Eco Chateau Training CIC

description of organisation

Eco Chateau Training CIC, is a non for profit social enterprise training organisation based in East Sussex with additional centres in Normandy, France, and a more recent base established in County Sligo, Ireland. We offer practical training solutions to a wide range of disadvantaged and excluded groups, working with local providers, employers and community in establishing a network of opportunity and progression with established employment and educational pathways for our beneficiaries.

The people we work with have fewer opportunities and include individuals with mental health support needs, learning disabled people, educationally excluded and those facing social and economic barriers. We offer practical support, mentoring and training through range of innovative learning opportunities, social businesses and employment and training progression support.

Eco Chateau Training CIC supports local economic growth through a thriving and established Social Enterprise Business incubator hub at Langney Priory. At the hub we provide support to organisations in order to develop and sustain their Social Enterprise and through accessing our resources and support, organisations have increased their capacity to offer placements and training opportunities to individuals with fewer opportunities that have experienced real challenges in accessing training, education and employment. Our programmes have been established through a working partnership with Brighton University, GBMET and South Coast College looking at how the role of entrepreneurship in education can lead to more specific social outcomes and assist enhanced employability. We have worked with partners to establish training, mentoring and volunteer programmes that are specifically directed to those most excluded from education and how training in less formal and inclusive community settings can create a positive responsiveness from both the participant and environment which leads to more positive acceptance and creates an active participation in society and a pathway to further progression. Personalised support packages offered ensure that participants are fully supported and able to develop in a non-discriminatory environment with additional life-skills and cohesion created with their community. Peer support programmes ensure they ae mentored and guided towards achievement of relevant outcomes that make them feel empowered and able where they have often failed in more formal education settings.

We have developed a strong working partnership at a local government level, making significant contributions to local community development with more people accessing high quality training, education and support into employment. We are now established within Erasmus + as both a lead partner for flows to France and a host partner for inward flows of French students in Hospitality, Catering and Travel and Tourism to the UK where an emphasis is placed on inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds and a particular focus is held on developing opportunities for intergenerational working and sharing of experiences, learning methods and skills. We are currently leading on both a 2019 Erasmus + project and a large 2020 consortium VET project with a number of significant partners. Consortium partners were selected as organisations who had a strong focus on supporting learners with fewer opportunities, good teaching standards, European project practices, and strong connections with local businesses and communities. Eco Chateau has a strong focus on engaging and collaborating with local and inter-national partnerships for strengthening and broadening our offer allowing greater inclusivity, wider geographical reach and increasing occupational areas. These current projects are focused on heritage construction, hospitality and catering and horticulture as the specific vocational areas and have additional emphasis on creating European common citizenship and opportunity. Eco-Chateau CIC aims in increasing diversity, particularly with the most hard to reach groups and creating pathways to employment for those with significant barriers with a commitment and ability to nurture and support people with additional needs.