About Us

Forward South Partnership

Forward South Partnership

Forward South Partnership (FSP) is an independent charity that works with community, schools, business, public and private sector partners to help regenerate and sustain a healthy and prosperous South Belfast. We are part of a citywide structure known as the Belfast Area Partnerships who have led community regeneration initiatives over the past 25 years. We like to think of ourselves as that “one stop shop” — a service that is there to help anyone navigate and link into all the interesting places, spaces, neighbourhoods, assets and services which make up South Belfast.

Our Vision & Mission

Our vision is to have a strong and sustainable community infrastructure which contributes to a healthy, inclusive, connected, and prosperous South Belfast.

Our mission is to empower communities within South Belfast, using a community development approach, to address the need for environmental, social, economic and community regeneration of the area.

Our values reflect our commitment to a community development approach:

Community Empowerment

We believe our role is to support and enable others to make a difference in their own areas.

Social Justice

We believe that there should be fair and equitable access to resources and services for all residents of South Belfast.

Collective Action

We belleve that there Is power in groups and individuals coming together to advocate for change on areas of shared concern.

Equality and Anti-discrimination

We belleve that the diversity of South Belfast Is an asset to be supported and celebrated and that inclusion should underpin all that we do.

Working and Learning Together

We believe that by facilitating collaboration and sharing of expertise we can make a significant contribution to effectiveness of the community infrastructure of South Belfast.

Early Intervention

We believe that by taking appropriate action early, we can prevent problems occurring or address them head on when they do and before they get worse.

Forward South Partnership Board

Forward South Partnership Board is run by the communities of South Belfast and reports to the Charity Commission for N Ireland. We are governed by 5 community people who are elected by the network of over 150 South Belfast local community organisations and 5 Belfast city Councillors elected by the local voters and nominated to our Board by BCC Democratic Services. These 10 local people are our Trustees/Directors who in turn co-opt 5 people from local businesses/ private sector as trustees. Our local statutory services provide 5 observers to the Board.

Community Sector

  • Vacant
  • Heather Carey
  • Tura Arutura
  • Colin Shaw (Treasurer)
  • Helen Crickard (Chair)

Private Sector

  • Michael Graham (Vice Chair)
  • Ryan Rankin (Secretary)
  • Patricia McNeill
  • Roisin Finnegan
  • Jude Copeland

Political Sector

  • Cllr Tracy Kelly
  • Cllr Micky Murray
  • Cllr Gary McKeown
  • Cllr Natasha Brennan
  • Cllr Tara Brooks

Statutory Observers

  • Mary Jo McCullough
  • Paul McCombe
  • Bryan Nelson
  • DfI (Vacant)
  • Ciaran Benson (Temporary)

Forums

As well as the Board, we bring community and statutory organisations together to shape collective action through our South Belfast fora:

Community Support Group

The Community Support Group brings together 15-20 members to speak on behalf of a range of thematic areas of work across South Belfast, both geographically and communities of interest in accordance with Section 75. The collective is democratically elected out of 150 community organisation in South Belfast and is vital in (1) preparing for outcome based accountability aligning with Programme for Government; (2) carrying forward a joint voice for South Belfast and support the process of increasing capacity, collaboration and partnerships across the sector in South Belfast.

Health Forum

As well as above there will be a monthly input to the CSG by the Strategic Health officer to advise and strategically influence the work of the South Belfast Health work in FSP related action plan to tackle health inequalities in South Belfast.