Martin Baker, founder and CEO of the Charity Learning Consortium, commented, “The winners’ stories are a great example of that old adage ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. Doing ‘more for less’ with the resources available is an everyday reality for third-sector organisations, but a lack of big budgets can inspire people to create innovative solutions.
"I’m enormously proud not just of this year’s winners, but of all members of the Charity Learning Consortium who work so hard to support the skills needs of their workforce. They’re unsung heroes in my eyes, ensuring that staff and volunteers are able to carry out essential services to the best of their abilities. It’s easy to take their achievements for granted but every day they are quite simply extraordinary."

The awards were presented at the annual Charity Learning Conference in London, 17 November 2016. Read on to find out more about the winners and their stories.
 

Best eLearning programme

Winner: Victim Support

With no budget, the L&D team at Victim Support used ingenuity to create a new data-protection and information-security eLearning module. With a clear focus on wanting to change behaviour, they showed a smart use of simple technology and supported management as they rolled out the new programme - with wonderful results. It’s a great example of a holistic vs. a tick-box approach to an eLearning compliance course.
Silver: Parkinson's UK

Best eLearning-module design

Winner: Kibble Education & Care Centre

Kibble created an informative virtual tour of the organisation for a new online induction pack. Using great images and a welcoming, localised voiceover, this clever use of storyline resulted in a simple but engaging tour that draws you in. The project meant liaising with all areas of the organisation, but the simplicity of the result is part of its winning formula.

Silver: Addaction

Organisational buy-in: Raising the L&D profile

Winner: Restless Development

Rokas Buciunas, People & Performance Coordinator, and his team at Restless Development had no budget for training or travel, but masterminded a successful launch of eLearning in ten countries simultaneously. Their ingenuity and "can-do" attitude turned the launch into a resounding success, captivating staff and senior leadership. As a result, a special eLearning week is now an annual event, a bespoke Induction course is being developed, and eLearning forms part of appraisals and personal development plans.

Silver: Victim Support
 

Best use of resources

Winner: Victim Support

Again with no budget, Victim Support developed an online awareness course in female genital mutilation. Freely available resources were used to create it in a brilliant example of what can be achieved through dedicated research and curation. This highly sensitive subject was tackled with great professionalism, resulting in an informative, well-presented, and well-received eLearning course.

Silver: Parkinson's UK

Silver: WDP

L&D professional of the year

Winner: Lucia Capobianco, Volunteer Training Support Officer at Samaritans.

Lucia does an outstanding job, looking after the skills needs of Samaritans’ 20,000+ volunteers. Technically aware and innovative, she’s great at using the resources that she already has to hand. A good communicator, she’s also adept at building good working relationships and partnerships and has been a joy to collaborate with at the Charity Learning Consortium.

Technology innovation

Winner: St John Ambulance

Andrew New, Head of Training at St John Ambulance, has been fearless in embracing a cutting-edge digital solution that will help streamline the management of training volunteers, ensuring they keep refreshing their life-saving skills. Called RedPanda, the project has massive potential: St John Ambulance puts 400,000 people through their training programmes every year. Currently still in development, RedPanda will also form a blueprint that other charities may build upon in the future.