2024 Cooperative Case Studies
- May 2024
As part of the Levelling-up Birmingham agenda, Birmingham City Council is investing in its local landscapes and communities to create a better, bolder Birmingham. Funded by the CCIN, the council undertook Community Economic Development Planning (CEDP), a process of economic development within a specific geographic area, to make the economy in that area work well for that community.
In CEDP, the power to drive the change rests within the community of residents, local businesses, local service providers including councils, community groups and voluntary sector organisations with a direct stake in the economic health of that area. These groups have the best insight into how to tackle the interconnected environmental, social, and economic issues in the area and recognise the importance of connections between the local, regional, and national layers of the economy. Each project aims to build on the knowledge, experience, and resources in that community, to identify and maximise the local economic opportunities available to re-shape the underlying economic system in the area.
In Birmingham, three CEDPs were delivered with the support of the EU-funded project USE-IT! which ran from 2017-2019 and the Local Innovation Fund (LIF). The development of CEDPs was part of the legacy strand of the project.
Karolina Medwecka
ESF Programme Coordinator
Birmingham City Council