Plan My Project - Case Studies

WOSP Community Website

The West Oxfordshire Strategic Partnership (WOSP) has established a website for community groups, organisations and parish councils in West Oxfordshire that would otherwise not be able to provide a web-based service of their own to local residents and visitors.

The Community Website is a web portal where organisations can have their own space and WebPages.

Community Groups have their web sites developed and hosted for free and training is provided through a Community Web Manager, so that they are able to create, maintain and update their web pages as and when needed.

For individual organisations the project represents excellent value for money as the websites are provided free of charge. For the funders the project also represents value for money as each of the 200 organisations websites costs just £400.

The £81,200 project was supported by a partnership which includes West Oxfordshire Strategic Partnership; West Oxfordshire District Council; and Oxfordshire Rural Community Council.

West Oxfordshires Community Strategy identified the need for a community website.

The West Oxfordshire Strategic Partnership held two public forums which endorsed the need for a community website.

Oxfordshire Rural Community Councils Wired-up Villages conference identified the needs that the website should address.

The project is ongoing and the Community Web Manager will remain in post for the 3 year contract period giving continuity to the project management.

The objectives and targets were determined by conferences and public consultation; and clearly reflected the identified needs. However, there was an emphasis on ITC training for community groups which in reality was made less important by the selection of user-friendly software which often meant only basic training was required.

The main risk identified with this project was that the community groups may not sign up to the initiative. The contingency was to provide good Marketing & Promotion and to employ a Community Web Manager to oversee the project and recruit organisations to the project.

The project is on track to meet its objectives and targets. Currently it has recruited 80 organisations (target 200) and provided them with websites. The project will deliver training to all participating organisations but this training may be web-based learning rather than formal ICT training.

The sustainability of the project was considered from the outset. The website was planned to be self sufficient at the end of the publicly funded period. This appears to be achievable.

It is envisaged that all local organisations which want to participate will have signed up by the end of the 3 year project. All the community groups recruited during the project will have been trained to maintain and update their own websites. The Community Web Manager is also training community volunteers so that the training can be continued.

The costs of hosting the website will be met from local businesses sponsorship by and nominal charges to Parish and District Councils.

There has been very positive community feedback to the project so far. It has increased the visibility of many smaller organisations and many have had increased membership or activity as a result.

The project is also beginning to enhance the community capacity through linkages and shared resources.

To see the full evaluation report for this project click here.

To email the project manager click here.

To see other case studies click here.