High five for i2i
Funding for i2i may have ended but the results are there for all to see and the legacy continues
I2i’S Can Do Toolkit is five years old. Initially published to guide social landlords on how to attach tangible community benefits to contracts delivering the Welsh Housing Quality Standards, the toolkit has been instrumental in revolutionising the way business is done in wales. It has helped the housing sector bring thousands of jobs and training opportunities to some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in wales and supporting economic recovery.
The CAN DO approach, pioneered by i2i, introduced the term ‘targeted recruitment and training’ or ‘TR&T’, secured through procurement opportunities. It asked housing providers and contractors to consider the needs of the community in everything that they did, regardless of whether it was required by policy or legislation, to be ambitious in the provision of initiatives and include tenants and residents in every aspect of the process.
Each year the i2i team undertook a survey with landlords and partners to dentify the number of people who had benefitted from TR&T in Wales, using the principles of the Can Do toolkit. The annual and cumulative figure was reported in a ‘Year On’ report. At TAI 2014 we launched the i2i ‘5 years on report’ and were delighted when Rhys Jones from Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd informed the conference that the total number of people supported into training and/or employment had passed 5,000. A total of 5,130 TR&T opportunities have now been secured since 2009.
Funding for the i2i project has now ended but ad hoc advice is still available from CIH Cymru and the i2i alumni. The legacy will remain available as a free on- line library and resource centre at www.cih.org/i2i. Here you will find the Can Do toolkit, guidance on using it, ten ‘capturing the lessons’ good practice guides and a guide to equality and procurement, co-written with Tai Pawb.
The i2i project was Welsh government-funded and the team was located at CIH Cymru. During that time a number of housing professionals from across Wales participated in taking forward the Can Do model and supporting the sector in applying it. In this final project report we pay tribute to those people and organisations that helped to make the project such a success, and include new case studies demonstrating the continued development of the principles and the model. i2i has travelled beyond housing and beyond Wales; it has been adopted by dozens of organisations as standard practice. There is of course more to do, understanding how TR&T can deliver on wider equality and anti-poverty agendas is still in its infancy, but housing is the sector that leads and innovates, and we are confident in passing on the baton.
Thank you to the many people from north, south east and west Wales who developed, participated in, and kept the i2i faith; you were instrumental in delivering this quiet revolution – 5,000 in five years – WE DID IT!