Contribute to the skills debate

You still have an opportunity to give us your perspective on skills needs and training development in the voluntary and community sector. At a very lively and informative session held in NICVA on 4 September a wide range of issues relating to current skills gaps in the voluntary and community sector were discussed.

The debate also focused on future solutions in terms of a more coherent and cohesive way of dealing with skills development issues.

Presentation

Gordon McCullough from NICVA gave an overview the research project funded by the Department for Employment and Learning (and supported by 9 Sector Skills Councils) to an audience of voluntary and community organisations. The research highlighted the main skills gaps and shortages articulated by over 500 voluntary and community organisations as well as examining in more depth the footprints of each of the 9 Sector Skills Councils.

Views of the sector

However, the main reason for the event was to gather the views of representatives from the voluntary and community sector on how they view skills development and potential solutions. The topics that were covered focused on:

• Recruitment
• Alleviating skills gaps
• Accessing training
• Skills development

There was a lengthy discussion that explored of all these issues and more but it is not too late to make a contribution to this debate. We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete a short online survey about your perspectives on skills development in the voluntary and community sector.

The comments from this online survey and those made at the session on 4 September will form an important element of the research and will help flesh out some of the hard data that has already been collected.

This short video outlines the thoughts of the participants who attended the event.

Further information

It is our intention to launch the report in January 2008 so there is still plenty of time to give us your views.

If you require any additional information about this research please contact:

Gordon McCullough
NICVA

t: 028 9087 7777
e: gordon.mccullough@nicva.org

If you require any information on NICVA’s training calendar contact:

Sandra Bailie
NICVA

t: 028 9087 7777
e: sandra.bailie@nicva.org

If you want to find out more about the Sector Skills Councils visit the Skills for Business website for further information.