67 Educators providing Personal Development courses in Comber delivered Live Online

kilcooley women's centre

Kilcooley Women's Centre, is currently based in Balloo, Bangor and has provided services for women in North Down since 1995. KWC adopts the principles of COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING to improve the economic outcomes for the borough of Ards North Down through collaboration. The Women's Centre is a key player within the wider Kilcooley area and works collaboratively with other agencies towards improved outcomes for all residents of the estate, with a particular focus on early intervention programmes and projects to address educational underachievement and poor health and wellbeing outcomes. As the only women's centre serving Ards/North Down and unique in Co Down, where possible we offer outreach training to smaller towns and villages in the Borough. On 2nd June 2017, HM Queen Elizabeth announced in the London Gazette that she had awarded the centre the 'Queens Award for Voluntary Service' in recognition of the service to the community from 1995. The Centre has been acknowledged as a valuable asset within the community and has developed a diverse range of services to meet the identified needs of women, children and their families living within the Kilcooley and wider Ards & North Down area. Local women are involved in the staffing and management of the centre. Kilcooley Women's Centre is a key provider of training, health awareness, childcare and young women's activities and leads on community based education in the area. The Centre currently operates out of various sites, each one offering a welcoming environment, where local women can engage in a wide portfolio of activities, including training and education, programmes for young women aged 16-24, employability skills, health and wellbeing programs, peace and reconciliation activities, arts programs and personal development programs to build skills, confidence and self-esteem. To work towards self sustainability in a climate of austerity and reduced grants and funding, KWC is working towards a social economy business model as a trading arm. The centre operates a regional programme across the Ards North Down and Peninsula area, working from Holywood, the gateway to Co Down to the tip of Portaferry at the most distant part of the peninsula. This work links urban and rural, crosses the different community and social divides and has developed a positive proactive working partnership with the Co Down Rural Network linking towns and villages. The partnership considers collaboration and transfer of innovation, experience and sharing of resources, skills and expertise is the way forward for women, children and families residing or working in the Ards North Down region. Within the centre, we operate a childcare project called Ladybirds Childcare Services, which is registered with the South Eastern Trust Early Years Team for full-time day care. We offer 'Jellie Tots' baby room for the 0-2 year olds and 'Smarties' pre-nursery for 2-4 year olds preparing for their nursery year or transition to P1. Ladybirds Childcare offers affordable childcare to assist women engaged in training or in the transitional period into employment, respite as crisis intervention for vulnerable families and a not-for-profit affordable childcare programe. The centre links with 14 regional women's centres in Northern Ireland through a close working relationship with Women's Support Network (WSN) the umbrella group for Women's Centres NI, who represent our views on the Department for Communities sponsored 'Women's Regional Consortium' which provides a one stop shop information and policy service for women in disadvantaged communities across NI. KWC also co-operates with other regional, national and European partners. KWC are keen to form collaborative and partnership approaches to service delivery to share services and support to deliver value for money and maximise any funding the centre is awarded. We welcome and encourage any woman to contact us or call into the centre and speak to one of our staff about how we could assist you. Opening hours to the public are 9.00am - 4pm Monday to Thursday and 2pm on Fridays, but the phones are manned from 8.15 a.m. We are closed public holidays and for staff training on occasion.

belfast met

Belfast Met is the largest Further and Higher Education College in Northern Ireland and one of the largest in the UK. We have developed a dynamic new curriculum which mirrors the priority growth areas identified for Northern Ireland as this is where future jobs will be created. Through our partnerships with industry, we constantly adapt our curriculum to meet the skill demands of our economy. We provide a unique breadth of education and training at every level and have designed a portfolio of courses to address a variety of skill needs – from apprenticeship and Level 1 courses, to those undertaking degrees and post-graduate study. Coupled with this is our commitment to ensuring that our students have access to opportunities which will enhance their employability and job-ready skills. Our focus for the future is to support the development of Belfast by providing education, training and skills development to enhance individual, community and economic prosperity. Over the next three years we will sustain and improve our responsiveness to learners, employers and communities. The College has already built an excellent reputation with employers for offering relevant, high quality learning. We will build on this by focusing on developing long-term mutually beneficial partnerships and becoming recognised as an expert in key and emerging growth areas. Working in partnership, we will increase participation, progression, attainment and skill levels of all our students.

belfast exposed

Promoting and encouraging excellence, enhancing the reputation of local photographers internationally, bringing the best of world photography to Belfast.Founded in 1983 by a group of local photographers as a challenge to media representation of the city’s experience of conflict, our work continues to reflect a socially engaged ethos, while responding to contemporary currents in photography and politics further afield.

construction employers federation

Representing the interests of approximately 800 member companies, we are the sole certified representative body for the construction industry in Northern Ireland. The Construction Employers Federation (CEF) is the "Voice of the Industry". The CEF is the sole certified representative body for the construction industry in Northern Ireland. We represent approx 70% of construction in NI and around 800 businesses of all sizes employing over 30,000 staff directly and and 65,000 in the wider supply chain. CEF is the Voice of the Industry in NI on the Construction Leadership Council, BuildUK and the Procurement Board. We promote best practice and procedures in construction procurement. The CEF offers a multi-discipline advice service to its members on all aspects of the construction industry The construction industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in Northern Ireland and makes a significant contribution to the local economy. It is therefore essential to have an effective organisation to represent the industry. The CEF fulfils this role. With over 800 members large and small, we speak as the authoritative voice for construction employers. We provide strong and effective lobbying to government and client bodies. Through membership of the CEF you will gain recognition in the eyes of the government, clients and the public at large.

imagine! belfast festival of ideas & politics

The 8th Imagine! Belfast Festival proved to be a successful offering involving 147 events and 359 speakers & performers during 21-27 March 2022. The eclectic week of talks, workshops, theatre, poetry, comedy, music, exhibitions, film and tours attracted an audience of 9,210 online and in-person attendees. Most of the events (82%) were free as the festival returned to live events after two years operating online. Although Covid continued to impact on our programme with 17 events cancelled due to illness, we were still able to roll out a huge range of events including headliners such as Michael Ignatieff, Tom Robinson, Helen Thompson, Michael Longley, Ece Temelkuran, Bill Neely and a host of exciting arts and cultural events – with many sold out or oversubscribed. We have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the festival through an audience survey(3.5% sample). Our survey found that 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations. It was particularly pleasing to find that 60% of audience members were attending a festival event for the first time and 37% of the sample had never been to a festival venue before, which suggests that we were able to reach new audiences and introduce them to new venues and partners. Other outcomes included: 12% of attendees came from outside Northern Ireland. Of these, 13% stated the festival was the main reason they were visiting Belfast. Audience spend: Our sample spent an average of £35 attending our events Number of festival partners: 52 Number of international participants: 40 with 27 events organised by participants from outside UK & Ireland Number of free events: 121 – 82% of total events Average ticket price: £7.8 Number of workshops: 14 Number of venues used: 35 Media coverage: Total number of items: 98. Reach: 4,022,796. AVE: £181,881. PR value: £545,644 Positive feedback was also elicited from survey respondents, detailed as follows: 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations with only 1% reporting dissatisfaction (increased from 94% in 2021) 95.3% of people answered the question ‘after attending the festival, would you be more likely to attend other politics-related events’ (88% last year) 97.8 of respondents stated they were more likely to recommend the festival to family and friends after attending one of our events with 1.6% stating they felt the same When asked whether the festival promotes Belfast and Northern Ireland in a positive way, 98.4% said yes, with 1.6% responding as ‘don’t know’ People appeared to be reasonably well informed about the festival. 92% of the sample stated they were either well or somewhat informed about the festival prior to attending an event Respondents overwhelmingly found the subject matter of the event/performance as the main reason for attending the festival. However, familiarity with the speaker/performer was also cited as a factor. We also asked whether respondents considered themselves to be disadvantaged and found that 21% of the sample considered themselves to fall into this category which suggests were able to significantly engage with vulnerable and less well-off sections of the community. We invited the public to suggest and organise events in November 2021 and received a record 98 proposals, most of which we were able to support. This was a higher than expected level of public participation in the festival which resulted in more events than planned taking place in the 2022 programme. We also had a greater variety of events with more place-making events, exhibitions, music and discussions/workshop events compared to previous years.

northern regional college

Northern Regional College are seeking to recruit highly skilled and enthusiastic staff to inspire, support and encourage our students and help them to achieve their academic and career goals and aspirations. The College recognises its employees as a valuable resource and strives to be an outstanding organisation. We acknowledge outstanding contribution of staff to our College mission through our annual staff awards.

queen's university belfast