ARFOR is a joint venture by Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Anglesey Councils which seeks to use entrepreneurship and economic development to support the heartlands of the Welsh language and, thus, maintain the language.
On 10 October 2022, the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru announced that a further £11 million will be provided for a second phase of ARFOR until the end of March 2025.
The programme will continue to work across Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, to:
Support the communities which are the heartlands of the Welsh language to prosper through economic interventions which will also contribute to increasing opportunities see and use Welsh every day.
Information on the activities of ARFOR's second phase will follow shortly; in the meantime, you can read the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru announcement.
In 2019, following a budget agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru, £2 million was provided to Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Anglesey Councils to trial innovative ways of supporting the economy the heartlands of the Welsh language until March 2021.
Activities included:
Among the results of the Programme's first phase:
More information on the activities and results is available from:
Executive Summary ARFOR Programme Evaluation - Wavehill Ltd., October 2021
Evaluation, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Arfor Programme - Wavehill Ltd., October 2021
Interim report: Developing a strategy for the future - Wavehill Ltd., February 2021
Llwyddo'n Lleol 2050 is one of the ARFOR Programme's projects. With the emigration of families and young people being recognised as one of the main reasons for the decline in the number of Welsh speakers in these strongholds. Llwyddo'n Lleol 2050's aim is to persuade young people and families who are at risk of leaving, or have already left, that having a bright future is possible, with a good job within an exciting field in their native community.
For more information go to Llwyddo'n Lleol 2050
Would you like to know more about the ARFOR Challenge Fund?
The ambition of the ARFOR programme's Challenge Fund will be to explore solutions that strengthen the relationship between Welsh language and economy, and we are looking for schemes that offer to test the following;
The ARFOR Challenge Fund will be open to collaborative applications between any individuals, organisations, community groups or businesses who are prepared to demonstrate an innovative solution to a challenge that exists in their local community.
ARFOR Programme have commissioned the social and economic research company, Wavehill, Ltd. to prepare the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning from ARFOR 2.
The monitoring and evaluation are considered a key part of the programme:
Learning and dissemination are further key elements with the programme seeking to learn more about the connectivity between the Economy and Language. The Arsyllfa_Rural Observatory (a rural think tank looking at the issues facing the Welsh countryside, the rural economy and the communities that form it) acts as the main platform for sharing the learning. Key articles, blogs and research items from the Arsyllfa website can be found here: https://www.arsyllfa.cymru/category/arfor/
The Fund targets commerical, social, cooperative enterprises and Community enterprises that aim to preserve and increase local wealth in areas considered strongholds of the Welsh language, namely Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Caermarthenshire (the ARFOR region).
The Fund is administered by the County Councils.
What's available:
The Fund will support projects that:
As part of the process applicants are required to undertake a language assessment with the Welsh Language Commissioner, and work with the Commissioner to recieve the Cynnig Cymraeg (The Welsh Offer) recognision by December 2024.
For more information and details on the application process in your region, visit (please note the documentation is only availale to download at this time):
Enterprising Communities Guidance (PDF)
