Training Courses for Staff and Tenants

This short course will help you to:

- Recognise the importance of effective communication
- Describe how to structure a report/presentation
- Identify tips to increase confidence in communicating

Community Capacity Building Level 1 covers a range of topics providing a solid foundation on which to grow your community development skills. The course includes:

- Committee development to include forming effective teams, planning and conducting meetings, people skills
- Fundraising to include planning a fundraising project, managing funds, monitoring and evaluation
- Communication to include improving communication skills, dealing with the media, communicating your message effectively
- How to approach and influence decision-makers, effective lobbying
- Conflict management, conflict resolution, dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour, and negotiation skills

Progressing on from Level 1, this course will delve more deeply into the practical skills you need. The course will include several written assignments with workshops to assist participants to complete them.

Participants will work together to:

- Identify and plan a community project
- Develop a monitoring and evaluation process
- Design a marketing strategy for your project

The Level 3 in the CCB series looks at community groups from a more strategic level. Participants who successfully complete this course will be able to progress on to an Ulster University degree course if they choose, even if they do not have any other previous qualifications.

This course will enable participants to:

- Understand what is required to maintain and renew an organisation’s volunteer resources
- Understand the process of strategic planning
- Understand what is necessary for a governing body to meet its responsibilities
- Know what is required to maintain and report on key financial documents
- Understand the process of developing beneficiary led programmes
- Know what is required to complete an effective funding application
- Understand the importance of impact measurement within the Third Sector
- Understand the purpose and function of a social enterprise

This accredited course is targeted towards those who have an idea for a business and want to take it forward.

The course will cover:

- The philosophy and impact of your social enterprise
- Introduction to market research - knowing your markets
- Financial projections and potential for growth
- Organisational and legal structures
- An introduction to business planning
- Finance and investments

This short course will help you conduct more effective meetings. You will learn to:

- Understand the importance of meetings.
- Plan and conduct meetings
- Understand the role of chairperson
- To recognise the importance of decision making

This short course is specifically designed for constituted residents or community groups and includes the following:

- Overview of the Code of Good Governance and the key principles
- Discussion of your current provision around good governance and identify how the Code can improve this.
- Identify useful resources for your group
- Highlight the importance of meetings
- Describe how to plan and conduct meetings

This course is designed to look at good governance for your tenant engagement structure. The aims and objectives of the session are:

- To understand the roles associated with your tenant engagement approach
- To help you improve your skills and knowledge of good governance
- To understand the terms of reference for the engagement approach
- To highlight the role of chairperson/vice Chairperson
- To understand the key features of an effective meeting

This short course will enable you to:

- Have a clear understanding of what 'good relations' means and how it relates to housing
- Understand the policy context surrounding good relations in Northern Ireland
- Have an increased knowledge of sectarianism in Northern Ireland, and increased confidence when dealing with these issues
- Be able to promote and further develop good relations

This basic awareness session will help you to:

- Understand what is ASB?
- Identify who is responsible for dealing with ASB
- Identify methods and models used to seek to resolve ASB

Get a handle on why and how you should monitor and evaluate your groups work. Learn to:

- Identify the benefits of measuring your work
- Identify steps involved in measuring success
- Provide insight into methods for measuring your work

This course is designed to prepare tenant mystery shoppers for a specific mystery shopping exercise. Participants will:

- Understand their role as a mystery shopper
- Be clear about the service areas to be examined; and
- understand how information is to be recorded

A generic mystery shopping session can also be provided.

This short course has been designed to assist tenants who are required to provide reports to their landlord as part of their engagement role. By the end of the session, tenants will know how to:

- Prepare reports that inform, persuade, and provide information
- Review work so that it is clear, concise, complete, and correct
- Apply these skills as part of their engagement role

This one-off session is designed to increase basic awareness of social enterprise and give participants an introduction to the development of business income streams. Find out what we mean by social enterprise and how this type of business functions.

You will:

- Understand the purpose and function of a social enterprise
- Be aware of a range of social enterprises
- Recognise the challenges and opportunities

This short course will get you working together in no time! We will:

- Identify the characteristics of an effective team.
- Acknowledge the importance of good leadership; and
- Apply information and techniques to improve team efficiency.

This course looks at the intersection of tenant participation and community development. It is suitable for those working in social housing as well as community workers that engage with social housing providers.

This course will ensure participants are able to:

- Understand what tenant participation is
- Understand the policy context within the UK
- Have a knowledge of the tenant participation requirements in Northern Ireland
- Be aware of the range of approaches to tenant participation
- Understand the components of a good tenant participation strategy
- Understand what community development is
- Have a knowledge of the different approaches to community development
- Understand the community development process
- Be aware of the governance requirements
- Understand the links between tenant participation and community development

What is scrutiny? Gain an awareness of this practice and what is involved in participating on scrutiny panel. This short course will help you to:

- Understand how scrutiny has evolved
- Understand the role of scrutiny
- Understand how scrutiny fits within the housing context
- Understand your role within scrutiny panels
- Provide an overview of a typical scrutiny exercise

This accredited course will help you to:

- Understand the purpose and function of a social enterprise
- Be aware of a range of social enterprises
- Recognise the challenges and opportunities for the development of social enterprises

This course is designed for tenants interested becoming board members. It gives an awareness level understanding of what it means to be a Tenant Board Member and the responsibilities attached to the role.

We will cover:

- The benefits of Board membership
- Roles and responsibilities of being a board member
- Skills & knowledge needed to participate as an effective board member