About Us

The Training Development Service offers voluntary and community organisations across Norfolk the following services:

  • Help with analysing the training and development needs of voluntary and community individuals and organisations;
  • The Portfolio Broker Service, matching organisational and individual learning needs with training places. The Broker Service holds a database of both local and national training courses;
  • Portfolio Training Digest, a quarterly digest which promotes sector specific courses and training issues to over 1,200 organisations and individuals.
  • Details of all training providers in the county, including Further Education Colleges and private companies offering courses suitable for voluntary and community organisations;
  • One-off courses on subjects that arise from the identified needs of local organisations;
  • Events that provide networking opportunities and learning in order to build networks and partnerships;
  • New methods of learning that may be more accessible to smaller organisations such as job shadowing and study visits;
  • Bursaries to enable voluntary organisations to pay for training and conferences.

The Training Development Service promotes and supports the development of learning for the voluntary sector through:

  • Developing and facilitating a county wide network of training providers and voluntary and community organisations who meet regularly to share experiences and good practice and develop cross sector partnerships to address the training needs of the voluntary sector;
  • Research into the training and development needs of the voluntary and community sector. Examples have been the development of a professional qualification for managers within the voluntary sector, The Voluntary Sector Institute of Professional Development, Equal Opportunities, and a Basic Skills Open Learning centre;
  • A voice on strategic learning partnerships across the county;
  • Encouraging groups of all sizes to become learning organisations that recognise the importance of investing in organisational development and the skills base of their people.