ARFOR PROGRAMME CHALLENGE FUND

Gwynedd Council, on behalf of the councils of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire wish to commission a suitable company or individual/s to undertake the administration and management of the ARFOR Challenge Fund. The ARFOR Board and Officer Group will work closely with the successsful applicant in the design of the scheme and in the decision making process along with Welsh Government.

The work stream will establish a structure to address the need allowing Public sector Organisations; Private Sector Consortiums; Third Sector Organisations to apply for resources to develop and pilot activities that will address the Strategic Objectives of the Programme.

Two parts are envisaged for the Challenge Fund: a) Small Challenge Fund – builds on the experience of the similar challenge funds in the region and further afield to respond to the strategic objectives of the ARFOR Programme by offering support and funding of up to 30,000 pounds to trial ideas quickly and on a small scale (which in turn can lead to applications to the Large Challenge Fund). Beneficiaries of the Fund will also receive practical support and training in the process of innovation. b) Large Challenge Fund – a flexible fund that will offer funding to organizations individually or jointly to develop and implement plans responding to the strategic objectives of the ARFOR Programme and the Regional Challenges faced. The plans can be active within one single county, a combination of the counties or the ARFOR area as a whole. It is anticipated that plans for the Fund will be around 100,000 pounds on average. The scheme will be active across the four counties and will be managed regionally by the lead authority with input from all the counties.