| Going Local |
Over the project we have learnt a few good tips which we would like to share:
At a time of uncertainty and murmurings of mergers and rationalisation, we thought the experience of HPV could be useful for projects who have a wide geographical area to cover and want to ensure that local issues and knowledge don't get lost in the bigger geography
After the first year of the project we made the decision to split our geographical area between the two development workers, allowing one to focus on
At the same time we developed a model which included sharing resources, knowledge and supporting each other in areas such as training and events whilst each worker concentrated their day-to-day efforts on their own geographical area
This has proved to have very positive outcomes allowing us to build up local knowledge and connections and a deeper understanding of the communities, whilst at the same time still support each other on wider issues.
Our top tip for this model of working is to remember that people won't know what you're doing at a local level unless you tell them. Also if you're part of a team, as we are, having time together is really important to to be able to support each other and to ensure you keep up to date with whats going on across your area as a whole.
“They’ve helped us find volunteers.I have a close relationship with HPV, they are easy to work with, always helpful, always there.They’ve advised me on finding volunteers in the area, they’ve provided me with training to go on in the area – which helped me in a better way deal with volunteers, so the project gets more out of it and the volunteer gets more out of it”
