Our story
Egin is a programme that aims to unlock the collective power of communities in Wales to take their first steps towards tackling climate change and living more sustainably – especially those who are the most likely to be affected by climate breakdown.
The word "Egin" means shoots or sprouts in Welsh, and the aim is to help new ideas to generate and take root, empowering communities to come together and talk about the changes they want to see.
Our main focus is on groups who might not normally feel included in conversations around climate and sustainability, yet may be the most impacted by climate change.
With the many challenges we're facing now and in the next few decades, it's more important than ever that communities can come together to talk, plan and create the changes they want to see – to create a future that is fair, sustainable, and that works for everyone.
We know that it can be hard to know where to start and what to do, which is why we connect community groups with Peer Mentors. These are people who have already done similar projects and are happy to share their knowledge and skills to help you make the changes you want to see.
We are particularly keen to hear from groups who have no previous track record of working on climate and sustainability, or who are not sure where to start.
Our organisation, DTA Wales, ran Renew Wales from 2012-2022 and we wanted to build on the wonderful energy we had generated from that. On the other hand, we are conscious that there are thousands of people across Wales who might not have had the chance to engage with climate action - and we want to help them get started!
Egin is led by the Development Trusts Association Wales (DTA Wales) and will run until 2029. It is funded by a Sustainable Steps Wales – Mentoring Grant; the grants are administered by The National Lottery Community Fund and the funding comes from the Dormant Assets Scheme – which donates money left untouched for more than 15 years in bank accounts and building societies.
Our advice
We have just started - however, our previous project, Renew Wales, delivered a lot of lessons! Perhaps you can visit https://egin.org.uk/learn-more/renew-wales/ to find out more.
So far, we are reaching out into communities across Wales with our Facilitators, who are helping us to start conversations with people who normally might not engage with climate change. We hope we'll have plenty of lessons to report back after the first year!
Our metrics
Groups supported by Egin complete an Action Plan and can also use a Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit to measure their impact. Our project itself follows a number of key indicators, including the number of groups supported, how many successfully receive a Sustainable Steps Wales: Egin Grant from The National Lottery Community Fund after support, and the growth of their networks. We are attempting with some groups to measure the amount of carbon sequestered or saved from their project, and we are also collecting qualitative data along the way to create case studies. Our programme partners, Co-Production Network for Wales, will implement a variety of Monitoring and Evaluation measures across the programme.
