Take Part Training

Food in Hindpool. I was a co-ordinator for this project it was run as part of a national project managed by Oxfam and Sustain. The focus was food and health. As a result of this project funding was obtained to fund a full time post for a food co-ordinator running a range of projects identified by the P.A. consultation.

Crime Reduction in Barrow Town Centre. Funded by the Community Empowerment Fund and Barrow Borough Council, this is the project through which I trained as a trainer in 'Regeneration through Community Assessment and Action'. The results were taken forward by the local crime reduction partnership.

Play a Part in Your Future. Managed by the South Whitehaven Partnership, this project focused on how the community wanted to spend Single Regeneration Budget funding. I have recently been informed that this document is still used five years later to guide local delivery of services.

A Piece of the Action. Managed by Groundwork West Cumbria and Cleator Moor Development Ltd. This project involved the community in the design and action planning for the local Parish Plans.

Perceptions. This was a project run by Bromley Drug Action Team and focused on drug use within the black and ethnic communities of Bromley and area. The results have formed a predominate part of the action plan to reduce harm caused by drugs and in particular to improve services for marginalised and hard to reach groups.

Positive Action. Funded by Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust, St. Mary's Hospice and the Cumbria police, this project asked the people of Barrow about the well being of the community with a focus on mental health and ways to improve access to support.

The Learning Train. Funded and managed by Carlisle Housing Association. Asked the community about training and learning needs within South Carlisle, in particular reducing the barriers to accessing courses.

Fresh Tides. A community consultation on a Health Needs Assessment for Wyre PCT and Sure Start Fleetwood. Training a team of agency representatives, Sure Start mums and local residents on accredited P.A. course.

Passing Go. A community consultation project for East Lancashire NHS to find out what children, young people and families want from services such as Health Visiting and School Nursing. This team consulted over 2,000 people in their area.

Take Part Training (P.A.) Ltd. has provided a range of workshops over the past eight years. These courses are customised to the needs of the client and run from one to four days. Here are some examples;

East Lancashire NHS, at Burnley Football Club. A three day workshop on PA methods of consultation.

Town and Country Housing Group, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. A one day P.A. introduction for this charitable housing association on engaging their tenants in decisions.

Cumbria Youth Alliance. Three separate one day introductions delivered in Kendal, Carlisle and Workington.

Vale Royal Borough Council, Cheshire. A three day programme on using PA tools to engage the community in on-going projects.

Care Commission Scotland. A two day course on the use of PA tools to draw out service users needs.

Sunderland Local Enterprise Champions. A two day course on how to use PA tools to consult with long term unemployed people to understand their support needs.

The Hub Events. A one day course delivered in London to Council representatives on Community Engagement through Participatory Appraisal.

The Princes Trust, Staverley. This was a one-day course in the design and use of evaluation tools for use at the end of projects for young people run by the Princes Trust.

The Mersey Basin Campaign. This was a three-day workshop in P.A. methods to consult the community on land use around an area of the Mersey River, based in Manchester. A representative of a similar project in Holland attended.

Greater Manchester Police Authority. This was a four-day course on the use of P.A. tools to engage the community on their views of police policy, in particular the use of the 'stop and search' directive.

Bacup Consortium. A two-day course to give guidance on the use of P.A. tools to consult the community on local service development.

Sunderland Community Champions. This was a one-day workshop, designed to give an overview of the P.A. method and techniques, which can be used to engage local people in community and voluntary work.

South Shields City Council. A one-day introduction to P.A. methods.

NHS Glasgow. A three-day workshop on P.A. as a tool to evaluate and develop local health care services.

Barnardo's Preston A four day workshop to undertake a community consultation on the needs of current and potential service users.

Sure start Penrith. Three day workshop on community engagement on service evaluation.

Furness Enterprise The remit here was to provide a range of half-day courses over a year to long-term unemployed and disaffected people registered with the Furness Enterprise 'Back to Work' programme. The courses were all customised to meet the needs of the groups and included; interview skills, confidence building, team work, personal development, time management, stress reduction, and several one-to-one programmes for individuals recently released from prison.

Feedback following initial six days P.A. Training as part of a six month consultation project. 'Passing Go' Project. East Lancashire PCT

Things they liked:

• Having the Key has helped to make the comments have more meaning and will be very valuable.
• The whole ethos of PA. Meeting and working with new people.
• Working with everyone in the group especially the parents.
• Enjoyed all of it! Interesting to finally pull the pieces together to understand the concept of PA fully.
• Meeting new people and having lots of fun whilst learning. One of the best courses I've ever done!
• Everything. Learning something new, meeting new friends, having fun.
• Liked working as a group.
• All the team work and getting to know everyone so well.
• Learning about the PA tools, designing all the PA tools, designing the key, designing the data-recording sheet.
• Learning new skills.
• Meeting new people, discussions, sharing ideas.

In January 2011 Take Part Training delivered an international programme in the remote district of Kailahun, Sierra Leone. Commissioned by KIK (Kids in Kailahun, a charity based in the U.K.) Brandy delivered a successful six day training and consultation programme to the local people.