Magherafelt Area Partnership

Magherafelt Area Partnership (MAP) Ltd was set up by Magherafelt District Council in 1995 to act as the administrative umbrella organisation for managing European Programmes in the Magherafelt area.

The arrival of significant funds targeted at the relatively small area of Magherafelt in 1995 was a new and quite different approach from the previous rounds of EU funds. Unfortunately the local community and Magherafelt District Council had very little time to rationalise the situation. Each of the funding programmes gave an indicative outline of the budget which Magherafelt could expect and requested a strategy outlining how MAP proposed to spend the money. As a result there were four development strategies implemented by two separate organisations, Magherafelt Area Partnership and Moyola Valley Development Partnership (MVDP).

The staff of these two organisations liased closely from the outset to attempt to ensure that the four different programmes caused as little confusion as possible to the public and interested applicants. This was achieved through ensuring that each applicant was treated the same regardless of whether the application was made initially to MAP or MVDP. However this co-ordination was carried out at implementation level rather than at strategic level. Colin Stutt carried out a Mid-Term Review, which consequently led to the foundation for the current Integrated Strategy.

The new model for the period 2000-2004 is guided by the following aims:

• To deliver an overall programme which better meets the strategic objectives of the funding partners
• To rationalise management and administration procedures
• To retain the partnership ethos.

For more information on the Magherafelt Area Partnership and its initiatives, call 028 7939 7979, e-mail info@magherafelt.org or visit their website www.magherafelt.org .