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.TrainingA well developed agency, again working with other support organisations canprovide training services to start-up and established social economy enterprisesand their members.Examples include the Certificate in Co-operative BusinessAdministration.(C- CBA).The C-CBA was designed by workers in co-operative andcommunity development to provide the core skills to people writing a businessplan and putting it into action.The course achieved accreditation from theBusiness and Technology Council (BTEC) seven years ago and has since evolvedinto a thorough introduction to running a business.It acts as a means oftesting ideas and building the confidence of potential co-operative andcommunity business entrepreneurs.The C-CBA is also a valuable spawning groundfor co-ops and community enterprises, and as such consistently attracts EuropeanSocial Funding.Recently a training programme (Training for Growth) has beenpiloted with financial support from the Department of Trade and Industry whichaddresses all aspects of the needs of social economy organisations which havebecome established and are ready to undergo an expansion phase in theirdevelopment.ResourcingIt is a major role of a co-operative development agency to lever in resourcesto the local community.Co-operative development agencies have been verysuccessful in obtaining resources from sources such as:Single Regeneration bids: project integration into SRB projects throughproviding the necessary balance of outputs in training and job creation,particularly addressing the reintegration of long term unemployed and otheridentified marginalised groups.European finance: ESF objective 3 provides for measures which assist theunemployed to access employment opportunities or to establish new enterprises.Avariety of special funds can support projects to enhance employment potentialfor disadvantaged groups.The co-op sector in particular has a long andsuccessful record of developing programmes that deliver high quality andinnovative projects on behalf of such groups.Within objective 3 the newpriority funding will provide a means of subsidising the development of mutualsupport and expertise exchange organisations for the social economyCharitable funds: Local development agencies have showninitiative in obtaining support for projects from the various national and localcharities including the National Lottery Charities Board, and have secured fundsfor both in house projects and on behalf of community based organisations.Other sources of funding that have been acessed include the Department ofTrade and Industry, Ministry of Food and Fisheries, Department of Health andSocial Security, National Health Trusts, Co-operative Societies and Trade andEnterprise Councils.Synergy with government strategiesWith its unique combination of social responsibility and enterprise, thesocial economy increasingly finds favour within local, regional and nationalgovernment.In particular the support of the Social Economy has been a strandfocussed on by Regional Development Agencies in their infancy.The communitiesthat will benefit most from such recognition will obviously be those where thereis an infrastructure developed locally for these organisations to work with andthrough.For further information on social economy development, contact AvonCDAInformation sheet developed by Co-operativeAssistance NetworkHome - About ACDA - Contact ACDA - CDA Services - What are co-ops? - Local Co-ops - Co-op Forum - Local Loan Finance (ABCF) - News - Links
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