid Ulster District Council launches new Community Support and Involvement Strategy

Mid Ulster District Council has officially launched its new Community Support and Involvement Strategy 2026–2031, setting out a transformative vision to strengthen local communities, reduce disadvantage, and improve wellbeing across the district.

The ambitious new strategy, which was launched yesterday, Wednesday, January 21, at The Junction Dungannon, establishes a collaborative, outcomes-focused framework that brings central and local government programmes together under a single, streamlined model: ‘One Plan, One Budget, One Report’.

Each year, more than £2.7 million is invested in community development in Mid Ulster through Council and government funding. However, the current system—delivered through multiple programmes operating separately—has become fragmented and administratively burdensome. The new strategy seeks to address this by unifying programmes, reducing duplication, and ensuring that resources are targeted where they are needed most.

The strategy is the result of an extensive six-month co-design process, involving local community groups, partner organisations, government departments and residents. This engagement ensured that the approach is genuinely bottom-up and place-based, reflecting the real needs and aspirations of Mid Ulster’s diverse communities.

The Strategy focuses on three core goals to support long-term positive change:

1. Reducing poverty and deprivation by directing resources to the most vulnerable.
2. Ensuring safety and inclusion, promoting respect for diversity and community cohesion.
3. Building stronger, more resilient communities through collaboration, shared ownership, and capacity building.

To deliver these goals, the Strategy identifies key priorities for system reform, including:

• Integrating departmental policies within one unified outcomes framework.
• Introducing a single reporting and monitoring system, reducing administrative burden.
• Pooling funding and resources to maximise impact.
• Strengthening relationships and trust between government and communities through co-design.
• Establishing partnership-based accountability structures.
• Embedding equality, inclusion, and evidence-based practice across all programmes.

A central feature of the Strategy is the alignment of multiple existing programmes—including Good Relations, Policing & Community Safety, Neighbourhood Renewal, Community Support—into one cohesive structure.

Delivery will continue to be supported by established local networks such as CWSAN, COSTA, STEP, Agewell, the Volunteer Centre, and the Disability Forum, alongside regional partners including RCN, NICVA, and Volunteer Now.

Progress will be assessed against shared wellbeing outcomes that aim to ensure communities are stronger and more resilient; safer and more inclusive; and experiencing less poverty and inequality.

Indicators such as volunteering, life satisfaction, inclusion, safety, and poverty reduction will be benchmarked against Northern Ireland averages to track progress.

The Council will coordinate delivery through £2.71 million of pooled annual funding, locality-based approaches, and a move toward multi-year service agreements to support long-term planning.

Co-design and evidence-led decision-making will be central to implementation.

Welcoming the launch, Chair of the Council, Councillor Frances Burton, said: “This Strategy represents a significant and positive step forward for Mid Ulster. By bringing together programmes, partners, and communities under one unified approach, we are creating a fairer, more inclusive, and more resilient district for everyone.

“Our communities are at the heart of this Strategy, and their insight has shaped its development from the very beginning. I am proud to endorse this collaborative vision and look forward to seeing its benefits realised across Mid Ulster in the years ahead.”

Find out more about the Community Support and Involvement Strategy 2026–2031 by emailing communitydevelopment@midulstercouncil.org.