Welcome

Valuing Learning ? Strengthening Communities is a European Social Fund EQUAL Development Partnership, established in 2004 and based in Cardiff, that aims to encourage disadvantaged adults and young people to take part in learning through opportunities in the voluntary and community sectors. The EQUAL Programme is administered by the Welsh Assembly Government?s European Funding Office (WEFO).

As the capital city, Cardiff is the main engine for economicgrowth in Wales. However, despite its general prosperity, there issignificant evidence that local employers are dissatisfied with thecurrent skills level of the workforce. This problem is reflected inboth the local voluntary and community sectors, where there is anacute shortage of skilled community workers. We aim to addressthese issues directly during the lifetime of this project.

How do we aim to do this?

• By helping the voluntary and community sector support learningneeds of those who have traditionally found it difficult to accesslearning opportunities.
• By providing opportunities for people to develop the genericskills required by local and national employers
• By providing a route to qualifications, which could lead tovoluntary or paid employment in the voluntary and communitysectors.
• By developing and testing potential generic quality assurancearrangements and criteria needed to enable learning for purposesother than accreditation.
• By testing potential means of recording learning gained forpurposes other than accreditation.
• By using different types of assessment tools, such as TheRickter Scale®, Catching Confidence, Reflect-Action and RARPA in away that is compatible with Lifelong Learning Wales Record and theCredit and Curriculum Framework for Wales.

Who are our target groups?

• men and women, in black and minority ethnic communities
• people 50+
• disaffected young people
• women with mental health difficulties
• men and women on low incomes

Although these initiatives will be developed in Cardiff, it isour aim to make the resulting models available to otherorganisations in Europe. With this in mind, we are working withdifferent Development Partnerships across Europe to create new andinnovative approaches to learning. Our transnational partnershipaims to develop processes that complement the aims of theindividual partners and ultimately, provide a basis for developmentwithin Wales, the United Kingdom and European Union.

Valuing Learning ? Strengthening Communities

Who are the partners in Valuing Learning - StrengtheningCommunities?

• Fairbridge De Cymru
• NIACE Dysgu Cymru
• South Riverside Community Development Centre
• Voluntary Action Cardiff
• Women?s Workshop
• WorkersEducational Association South Wales