Reflecting on our successful second year
Community Chesterfield is reflecting on a successful second year after exceeding targets despite changing to a remote delivery model.
The project, which has provided a key support network for the voluntary and community sector during the pandemic, has delivered almost 1,000 training hours in the last 12 months alone, benefitting individuals from more than 100 organisations.
Delivery of the training programme is one of the elements that has thrived throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to move training sessions online, as well as being responsive to community need has allowed Community Chesterfield to deliver a number of remote training courses throughout the year.
Through its training programme, the project - a National Lottery funded partnership between Derbyshire Voluntary Action (DVA) and University of Derby - aims to strengthen the voluntary and community sector in Chesterfield, increasing its resilience and upskilling staff and volunteers.
Topics covered in the training have included Leadership Skills Training, Corporate Partnerships for Social Change, An Introduction to Mindfulness and Cultural Awareness.
Training is free to anyone working at or volunteering for a third sector organisation in Derbyshire that helps people in Chesterfield, as well as staff and students from University of Derby who have a connection to Chesterfield.
Kate Burns, skills co-ordinator at Community Chesterfield, said: “One of our key aims here at Community Chesterfield is to facilitate transfer of knowledge between University and voluntary and community sector organisations. One way this has thrived during the pandemic is by moving our training online. This move has undoubtedly encouraged attendance and seen our training figures flourish.
“We have tried our best throughout the year to make the online events as accessible as possible, ensuring that members of the team are at hand to offer technical support where needed. In addition, we constantly gather feedback to enable us to tailor our subjects and the format of our training to the needs of our community groups – something we are extremely passionate about.”
After assessing the need based on conversations and feedback from groups, Community Chesterfield also added in a provision for e-learning courses, which can be completed at the learners own pace, as well as the project’s popular Training and Tea model - a series of 45-minute long sessions at a regular day and time slot.
Kate added: “By providing community and voluntary groups with the training they want and need, we are in a strong position to be able to strengthen the skills of the local workforce in this sector, enabling them to be more resilient in the future.”
Other areas that Community Chesterfield’s work has thrived during the pandemic is through creating ‘meaningful connections’ between voluntary and community sector organisations and the University, where the activity organised brings benefits to both.
These meaningful connections have included Expert by Experience sessions, which have seen the project connect individuals from voluntary and community sector groups with University staff and students to share their lived experience on topics including visual and hearing impairment, medications management and informal care.
Charlotte Repton, project manager at Community Chesterfield, said: “We are so incredibly proud of our achievements over the last 12 months. As a pilot project, in many ways we find ourselves in a strong position to be able to try new ways of delivery our services and the approaches we take to do this.
“However, the pandemic forced us to move our training online but despite having to adapt quickly to this new way of working, it has exceeded our expectations and the feedback has been amazing. We’re very much looking forward to continuing our work within the voluntary and community sector in Chesterfield and seeing the opportunities continue to grow and evolve.”
For more information about Community Chesterfield’s training offering, visit our training page.