Area-Based Initiatives (ABIs) are publicly funded initiatives targeted on areas of social or economic disadvantage, which aim to improve the quality of life of residents and/or their future life chances and those of their children.
ABIs may have have one or more of the following features:
- They are aimed at particular geographical areas, or are intended to have a greater impact in some areas or regions than others
- They are managed through regional, sub-regional or local partnerships
- They are intended to support a number of objectives locally, which are the responsibility of more than one Department
- They have been put forward as pilots or pathfinders for programmes that will ultimately be rolled out nationally
However, although policies and programmes aimed at specific areas have made a real difference to the quality of people’s lives – particularly in deprived neighbourhoods – many of them overlap and make competing demands on local partners.
More information on ABIs is available at the ABI Website
