Voluntary Action South Leicestershire (VASL) and Leicestershire Adult Learning Service (LALS)

We have established a strong working partnership since we first worked together in 2018, beginning with the delivery of two personal development learning sessions. VASL received some excellent feedback from those sessions.

Later that year, I delivered two more sessions, and it was clear Rohini and the project staff had great confidence in what I was offering. The sessions supported clients and volunteers in a variety of ways, such as by meeting to learn together in a safe, nonjudgmental environment.

Since 2018, Rohini has also been a regular attendee at the Market Harborough Multi-Agency meeting, which I chair, and which meets three times a year.

In 2019, Rohini approached me to develop an idea for a learning session on reducing plastics, following on from the BBC Blue Planet programme she’d seen. I delivered the session as a pilot for the project and actively encouraged all concerned to provide feedback on what worked and what didn’t, and on how to improve it.

Early in 2020, Rohini and I worked together to develop a self-care learning session, as she had recognised an opportunity to further support the project’s clients and volunteers. As the pandemic struck, this subject proved to be exactly what people needed.

Following this initial self-care session, I have now delivered an adapted version to a wider audience and developed a self-care booklet for Community Managed Library Volunteers who are unable to access online learning.

This way of working in partnership has been instrumental in developing viable, effective learning sessions. It has been invaluable to me, as an Adult Learning Coordinator and Tutor, to work with people who are so open and forward-thinking and who trust me to develop appropriate learning sessions for the Community Champions project.

Jayne Edwards
Leicestershire Adult Learning Service.