Rural Community Gateway

On Monday 11th February 2008, the Hi Hopes project held its final conference at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness. This was a great opportunity to look back at the achievements and lasting legacies of the project, and a chance to hear from a range of excellent speakers.

The Hi Hopes project aimed to extend the provision of lifelong learning opportunities and to improve equality of access for people in the Highlands and Islands. Hi Hopes helped to coordinate pilot projects and through these projects they were able to test innovative models of supported learning and social enterprise development, as well as generate new online tools and support mechanisms for learners.

Professor Bob Cormack, Principal of UHI gave the welcome address to delegates. He emphasised the importance Scotland gives to collaboration and partnerships. Hi Hopes was the first geographically based development partnership in Scotland.

Willie Roe, Chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, celebrated the success of Hi Hopes and said that real benefits from the project can be felt by individuals and enterprises around the region. He highlighted three projects which he was impressed by:

• Cothrom Ltd
• Voluntary Action Lewis
• Cope Ltd in Shetland

Minister for Schools and Skills, Maureen Watt MSP highlighted some of Hi Hopes’ key achievements:

• New post graduate and professional development modules
• Suite of online learning bytes
• Transition frameworks for vulnerable people
• Establishment of three social enterprises.

She stressed the need for Scotland’s people to have skills, vision and expertise if the country is to become ‘smarter’. Maureen Watt thanked those involved in Hi Hopes for all their hard work.

Linda Stewart, Head of External Relations at UHI gave a brief talk about European funding programmes. She said the lesson learnt from Hi Hopes in terms of European funding was that despite the challenges involved, it is possible to bring together different agencies and aspirations together for economies of scale, and to share valuable experience.

Chocolate, textiles and soap

Over the coffee break and lunch break, delegates were encouraged to take a look at the many projects exhibiting. The Hi Hopes project was involved in a wide range of developments, and it was great to meet the people involved in some of these inspirational and ambitious projects.

I didn’t go to the event expecting to have the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, but that’s exactly what happened. At the very busy Voluntary Action Lewis stand, Anne Sobey was on hand to give out samples of wonderful single source chocolate. Hebridean Chocolates will be launching soon, we hope to keep you posted on this one. And I hope they will be doing mail order!

The social enterprise Rag Tag ‘n’ Textile exhibited some of the beautiful textile work made by their workers. The enterprise takes discarded and unwanted fabric or clothing and turns this into wonderful arts and crafts.

Also popular were samples of Shetland Soap at the COPE Ltd stand and the chance to try out North Highland College’s online learning bytes. Other interesting stands included the Men into Care exhibit, Social Enterprise Academy’s stand, new Continual Professional Development resources from UHI, UHI’s Centre for History and the ‘It’s My Journey’ transitions tool for young people. 

COPE workshop

COPE Ltd is a social company in Shetland, made up of individual social enterprises run by their own teams. COPE work with a wide spectrum of people with physical and learning disabilities and autism.

Karen Bruce gave an overview of social enterprises run by COPE. The scope of which is incredibly impressive. Social enterprises include COPE catering, COPE trees and shrubs, Shetland Soap Company, a delicatessen, the Green Bee Honey Company and much more. Future enterprises include Shetland Spring Water and Polish Summer Houses.

Lewis Grant gave an overview of Micro Memos, an online guide to help with the creation and running of sustainable enterprise that will launch in March 2008.

Learning bytes workshop

Debbie Gray of North Highland College in Thurso gave the group an introduction to the 24 learning bytes they created for students at Access Level 1. There was the opportunity to get some hands on experience of the learning tool. A wide range of subjects, from using the internet to recognising money, are covered by these easy-to-use bite sized learning modules.

More about Hi Hopes

The Hi Hopes was part funded through the European Social Fund under the Equal Communities Initiative.
Partners included:

• Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Highland Council
• Western Isle Council
• Voluntary Action Lewis
• Cothrom Ltd – Opportunities for Learning
• Workers Educational Association
• Training and Guidance Highland
• COPE Ltd
• Learndirect Scotland
• The Social Enterprise Academy
• Lochaber College UHI
• Moray College UHI
• North Highland College UHI
• SCVO
• UHI Centre for History
• STUC

Read more in Your Project – Hi Hopes. You can read more about some of the projects they were involved in in Your Project - Social Enterprise Academy and Your Project - Men into Care. I hope to bring you more on the other projects and enterprises that exhibited at the conference over the coming months.

• Privacy
• Help
• Contact Us
• Disclaimer