Upskilling the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector

With 4,500 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and one in three adults doing some kind of voluntary work, it is vital to ensure that people working in this sector have access to the skills and knowledge they need to help vulnerable people.

£573,000 from the European Social Fund and the Education and Skills Funding Council has been invested in improving the skills of the 21,000 staff working in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector which is worth £480 million to the local economy.

The aim of the Upskilling the VCSE project is to help VCSE staff to improve their skills and knowledge so they can better support young people, the long-term unemployed and those who find it difficult to gain employment, for instance people with disabilities, mental health issues, ex-offenders, homeless people and people over 50, into employment. This has included identifying ways of increasing volunteering as a route back to work or as a method of developing new skills.

The project has been led by the Learning Partnership for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly which has been working with a wide range of partners to support VCSE staff. These include Penwith Community Development Trust, Real Ideas Organisation, School for Social Entrepreneurs, V Learning Net, Volunteer Cornwall, Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change, Young People Cornwall and the Safer Stronger Consortium.

“VCSE sector organisations are at the heart of reaching and engaging positively with the people ESF funding aims to help,” said Louisa Jenkins, Senior Contract Manager at The Learning Partnership for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.

“It is important that people working and volunteering within the sector are able to access the skills and knowledge they need. This project has enabled us to put building blocks in place to improve the resilience of these organisations. This is even more important at time when the sector is being placed under increased pressure due to the reduction in public sector spending.”

 One of the organisations supported by the project has been Face2Face, a befriending service which links parents and carers of children with additional needs and disabilities with local parent befrienders, all of whom are parent or carer to a child with additional needs.  Among the activities run by the group are Oasis drop in groups in Mid and West Cornwall for parents, carers and siblings of a disabled child.

The charity was previously supported by Scope, but when this funding ended at the end of March 2018, a small group of dedicated volunteers agreed to take on the running of the service so that the work could continue.

The group has been supported by Volunteer Cornwall which provided training in areas such as safeguarding for trustees and managers, fund raising, project and information management, and managing volunteers.

“The opportunity to participate in a range of training courses with Volunteer Cornwall, funded by ESF, has enabled us as an inexperienced group of volunteers at the very beginning of our journey as trustees of a charity, to obtain the necessary skills and knowledge we needed to go forward in running a successful charity,” said Leanne Moreton Friends of Face2face Cornwall.

“The training was very well presented and Volunteer Cornwall were very supportive.  None of this would have been possible without ESF as we would not have had the funds to be able to participate. It has been a lifeline for us and we are extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to receive it.” 

Marianne Wright, from Volunteer Cornwall, has been hugely impressed by the hard work and commitment of the group.  “Although they had a lot of experience of being a befriender and in fundraising activities, none of them had been a trustee before. They were a little fearful of what it may entail and wanted to make sure that they were doing it right.

 “They have been constantly asking for more learning to support them to manage the charity — but not just any learning as they have busy lives and the training needs to be relevant to what they need. Even though they may not have done any learning for 40 years or perhaps have learning difficulties they have not shied away from the challenge of learning new skills. It has been a huge privilege to have been able to inspire them to continue their learning and gain self belief in their abilities as they realise that they have a great deal of knowledge to share.”

Another group benefiting from the project has been the Newlyn Trinity Methodist Church centre. As well as being a faith organisation the church operates The Centre, a multi-purpose community centre in Newlyn which provides advice and support to local people in areas such as health, education, employment and training, as well as providing pastoral support to vulnerable people within the community as part of the Community Chaplain scheme. Open six days a week, The Centre is used by more than 2,500 local people each month.

The group has been supported by the Penwith Community Development Trust which has used European Social Funding to enable five members of the church to access specific courses in education and training, information, advice and guidance, drugs awareness and mental health support.

As a result of this training The Centre is now developing new information technology workshops, including ‘Ebay for Beginners’ and ‘How to use Price Comparison Websites’, which has helped to improve the financial sustainability of members of the community. The Drugs Now course was completed by the church’s Community Chaplain who said that, as a result of increasing her skills and knowledge of new drugs, trends and issues, including the supply and use of legal highs, she was now better equipped work with the vulnerable members of the community.

“The training has enabled the church to meet the needs of the local community, and has assisted in keeping the skills and knowledge of staff and volunteers current,” said Jerry Drew from the Newlyn Centre.

 Tracy Waters from Penwith Community Development Trust added, “Providing bespoke training to these small groups is really powerful in helping them to develop their skills and resources in order to meet the needs of local people. We have used the VCSE funding flexibly in order to support groups with training specific to their individual and collective needs.”