Learning at Work Project:
Lessons on Building Community Capacity

Through the National Literacy Secretariat and Saskatchewan Learning, the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board (SLFDB) supported eleven pilot projects to create essential workplace skills training partnerships.

Models for Training :

• partnerships given the small workplace nature of the province
• community ownership of planning and delivery mechanism to ensure local needs are met
• both specific and general training offerings to meet client needs
• workplace-based training to ensure relevance and a variety of delivery mechanisms

Capacity Building…

• begins with public awareness which creates the climate necessary to implement a pilot/demonstration project
• continues with a pilot/ demonstration project that is successful in meeting community needs, thereby creating more public awareness around the issues relating to essential workplace skills and identifying local champions
• depends on the local champions promoting the benefits of essential workplace skills training, increasing public awareness, building partnerships, helping to assess local needs, and enlarging the scope of essential workplace skills training
• ensures the spiral of activity increases which makes sustainability possible.

Some of the Capacity Building Pilot Projects in Saskatchewan are :

• Small Workplace “soft skill training” - Tisdale Chamber of Commerce, Town of Tisdale, Cumberland Regional College

• Off-site and on-site skill training models - READ Saskatoon, Operating Engineers of Saskatchewan, Wavecom Electronics

• Applied Mathematics for Trades - Yorkton Tribal Council and Parkland Regional College

• American Sign Language Training - CUPE 1975, CUPE National and University of Saskatchewan

• Using knowledge gained in helping people with disabilities to apply computer training to a rural audience - Learning Disabilities Association of Regina and Sask Agriculture and Food

For more information on the Learning at Work Project, contact : SLFDB, 202-2222 13th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3M7,Tel. (306) 352-5999 or 1-800- 394-3899, Fax (306) 757-7880, slfdb@slfdb.com http://www.slfdb.com/

[This article was reprinted with permission, from the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board Newsletter, August 2002.]

Literacy Nova Scotia is seeing double ! Since November 2002, the LNS has doubled its staff, welcoming a new Program Coordinator, as well as a new Learner Coordinator and a Communications Coordinator.

The Learner Coordinator, Jayne Rethy manages the Learn Line, the tollfree number that provides information about adult upgrading and answers to other literacy inquiries. It also focuses on a project to initiate local and regional networking, and providing training opportunities for learners. Learners will be asked about their interests in public speaking, participation in meetings and leadership. A support plan for learners and a campaign to promote the Learn Line is also being developed.

The Communications Coordinator has developed a completely new image for the coalition in conjunction with our transfer in name from the Nova Scotia Provincial Literacy Coalition to Literacy Nova Scotia. A new logo representing the coalition and its mission is featured on promotional materials such as a newsletter, brochure, and business cards. These tools will help to increase awareness of the coalition and of literacy in the community.

Our Program Coordinator has organized professional development sessions for community-based literacy organizations. The need for increased professional development opportunities for literacy providers was identified, and as a result, LNS has offered eleven PD sessions this winter and spring. Plans for yearly PD sessions have also been made.

Family Literacy Day, January 27, kept the LNS busy distributing various promotional materials to over 30 community-based literacy organizations across the province. We expect to remain as active as the communications and learner developments continue, professional development sessions are held. Most recently the LNS bursary and Scholarships were awarded. The LNS bursary and scholarship awards three $500 bursaries and two $1500 scholarships each year to students in adult learning programs and those who have moved on to university or college after participating in an upgrading program. The 2003 winners are: Laurie Boudreau & Barbara Young (Scholarships), and Sherry Lynn Clorey, Lynne Rushton & Diane Simmons (Bursary Awards).

Check out the LNS on the NALD website
http://www.nald.ca/PROVINCE/ns/literacyns/index.html

For more information:
Literacy Nova Scotia
PO Box 1516, Truro NS B2N 5V2