University of Glasgow Activate Course

The Volunteer Participation Project at Streetlinks is running a fantastic training event that will enable volunteers to participate in the University of Glasgow Activate Course.  This is a 50 hour learning programme that is made up of 40 hours learning in a group setting and 10 hours conducting a community investigation. A mixed age group will participate in this from 15 to 69 years, which all helps to encourage shared learning experiences.

This will be run over the months of November to January. 18 volunteers have made the commitment to attend the course and  we have another 2 places available. If you’re interested in participating,  have a look at the events page for times dates and place of course and then contact janette@comlinks.org.uk

More information on the course from the University of Glasgow website:

This is a foundation course in community development which is run in partnership with local community organisations.

Key features:

• - Building on the experience of volunteers and activists in your community, the Activate course is a way of developing community capacity by giving participants the opportunity to reflect on their practice in the light of basic community work values and principles
• - Flexible local delivery of this 50 hour course ensures that it is accessible for the people your organisation is working with
• - The specific learning on the programme can be tailored to the needs of the particular group
• - The teaching and learning is informal and participative and yet challenges participants to think more deeply about the work they are doing and how they can contribute to the development of their community.

Key concepts:

• - What is community work?
• - Values and principles of community work/CLD
• - Power and participation (including influencing decision-makers)
• - Local – global issues.

Practice approaches:

• - Learning for change
• - Identifying needs
• - Group work
• - Dealing with conflict
• - Evaluation.