Latest News

21 April 2008

CENI Officially Recognised as an Investor in People

CENI has been successful in achieving the Investors In People Standard - an international marque of good business practice, and a business improvement tool that helps organisations to compete and succeed through improved people performance. In achieving this award, CENI successfully demonstrated that it has a long-standing commitment to continuous improvement and has invested significantly in the development of the organisation and its staff.

CENI was presented with the award recently by Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey at a ceremony in Hillsborough Castle .

Commenting on this tremendous achievement, Brendan McDonnell, CENI's Director said:

“CENI works with a range of voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland , including those providing important services to older people, children, families and people with special needs. Our role is to help groups to develop their services, improve the lives of the people they support and better meet the needs of their communities. CENI does this by helping organisations to measure the success of their projects, and identify how they can make their work more effective.

“To ensure that CENI continues to help organisations in this way, it is vital that our management and staff have the knowledge and skills needed to deliver the highest quality services. As part of our organisational and staff development process, we adopted the Investors in People framework as a tool to help us enhance our performance. As an advocate of ‘quality', we are delighted that our commitment to improving how we work has been formally recognised. The process has had, and will continue to have an impact on our staff, our services and the work of the many voluntary and community organisations which we support.”

 Pictured receiving the IIP award from Sir Reg Empey (centre) at a ceremony held in Hillsborough Castle are CENI's Director, Brendan McDonnell and Deputy Director, Nicola McIldoon.

September 07

CENI Launches 2007 Programme of Open Training Courses from October 07 - June 08

CENI is delighted to announce its new programme of open training courses from October 2007 - June 2008. For details of courses and dates please click this link.

CHANGE OF TELEPHONE NUMBER

From Monday 11th December CENI's telephone number will be changing to: 028 9024 8005.

CENI'S BIG LOTTERY FUND TRAINING PROJECT IS LAUNCHED

Through the support of the Big Lottery Fund, CENI is pleased to announce an Evaluation Training Project for Community and Voluntary groups. This project is targeted at groups with limited resources who would benefit from training in monitoring and evaluation and relevant issues.

PROJECT AIMS

The project involves the development and delivery of an innovative programme of training that will equip community and voluntary organisations to respond to the changing funding and policy environment and develop their capacity in evaluation.

This unique project aims to enhance participants' understanding and skills in evaluation and enable them to plan, manage and review what they do to enhance service delivery. It is also expected to enable participants to produce better quality information about their work, evidencing outputs, outcomes and their contribution to funders' investment objectives.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Drawing on CENI's existing training modules, we will be running a number of training sessions. The programme will be developed around a number of themes based on the needs of the groups targeted and will include tailored examples and case studies. Needs will be assessed through consultation with Umbrella Bodies and Networks prior to training events. Some of the topics which will be covered in the training include:

Introducing Monitoring and Evaluation

Developing a Framework for Self Evaluation

Introducing Outcomes

Evaluating Social Capital Outcomes

Approaches to Quality in the Voluntary and Community Sector

Getting the Most from External Evaluation

Developing Data Collection Tools

Analysing Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Reporting and Disseminating Evaluation Findings

Training sessions will be scheduled and held throughout Northern Ireland between October 2006 and November 2008, in conjunction with Umbrella Bodies and Networks. These sessions will be held in venues and at times appropriate for the participants.

HOW WILL IT WORK?

In order to promote the project to its target groups, we will be running a number of information workshops for Umbrella Bodies and Networks. At these we will be providing information about the project, how it will operate and which groups the training is targeting. We will also provide an introduction to some of the modules.

Working in partnership with the Umbrella Bodies and Networks, we anticipate planning and delivering training sessions to which individuals and volunteers working in projects in local areas will be invited. Training sessions will be provided in response to local demand and will be delivered free of charge to participants who meet the projects criteria to ensure those who most need the service receive it.

FURTHER INFORMATION

To find out more about any aspect of this service including details of when events may available in your area, contact Joanne Templeton, Training and Development Officer at CENI on 028 9074 9105 or email joanne.templeton@ceni.org

30th August 2006

CENI Is Moving Premises

From 1st September CENI's new address and contact details will be:

CENI, Unit 5, 127-131 Ormeau Road, Belfast, BT7 1SH

Tel: 028 9074 9105 Fax: 028 9023 5079

5th June 2006

Evaluation Findings of Arts Care's 'Dreams' Art & Health Project Launched

To celebrate the completion of CENI's evaluation of Arts Care's 'Dreams' art and health project, an exhibition of art and the evaluation report were recently launched at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. All groups involved with the project felt that the evaluation conducted by CENI was extremely helpful in providing direct evidence of the benefits of art in a healthcare environment. Lorna Hastings, Director of Arts Care said at the launch that, “over the years we have observed the benefits, on many levels, of arts activities on health and we are delighted that the Dreams evaluation project has backed up these observations”. Noirin McKinney , Arts Development Director at the Arts Council, which was the principal funder of the Dreams art and health project, said, “There has always been plenty of anecdotal evidence to indicate the benefits of art activities on mental, emotional and physical well-being, such as a reduction of anxiety and building of confidence.  However, this important research project now offers us direct evidence, supported by medical professionals, of measurable ways in which art contributes to improving health, and reinforces the value of embedding the arts in healthcare settings.” CENI's evaluation of the project brought to light some useful findings for instance, 95% of those taking part reported that they found the art workshops very enjoyable and that they "helped break up the boredom", as one participant said. 95% of participants said that the workshops had helped make them feel at ease and relaxed, that they had been "good for lifting your mind from other things", and 48% went so far to say that their pain and symptoms were actually relieved. 90% reported improvement in mood, and 93% of medical and surgical patients experienced increased levels of happiness or contentment due to their participation in the art activities. The Dreams exhibition - open to the public until 30th June - features a selection of original prints created during the three year project by patients, staff and community groups associated with the Mater Hospital in Belfast. A team of experienced medical and arts professionals oversaw the project, which included art workshops with the Mater Hospital's Artists in Residence, Beverley Healy and Patricia Lavery and local print maker, Anushiya Sundaralingham.

Pictured at the launch of the research findings of Arts Care's 'Dreams' art and health project at Belfast's Waterfront Hall are (from L-R), Nicola McIldoon, CENI; Beverly Healy, Dreams project co-ordinator; Joanne Kelly, CENI; Lorna Hastings, Director of Arts Care and Evelyn Gilliland, CENI consultant.