Education Minister Paul Givan has announced a further £1.91 million investment in 42 community-led projects aimed at tackling educational disadvantage across Northern Ireland. The funding represents the second tranche of Locality Led Projects under the RAISE Programme, bringing total investment in these grassroots initiatives to £5.61 million since the scheme launched.
The projects—selected following an application and assessment process that closed on 29 April 2026—will target issues including school attendance, pupil wellbeing and learning support. These initiatives form part of a broader £20 million cross-border programme funded through the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund, which aims to raise educational achievement in disadvantaged areas through place-based, whole-community approaches.
Minister Backs Community-Led Solutions
Paul Givan said:
“This second tranche of projects is a significant investment of £1.91m in supporting children and young people who face additional barriers to education to reach their potential.
“In addition to the funding for locality led projects already announced, this brings a total investment to £5.61m into raising aspirations and providing opportunities for better educational outcomes for children and young people in RAISE localities across Northern Ireland.”
The Minister continued:
“The RAISE Programme enables communities to identify need in their area and work collectively to overcome them. Working together with community organisations and schools, we can remove barriers to learning and achievement and bring long term benefits to both individuals and wider communities.
“Today’s announcement marks another important step forward in delivering the objectives set out in each of the RAISE Locality Strategic Area Plans. I look forward to seeing the positive difference this investment will make in the lives of children and young people.”
Programme Scale and Selection
The 42 successful projects join 65 Locality Led Projects announced in December 2025, which received £3.7 million in funding. Together, these 107 initiatives will operate across the 18 RAISE localities, identified using deprivation indicators including free school meal entitlement, GCSE attainment levels and health deprivation data.
Key facts about the latest funding round:
- 42 projects selected from the second call for proposals, which opened on 19 March 2026 and closed on 29 April 2026
- £1.91 million allocated for delivery across the 2025/26 and 2026/27 academic years
- £5.61 million total invested in Locality Led Projects to date
- Projects delivered through local community organisations and schools working in partnership
- Letters of Offer to be agreed between the Department and successful organisations in the coming weeks
The RAISE Programme (Raising Achievement to Reduce Educational Disadvantage) represents a joint investment of £20 million (€24 million) from the Shared Island Fund over two years, with potential for extension. It operates across 18 designated localities including Belfast (divided into four areas), Derry/Londonderry, Lisburn, Newry and Ballymena.
Questions of Sustainability and Transparency
While the announcement expands the reach of community-based educational support, several operational details remain unclear. The Department has not specified which of the 18 localities will host these 42 projects, nor has it published the assessment criteria or scoring methodology used to select them—an omission that may raise transparency concerns given a previous legal challenge to the programme’s selection methodology was dismissed by the High Court in December 2025.
Furthermore, with Shared Island funding currently committed only until 2026, the long-term sustainability of these community projects remains uncertain. The £5.61 million allocated to Locality Led Projects represents just over a quarter of the total £20 million programme budget, raising questions about how remaining funds are distributed between cross-cutting initiatives and base locality allocations.
What Happens Next
The Department for Education will now enter into formal Letters of Offer with the successful organisations. Projects are expected to align with Strategic Area Plans developed for each RAISE locality, informed by engagement with children, parents and local stakeholders.
Further information on the RAISE Programme is available from the Department for Education website.
Questions for Consideration
- How will the Department measure the long-term educational outcomes of these community-led interventions once the Shared Island funding concludes in 2026?
- Given that this second tranche funded 42 projects compared to 65 in the first round, what specific criteria led to the reduced number of successful applications?
- What mechanisms exist to ensure these locally-led initiatives continue to operate sustainably after the initial two-year funding period ends?
- How will the Department ensure geographic equity across all 18 RAISE localities when the specific locations of these 42 projects have not been disclosed?