The Community Development Team is a small group of dedicated, friendly and professional people that are part of FIS's Capacity Building Team. The aim of the Community Development Team is to support and enhance the work of existing and new community groups offering welfare and advice services to the Irish community throughout Britain.

We work with a variety of organisations from volunteer lunch club providers to large welfare organisations. Examples of the areas we work in include elders, health, advice and information services, Irish travellers, and housing associations. We offer advice and support on all aspects of the work undertaken by these groups, including such areas as:

• developing new services or expanding existing services
• governance
• fundraising
• effective financial management
• implementing policies and procedures
• recruitment and employment
• marketing services and raising awareness of the community, etc.

We also support affiliates to develop partnerships and collaborative working arrangements with other Irish groups and organisations across the wider community.

The ethos underpinning all our work is to assist organisations to improve themselves which means we work in collaboration with the groups to achieve the developments and changes they would like.