People in Mid Wales will soon have more chances to get active but also gain learning and development opportunities, thanks to new plans announced today.

Mid Wales Sports Partnership (MWSP), the new organisation dedicated to boosting activity levels across Ceredigion and Powys, has announced that it is funding its first-ever projects through its Innovation Fund.

With funding from Sport Wales and the National Lottery, the two major initiatives will receive a share of more than £112,000. It will support:

· Disability Sport Wales which is creating Physical Activity Hwbs for disabled people, together with workforce development opportunities for young people.

· The Outdoor Partnership which is setting up a health and wellbeing pilot for people with mental health conditions as well as opportunities for young people to gain outdoor leadership training and qualifications.

Gemma Cutter, Regional Director of MWSP, explains:

“We’re really looking forward to seeing our first-ever Innovation Fund projects get started. We want to invest in initiatives that tackle the inequalities we see when it comes to physical activity in Mid Wales. Reaching those that are less active - in this case disabled people and those with mental health conditions - is crucial.

“We also want to create more opportunities in the future and to do that we need to strengthen skills and training. Both projects are designed to give people the confidence to volunteer or to gain employability skills.”

MWSP is one of five Regional Sports Partnerships that have been set up by Sport Wales to transform the way in which community sport and physical activity opportunities are planned, delivered and funded.

By making decisions at a local level, MWSP aims to tackle the ongoing and stubborn inequalities in participation in sport and physical activity.

The Innovation Fund investment will support Disability Sport Wales in creating Physical Activity Hwbs at college sites across Mid Wales, in partnership with Colegau Cymru. The project, the first of its kind in Wales, aims to increase participation in sport and physical activity but also aims to offer disabled and non-disabled learners the opportunities to volunteer and gain sports qualifications.

Disability Sport Wales Chief Executive Fiona Reid said: “In Mid Wales, we want to ensure that, especially after college, young people -disabled and non-disabled - can stay and seek work and training opportunities locally. The Physical Activity Hwbs will help young people gain qualifications and experience which will improve long-term employability. This is particularly important for those with intellectual impairments or Independent Living Skills (ILS) needs. The aim is that we’ll have a greater number of coaches and volunteers to run clubs and sessions in the future.”

The initiative will see Disability Sport Wales collaborating with Colegau Cymru, and colleges and universities working with local authorities and partners. If successful, the intention is that the project will be rolled out in other parts of Wales.

The Outdoor Partnership’s pilot project covering Powys and Ceredigion aims to use outdoor activities, such as hill walking, cold water swimming, canoeing, and climbing, to improve people’s health and wellbeing and to help younger people gain employability skills.

The Outdoor Partnership is working with various partners including mental health charities. The aim is to help people be more confident to take part in outdoor activities so they can continue using green spaces to be active, long after the programme finishes.

Meanwhile, young people across the Mid Wales region will have the opportunity to attend residential training to gain qualifications in the outdoors industry. The project will focus on those not in education, employment or training.

Tracey Evans - CEO the Outdoor Partnership – explains:“In Mid Wales, we have this huge outdoor playground in which we can find so many ways to be active. Our health and wellbeing programme aims to help people make the most of these spaces and activities by giving them the skills and confidence. With the investment from MWSP, we can also increase the number of opportunities for young people that live here to get trained so that long-term we have a greater number of local outdoor instructors.”

For more information on:

The Disability Sport Wales project, please contact: [email protected]

The Outdoor Partnership project, please contact: [email protected]

The Mid Wales Sports Partnership, please contact: [email protected]