Sustainability courses for communities and organisations

Changeworks has just released 26 new dates for 14 dif­fer­ent train­ing courses that can help com­munit­ies and organ­isa­tions become more sustainable.

They range from prac­tic­al tech­niques such as Communicating Climate Change, to tech­nic­al issues such as an Introduction to Hard to Treat Homes. Take a look at the Changeworks web­site for a full list of courses and dates.

Courses cost from £99 + VAT, but if you apply for sup­port from Skills Development Scotland or the Low Carbon Skills Fund, you can get 50% refun­ded (see below). Please note that the dead­line for both funds is 31 March 2011.

1. Flexible Training Opportunities funding from Skills Development Scotland

This fund­ing gives organ­isa­tions with under 150 employ­ees the oppor­tun­ity to apply for up to £5,000 towards employ­ee train­ing costs. Funding is avail­able for up to 10 employ­ees per busi­ness and the money is not a loan so there’s no need to pay it back. SDS will refund 50% of the cost of up to 10 train­ing courses with a max­im­um value of £500 per course. And it’s flex­ible, so 10 employ­ees can do one course each, or one employ­ee can do 10 courses, with any com­bin­a­tion in between.

Click here to find out more. For advice on how to apply, call free on 0800 783 6000

2. Low Carbon Skills Fund from Asset Skills Scotland

The Low Carbon Skills Fund is avail­able to any employ­er with few­er than 250 staff with­in Asset Skills’ foot­print, which includes hous­ing, prop­erty, facil­it­ies man­age­ment, sur­vey­ing and energy advice, to access a 50% refund against the cost of train­ing in any aspect of low car­bon technology/energy efficiency/microrenewables. Up to 25 train­ing ses­sions can be fun­ded per employ­er. The train­ing must be com­plete by 30 June 2011 and applic­a­tions must be received by 31 March.

For fur­ther inform­a­tion about the Low Carbon Skills Fund, click here. In order to apply for the 50% refund, please in the first instance con­tact Tim Pogson.