Exeter City FC offers Social Action training with a difference to city’s young people

Local voluntary support agency Exeter CVS are teaming up with Exeter City FC and the British Council to offer free Active Citizens training to the city’s young people, with an unusual twist.

The 5-day course in November will show learners aged 18-25 how they can engage in social action: making a difference through volunteering, campaigning, or engaging with authorities to improve services and make change. The course provides support to develop and conduct projects on a local, national and international level; following the programme’s premise –“Globally connected, locally engaged”.

So far the programme has reached around 80,000 Active Citizens from diverse communities in over 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Linked as part of a global network, including 21 communities from the UK, Active Citizens undertake a common learning journey that enhances their leadership, inter-cultural and project management skills.

In Exeter the classroom learning you would expect from a Community Engagement course is enhanced through interactive elements of music, cooking and sport activities at St James’ Park as a part of building young peoples’ independence. The course will encourage people to drive social change as well as providing a platform for locally engaged Active Citizens to connect to a global network through study visits and exchanges with other countries, as well as sharing via online portals and working on joint activities with communities around the world.

Exeter CVS are specialists in personal development through unusual media. Earlier this year a group of teenage jobseekers took part in “Creating Chances”, an employability skills qualification that combined informal classroom learning with professional football coaching from former ECFC players to build their teamwork and social confidence.
Another group of learners experiencing social difficulties took part in “Active Citizens in Theatre” workshops, visiting Berlin and also giving them the confidence to conduct their own drama performance at a city conference on climate change.

Exeter City Community Trust manager Jamie Vittles said “having worked with Exeter CVS ‘Creating Chances’ for the lads last year, we’re sure this learning partnership will deliver real results for young people who take part in the British Council course in 2013. Mixing up learning styles and activities like this has a proven benefit in improving young people’s social skills and confidence, and teaches them that they can make a real difference in their community.”

The course is aimed at young people new to social action, but also offers progression for more experienced or confident learners. The delivery team draw from diverse experiences in social action and activism to international business training and development. There will be opportunity and support to hot-house successful projects to ensure sustainability, with resources and office space available. Three learners will also be elected to take part in a study trip to Sri Lanka, to work with Sri Lankan community groups to see how social action is being managed there.

Young people who are interested in taking part can attend a taster session at the Football Club on Thursday 24 October at 4pm: online booking is available through www.exetercvs.org.uk/learn or 01392 202055.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Contact
Fiona Carden, Exeter CVS Learning Department, Fiona.carden@exetercvs.org.uk 01392 202055

Exeter CVS
Exeter Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) is a local infrastructure organisation supporting the voluntary and community sector in the city. They provide advice, information, updates and low cost training to help individuals and groups across the city looking for personal, professional and community development. More information about Exeter CVS can be found here:
http://exetercvs.org.uk/

British Council
The British Council works in cultural relations, creating international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. “Active Citizens : Locally Engaged, Globally Connected” is a non-profit programme that promotes community cohesion and improvement through civic engagement or volunteering in around 30 countries. It aims to increase the contribution of community leaders towards achieving sustainable development both locally and globally. It also encourages peer-to-peer relations across cultural, geographic and political boundaries via a lively online social network of participants, as well as occasional international exchange visits. More information about the British Council’s “Active Citizens” project can be found here:
http://activecitizens.britishcouncil.org/content/about

Football in the Community
Exeter City FC Football in the Community delivers inspiring physical activity, education, health and wellbeing programmes and courses across Devon, including:
Sports participation – football and multisport programmes for boys and girls aged from three upwards throughout the year, including holiday courses and after-school clubs.
Education programmes – foundation degree, BTEC, Duke of Edinburgh and vocational awards, plus work with schools including Premier League Reading Stars and Kick Start projects.
Social inclusion projects – Street Soccer, Ability Counts and disability courses, as well as wheelchair football.
Health and fitness – sports activities for adults and veterans, including a Masters football league for over 35s and a Thursday night running club. Football in the Community’s recent work can be found here:
http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/club/FITC/