Koreans seek sustainable funding training - from Wales

Interlink’s community training courses on sustainable funding have been proving very popular - but the County Voluntary Council (CVC) was nevertheless taken aback to receive a booking from the Far East.

The Rhondda Cynon Taff CVC was recently selected by the Korea Association of Social Workers (KASW) to talk to a delegation of its employees about sustainable funding.

The KASW provides an annual opportunity for its members to travel abroad for research on a particular theme, this year’s visit to the UK also including seminars at Oxford and St Andrew’s Universities.

‘They booked places on the module we were scheduled to deliver as part of their itinerary,’ said Interlink Development Officer (Social Enterprise) Bill Daniel, who delivered the course. ‘It just happened that we were the only CVC in Wales delivering this area of expertise that coincided with their visit.’

All Interlink’s training events are marketed via its website, www.interlinkrct.org.uk, where the KASW identified this particular one day course and booked reservations for eight places.

Samsung sponsored the delegation and a member of its staff accompanied the group as the company is particularly interested in working within a social enterprise framework.

Delivery of the material was described by Bill Daniel as ‘interesting’, due to language barriers. ‘Some spoke very little English, but the leader, Rev Dr Byoungduk Sohn - a professor in the Department of Social Work at Chongshin University in Seoul, spoke excellent English and acted as the translator to the others.’

Interlink and KASW have agreed there would be mutual benefits in retaining some form of informal contact.

‘Support to the voluntary sector in Korea is very different to the UK,’ Bill Daniel added. ‘There, they have a government funded Community Chest that projects bid into, sponsorship via corporate partners is very strong as companies want to demonstrate high and visible levels of corporate social responsibility, and private donations are slowly being developed.

‘Even though there is a huge distance between South Wales and Korea, the challenges faced by communities in both countries are very similar. Interlink was delighted to host the delegation and we are hoping to maintain links with our guests in the months to come.’

The module is one of seven courses developed by WCVA’s Sustainable Funding Cymru (SFC) as part of the Courses for Communities Cymru training programme for voluntary groups.

SFC Funding Advice Officer Nicola Llewelyn said: ‘WCVA’s Sustainable Funding Cymru initiative is funded by the Big Lottery in Wales to provide practical information to voluntary and community organisations on how to develop a sustainable funding approach to their work.

‘An element of the initiative is a range of training opportunities and accompanying materials/resources which are available to each CVC in Wales to deliver to their local audiences.

‘The funding environment in Wales continues to raise new challenges for third sector organisations and, consequently, Sustainable Funding Cymru’s courses have been extremely well received. We’re delighted that they’re also being appreciated overseas!’