Barnardo's CANDL Project

Barnardo's Church and Neighbourhood Development in London (CANDL) project was established in 1988 with the aim of improving the quality of life for children, young people and families in disadvantaged parts of east and south London, by providing hands-on consultancy and training to local church groups developing community initiatives.

Barnardo’s believes that all children and young people have a fundamental right to be a part of communities, groups and activities which enrich them. A sense of belonging in the community is one of the six “building blocks” Barnardo’s identifies as making up a happy, healthy childhood.

CANDL operates in the belief that churches have a significant role to play in actively striving for equality of opportunity, justice and peace across society as a whole and, specifically, within their local communities. Many local churches are key providers of grass-roots services for children, young people and families such as supplementary schools, carer and toddler groups, welfare advice and holiday playschemes.

"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness"

Downloadable guides (in pdf format)

CANDL - Who we are and what we do (PDF, 1.4MB) - a brochure of CANDL's services is available. It's a 34-page document describing our project and how we can help.

LAtest resource: CANDL Quality Mark (PDF, 278KB) - an organisational 'health check' to help you get the basics in place for running your project effectively.

Evaluation of CANDL: Barnardo's Policy & Research Unit carried out an evaluation of our work for our 'Coming of Age' year 2006. Download here (PDF, 300KB) if you would like to read it.