Community Development Workshops - Autumn 2026

Autumn 2026 Community Development Workshops

We regularly run Community Development Workshops to assist voluntary and community groups in County Durham in managing their organisations effectively. 

All workshops take place online (except Community Engagement) and are fully funded; attendance is free, although booking in advance is required to secure places.

Please click on the links below for full details:

September

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Workshop

Tuesday 8th September 10.00 - 11.45am

This workshop is suitable for anyone who has responsibility for engaging with DBS processes and legislation within their organisation. It will help you understand the benefits of DBS and you (employer or voluntary organisation) working together, the different levels of DBS check and when an employee is eligible for a check, what ‘regulated activity’ is, what the DBS Update Service is, and its benefits, and the safe recruitment practices that can be in place.

Completing a Funding Application - Bring Your Project to Life

Thursday 24th September 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will support you to complete a funding application, and will cover understanding the basics of applying for grant funding, how to link your project to a funder’s criteria and a demonstration of the Durham4Community grant finder programme. 

Effective Volunteer Management - Planning, Recruitment and Induction

Tuesday 29th September 10.00am - 12.00noon

This workshop is aimed at those responsible for managing volunteers. It will cover understanding the key stages of effective volunteer planning and how to align volunteer roles with organisational needs, applying good practice in volunteer recruitment, understanding key legal considerations when involving volunteers, and developing an effective volunteer induction process that sets expectations and supports a positive start.

October

Prevent Training

Thursday 1st October 10.00am - 12.00noon

In this workshop, Andy Bailey, Lead Officer for Safe Durham Partnership, Economic Partnership and Prevent, will deliver a session to provide awareness of Prevent. 

The training will support and update your knowledge in:

• Protecting people from radicalising influences
• Supporting you to build resilience to extremist narratives
• Identifying any vulnerabilities or worrying changes in behaviour
• Knowing what to do if you have concerns.

Safeguarding Responsibilities within the Voluntary Sector

Tuesday 6th October 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will cover the importance of having a safeguarding policy, understanding your responsibilities for safeguarding within your organisation and what to include in your safeguarding policy. 

Effective Volunteer Management - Supporting, Developing and Retaining Volunteers

Thursday 8th October 10.00am - 12.00noon

This workshop is aimed at those responsible for managing volunteers. It will cover the role of supervision and ongoing support in effective volunteer management, practical approaches to volunteer motivation, recognition and retention, how to manage boundaries and maintain professional relationships with volunteers, and gaining confidence in having difficult conversations and addressing issues constructively. 

Understanding GDPR for Voluntary and Community Organisations

Thursday 15th October 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will focus on understanding your responsibilities and developing a data protection policy. The session will cover gaining an understanding of what personal data is, understanding the six lawful bases to process data and identifying what needs to be included in your GDPR policy.

Understanding Trustee Responsibilities and Good Governance

Tuesday 20th October 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is for new trustees explaining your responsibilities within the organisation and how to develop an action plan to ensure best practice. It will cover understanding the importance of good governance, identifying trustee responsibilities and establishing best practice.

Community Engagement – In Person

Wednesday 28th October 9.30am – 12.30pm

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will look at why it is important to engage with your community, the best ways to conduct research, using social media to promote your organisation and having an engagement plan.

NB This workshop will take place at the Durham Community Action offices in Low Willington

November

Exploring Legal Structures for VCSE Organisations

Tuesday 3rd November 10.00 - 11.30am

This new workshop is aimed at individuals and groups from the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector who are setting up a new organisation or reviewing their existing structure.

It will support you to explore different legal structures for community and voluntary organisations, and will cover the basic features of common structures, the key differences between them, and how to choose the most appropriate one for your organisation. The session will also highlight important considerations such as governance, liability and regulatory requirements.

Charities and Trading

Tuesday 10th November 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at individuals and groups from the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, including charities and volunteer-led groups, who want to explore how to generate income through trading. 

It will support you to understand how charities can generate income through trading, and will cover the basics of charitable trading, the different types of trading, and how to decide if it is right for your organisation. The session will also include practical examples and key things to consider such as risk, tax and governance.

Managing Risk using a Risk Register

Thursday 12th November 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will look at developing a risk register and look at ways to mitigate risk. The session will cover the practicalities of risk management, understanding trustee responsibilities for managing risk, being more competent in completing a risk register and discussing ways to reduce risk.

Introduction to Safeguarding

Thursday 19th November 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at new trustees, staff or volunteers within the voluntary sector. This session will help you to gain a basic understanding of safeguarding, understand personal responsibilities for safeguarding, identify different types of abuse and harm, recognise signs of possible safeguarding issues, and know what to do if you have a safeguarding concern

December

Health and Safety for Trustees within the Voluntary Sector

Thursday 3rd December 10.00 - 11.30am

This workshop is aimed at volunteer-led organisations and community groups. It will cover understanding trustees’ responsibilities for health and safety in their organisation, establishing what needs to be included in a policy, understanding basic Health and Safety law and identifying relevant health and safety needs for staff and managers. 

The Elements Training Portal has been developed by North Tyneside VODA, Connected Voice and Northumberland CVA, who have been working together since 2019 to help VCSE organisations and groups.

The partnership has now been extended to include  Durham Community Action, Community Action Northumberland, Inspire South Tyneside and Sunderland VSA.

This partnership addresses challenges such as limited capacity and geographic barriers by offering high-quality eLearning.

Access is available anytime, anywhere with an internet connection.

Topics covered include governance, volunteering, cyber security, climate change, safeguarding, finance, fundraising, and more.

All courses on the portal are free, available to everyone and typically take less than an hour to complete.

If you are new to the Elements Training Portal, you’ll need to set up a personal login. After completing a course, you can download a certificate to confirm your achievement.

Access the Elements Training Portal here