Brighton & Hove Learning Partnership and Sussex Consortium of Community & Voluntary Sector Learning Providers received funding from the Learning & Skills Councils (LSC) Widening Adult Participation Action Fund (WAPAF) to run a two year project that aimed to 1.Increase the number of new and innovative learning opportunities available that provide visible pathways of progression for learners. (With IAG and additional work around study skills embedded into these.) 2.Develop quality driven community and voluntary sector led courses in consultation with the learner and other learning providers. 3.Build the capacity of community and voluntary sector organisations to provide quality learning opportunities.

Cupp provided match funding to this project which allowed for additional research time to be spent working with the target groups for the project, namely older people, young people, residents of New Deal for Communities or Neighbourhood Renewal areas and those with low levels of numeracy and literacy.

The extra time provided further opportunities for these learners to contribute to the development of the community and voluntary sector and aid course adaptation to increase participation rates. The increased research element also enabled participating organisations to show the LSC the value of community based and non accredited learning and its true potential cost and lobby the LSC to sustain funding for community based learning.

Project partners

Brighton and Hove Learning Partnership Learning Partnerships were set up in early 1999 to promote collaboration between schools, Further Education, work-based learning and adult and community learning. The core roles for Learning Partnerships are to promote provider collaboration in support of lifelong learning and maximise the contribution of learning to local regeneration.

Sussex Consortium of Community & Voluntary Sector Learning Providers The Sussex Voluntary & Community Sector Learning Consortium is a group of voluntary & community organisations who share an interest in promoting learning opportunities. Action in Rural Sussex is a member of and the lead organisation for the Learning Consortium.

The Learning Consortium exists to: •Research existing provision and gaps within the voluntary and community sector, in order to identify particular training that the sector is best placed to deliver •Raise awareness within voluntary and community organisations about the requirements and responsibilities of being a training provider and assist them to develop the management and quality systems required to deliver training •To work with voluntary and community organisations to access funds for mainstream provision, to meet training and learning needs and efficiently manage those funds into provider organisations

Education Policy and Evaluation Unit, University of Brighton The Education Policy and Evaluation Unit (EPEU) is based in the Education Research Centre at the University of Brighton. The Unit was established in 2001 and is dedicated to the independent research and evaluation of education practice, initiatives, products and policies. The Unit works with a wide variety of education and health clients, from local authorities, partnerships and private companies, to national organisations with wide reaching responsibility. They work on projects of all sizes, from simple, small-scale independent telephone surveys to complex, large-scale public surveys with detailed analysis and public presentation of the findings.