This section of the Community Toolkit offers a range of information services designed to help local community groups and voluntary sector organisations develop their resources and skills. By keeping up to date with training opportunities, having access to reliable training providers and knowing how to source funding for training, your group or organisation can acquire the skills to better serve the people and projects within your remit.

People tend to think of training as something more akin to business rather than community needs. So it is unfortunate that community or voluntary groups frequently consider training irrelevant, and overlook it. However, the most successful community groups are often the most enterprising and well skilled ones. These groups recognise the benefits of keeping up to date with what they need to sustain and develop their quality of life and general prosperity.

Training is, therefore, important to most community groups. It can cover a wide range of skills, such as learning how to consult better with your community on local issues, undertaking a one day course on designing a community website to attract new visitors to your village, or studying on-line for a degree in voluntary sector management.

The Community Toolkit Training Tool provides a range of information services for local community groups and voluntary sector organisations. There are three main tools:

• A diary of local training events and courses for community groups and voluntary organisations.
• A directory of trainers who can provide direct support for various topics.
• A listing of local, regional and national sources of funding to help community groups pay for training fees.

The list of trainers provides information about local training providers and the commercial services they provide. They are listed in alphabetical order. Click on Directory of Trainers above to access list. It should be noted that The Community Toolkit does not recommend any particular training provider for any particular type of training. The responsibility for selecting and hiring a trainer therefore lies with your group. If you are uncertain about whether or not a training provider can meet your specific needs, asking for references from other community groups who have used the trainers' services in the past is a good starting point.

When exploring training needs within your group, you should always remember that a number of organisations offer funding to help community groups acquire or develop the skills they need. Use the search facility in the community toolkit's funding guide under training for a list of these funding bodies.

More useful information about local management training courses available in Inverness and Nairn can be found on The Training Pool web site. Although this site is mainly aimed at local businesses, a number of the courses available, such as book-keeping and computer skills, are equally useful in helping local community groups manage their operations.