Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Rural Community Development Support Scheme

TADA is one of seven providers awarded this contract to provide local community development support and advice service. DAERA recognises the need to support community development in rural areas. The aims of the Rural Community Development Support Service are:

  • to ensure regional coverage and local delivery of rural community development support across Northern Ireland;
  • to support individuals and communities in rural areas in improving their economic and social sustainability;
  • to support the increased participation of minority communities in border areas in community development;
  • to support rural communities, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders in the face of the restructuring of local government and the reorganisation of public policy and service delivery.

For more information on this please click here.

In 2021/22 we helped 87 groups secure their micro grant, totalling a massive

£108,850.33

Quick Guide To Creating A Outlook E-mail Account

You can create an outlook account for your group by clicking here. Then click “create one!” instead of logging in. You can then complete registeration following the instructions in the slides below. This should act as your email when registering with NI Direct.

Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme (RMCGS)

This Scheme, funded under the Department’s Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI) Programme, offers Micro Capital grants of between £200 and £1,500 to rural community-led, voluntary organisations for projects tackling issues of local poverty and / or social isolation and to assist the recovery and reset of rural communities following the COVID-19 pandemic.

*The following information is subject to change and is based on the grant for 2022/23.*

The RMCGS will typically focus on key themes such as:

  • Modernisation (of existing building(s) / assets)
  • Information & Communications Technology
  • Health and Wellbeing
  • Environmental Improvement/Energy Efficiency

This is subject to change each year to account for things such as COVID-19 and environmental issues.

To be eligible to apply groups must:

  • be a not-for-profit community / voluntary organisation
  • have a constitution/governing document
  • have a specific bank/building society account (with the group’s name)
  • be based in a rural area
  • be able to spend and claim the grant the deadline (usually in early spring of the following year)
  • have a minimum of three people on the management committee
  • have an annual income less than £80,000 (not including in-year restricted funds, e.g. non-business / grant income).

This list is not exhaustive and maybe be added to before the finalisation of the guidance notes.

The Process for applying has totally changed again this year and a new theme of project has been added.

WE VERY STRONGLY ADVISE EVERYONE ATTENDS ONE OF THE PRE-APPLICATION WORKSHOPS BELOW BEFORE STARTING TO APPLY OR SETTING-UP AN ACCOUNT. This is so you have the full information needed on this year’s grant to save confusion now and disappointment later. 

Pre-Application Workshops:

Wednesday 7th September 2022 @ 7:00pm via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82922374371?pwd=cVFZamVHampMZzBTU3lhaE9qVHlFUT09    


Friday 9th September 2022 @ 11:00am via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81803894964?pwd=dmd5VGdZdVBjYjQvWXQrZnBQc3c5dz09

The application this year requires you to have an NI Direct account. We strongly encourage you to use an email account under your group name, when registering with NI Direct, in case your private email already has one. If you are unable to do this then please contact the office and we will assist you with this process.

TADA is also offering one-to-one appointments to assist groups with the DAERA Rural Micro Capital Grant application so feel free to contact the office to book an appointment with a member of our team on microgrants@tadarsn.com or telephone 02838398888

To access the portal, either to register or return to your application/claim, you MUST always use the following link and NOT the NI Direct website: 

https://daera.outsystemsenterprise.com/RMCGS/StartPage

*Please note that this link will not be live until 9AM Monday 5th September 2022*

Application deadline: 12pm Friday 30th September 2022

If you need any support or guidance on eligibility please contact TADA on 02838398888 or email microgrants@tadarsn.com

Click here to see more grants funded under the TRPSI programme.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This