In The Know: The National Lottery Community Fund’s Knowledge Team scoop national award

The National Lottery Community Fund’s Knowledge and Learning team has won the esteemed Government Information Group’s (GIG) annual award, recognising the team’s “major contribution” to the vocation of Government knowledge and information management.

The Knowledge and Learning team, headed up by Julia Parnaby and Anne-Mari Hall, researches and shares learning and insight from hundreds of thousands of National Lottery-funded community projects across the UK, supporting communities up and down the country.

This year much of the team’s work has focussed on how community organisations and grassroots groups are responding to the COVID-19 crisis. As the largest funder of community activity in the UK, the Fund has access to a wealth of knowledge and learning on best practice and innovation. It uses this understanding to create and publish insights into a range of critical topics, including loneliness, domestic abuse, and the impact of the pandemic on Black and Minority Ethnic communities.

These insights are shared freely through The National Lottery Community Fund website and organised learning events with voluntary and community sector organisations as well as policy and decision-makers, so they can add to their own understanding and turn new knowledge into action.

Remarking on the award, one GIG judge said they were “impressed” with the Fund’s ambition to ensure its staff “make knowledge part of their work in order to improve knowledge management”, noting this was “not easy to do” but the Fund has “demonstrated many ways they have successfully engaged with this”.

Faiza Khan MBE, Engagement and Insight Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “This is fantastic news and an important recognition of the Fund’s rigorous approach to research and expertise. I want to congratulate our Knowledge and Learning team in particular for their efforts in ensuring what we know is as important as what we fund.

“And by sharing that intelligence I hope we can help more people to find the answers to some of the most difficult questions they and their communities might be facing and, in turn, be in the best possible position to lead the change they want to see.”

Earlier this year, the Fund’s Knowledge and Learning team were “highly commended” in the Henley Forum 2020 Awards - recognising people and teams that are advancing organisational practice and capability in knowledge, learning, change, and innovation.

GIG is part of CILIP - the UK library and information association. Usually, the GIG award would be given out at the annual GKIM (Government Knowledge and Information Management) Conference or its AGM but these events have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

To find out more visit: www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk