The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) is working with Essex County Council to support the local voluntary community sector in the region. In collaboration with Achieve Thrive Flourish (ATF), we’re working to create a culture of community participation in Essex by knitting networks together and amplifying the benefits of engaging with local communities.
Community Participation Toolkit
This page includes helpful resources, such as case studies, webinars, and details about the Your Essex Community support initiative, to help you engage with partners, organsiations, and individuals about the value of community participation.
Your Essex Community is a brand new support programme for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations. This initiative is all about creating a strong and thriving VCS in the region, ensuring consistent, joined-up support for these organisations.
Vision: We aim to create a culture that values active and engaged communities, working with partners ‘and individuals’ to build a positive environment and achieve shared goals.
We want to help community groups by encouraging and inspiring people to get involved. Our goal is to show how powerful communities can be when everyone works together, building strength and resilience.
How we’ll do it:
Resources
This Discovery Day used an Asset Based Community Development approach to identify existing strengths in Pitsea and explore opportunities for building on community assets to create lasting positive change.
Your Community Essex progress report from April 2025 to December 2025. This infographic highlight the collective work of YEC members to engage users, share knowledge and fund delivery.
A how-to guide on planning a Sharing Day. Bring together partners, volunteers and participants to highlight real stories, share resources and inspire others with the VCSE community.
A how-to guide on planning a Discovery Day. Build connections with other voluntary and community organisations within your local community through round tables, reflections, and best practice sharing.
Case studies
TAWS and ATF are passionate at sharing their community participation expertise. Our case studies will grow organically and will supply you with tools to help put you on your path to engagement!
Webinars
These webinars are a great way to learn from others how to do it!
Our subject offer will increase as the project goes along so come, experience new things.
A show-and-tell style presentation of the ECC Social Value tools, including the Suffolk Library Tool, provides an overview of how it is being used in ECC libraries to demonstrate the impact of events and activities run in Essex Libraries.
A webinar from TAWS and ATF about creating the conditions for communities to thrive through volunteering and community participation.
A webinar from TAWS and ATF about nurturing community leadership and supporting resident-led initiatives. By empowering everyone to play an active role in shaping the places they live we can foster a sense of belonging and collective achievement.
Visit the Your Essex Community YouTube page to watch more videos in the Learning Series. Discover content about marketing, grand funding and more.
