The Outdoor Partnership is a community partnership charitable company.
We aim to change lives through outdoor activities and inspire local people to become involved through participation, education, volunteering, and employment to improve health, social and economic well-being.
Formed in 2004 The Outdoor Partnership aimed to address a disconnect in north west Wales where there were limited opportunities for local people to take part in outdoor activities.
Since then, we have worked on numerous programmes and projects that aim to overcome the barriers that exist to local people accessing local outdoor activity provision.
By now, The Outdoor Partnership work to support people across all of Wales and other regions in the UK, to take up outdoor activities as a life-long pursuit.
The Outdoor Partnership was established in 2004 bringing public, private and third sector organisations together to work effectively in the outdoor sector.
The rationale for the Outdoor Partnership was underpinned by research in 2003 undertaken by Bangor University which showed;
- Poor levels of engagement in the sector amongst local people
- Leading to low levels of local employment in the outdoor industry
- And reduced levels of engagement in local communities
- Resulting in low levels of outdoor participation and very few local clubs
Our vision is to enhance people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, improve economic return, including local employment in the sector and increase the social value through participation in activities such as Walking, Cycling, Climbing, Canoeing, Paddle-boarding, Sailing and many more adventurous sports.
Our approach is to focus predominantly on grassroots participation. However, we do work in close partnership with National Governing Bodies (NGB) to provide an effective development pathway for participants and to support the work of the NGBs.
The Outdoor Partnership’s strategic approach envisages a ‘Generational Change’; where engagement with outdoor activities is the ‘norm’ and a regular feature in the lifestyle of the local population.
As a result of the work to date, The Outdoor Partnership and partners have achieved a number of successes and key outcomes, including the establishment of over 100 new community clubs and over 13,000 participants up to 2018.
You can see our full Strategy here:
By 2015, the work of The Outdoor Partnership was recognised as an example of good practise. Our help and expertise was increasingly in demand from other areas in Wales and in 2018 The Outdoor Partnership secured a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund – People and Places, to extend our work to all regions in Wales:
- North Wales
- Mid Wales
- Swansea Bay Region
- Gwent
- Central South Wales
This was followed in 2019 with a grant offer from the The National Lottery Community Fund – UK Portfolio, which allowed us to extended our work to other specific areas in the UK.
England:
- Coastal Cumbria
- North Yorkshire coast
- Plymouth
- Coventry
Scotland:
- Ayrshire
Northern Ireland:
- South east (Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Ards & North Down, Newry, Mourne and Down)
- The Sperrins (ANOB within parts of Causeway Coast & Glens, Derry & Strabane, Fermanagh & Omagh and Mid Ulster)
***** New For 2025 *****
Over the course of 2025 The Outdoor Partnership will be adding a new area within England thanks to additional funding from Sports England.
We have a dedicated Outdoor Activities Development Officer in each region who work on different projects, with local clubs and community groups, schools, individuals, and specialists to increase opportunities for people to achieve their potential through outdoor activities.
We work around six core themes:
