Capacity Building Development Programme for Community Learning

The object of the programme was to deliver a ‘Capacity Building Development Programme for Community Learning’.  The programme was primarily targeted towards members of Voluntary and Community Organisations who were looking to raise funds to run quality learning programmes and/or courses to meet the needs of their learners.  The programme consisted of five workshops which were entitled:

  1. Learner Focus - Identifying the needs of learners using sources of information to evidence a funding bid.
  2. Engaging Stakeholders - Techniques and strategies for researching funding sources for learning and finding project partners and funding sources.
  3. Quality Assurance – Writing quality assurance into the bid.
  4. Writing the Bid – Do’s, don’ts, and bid writing styles.
  5. Project Management and Costing the Bid – Project Management, preparing the budget, identifying income, expenditure and relating it to project outputs/outcomes.

Each of the workshops was reinforced by a one-to-one consultation session to enable delegates to discuss, on an individual basis, their own funding bids, and their progress towards achieving the OCN Level 3 Unit Credits.  Learners were given the opportunity to select their own preferred booking times for their consultation sessions within set parameters and were encouraged to negotiate amongst themselves in the event of a clash of times.

Project Aims/Objectives

  • To develop and design the Capacity Building Development Programme to meet Learning Partnership and OCN requirements, to gain accreditation at Level 3.
  • To recruit 30 beneficiaries to the programme through the use of existing Learning Partnership networks and initiatives as well as other forms of media.
  • To deliver the 5-workshop programme over a 10-week period, each module will be 4 hours in length covering the subjects detailed above.
  • Beneficiaries to receive 1:1 support between each workshop tailored to meet the requirements of their organisations to support them through the assignment work and to aid with the completion of a funding application.

The project was originally advertised to all voluntary and community organisations and training providers based within Bedfordshire and Luton.  Delegates on the three cohorts represented a wide range of organisations throughout the county.  Once the original advertisement was published recruitment was initially very rapid.  The first cohort was filled within 7 working days.  The remaining two cohorts also became very popular and attracted rapid.

By participating in this project all the beneficiaries acquired some of the soft outcomes listed below: 

  • Identified learner needs using sources of information to evidence a funding bid
  • Acquired techniques and strategies for researching funding sources for learning and finding project partners who deliver learning or are involved in learning
  • Incorporating Quality Assurance in a bid
  • Received insight into the ‘buzz words’ which could be incorporated into a bid and an understanding of the style, tone, register and level of presentation that will enhance its chances of success
  • An understanding of the importance of good project management and the careful costing of a bid, including preparing the budget, identifying income, expenditure, capital cost, revenue cost, and relating all of these to project outputs/outcomes

In relation to the process of writing a bid, a review of the freeform comments suggests that the programme had had a considerable impact on the individual proposals that participants were developing for their own organisation.  Learner comments include, “Will incorporate information in to (my) project”, “Good information on structure and content of writing a bid.”, “Useful knowledge gained – understanding costing and differences of capital and revenue costing, the importance of planning and ability to deliver the project, exit strategies and sustainability.”, and “Knowledge gained – pitfalls of under-costing the required funding.”

Contact for this project is:
Mary Ping on 01234 327511 
Email  maryp@newagetraining.co.uk


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