Progressing Business through Digital Skills is a 3-year project focused on developing a digitally skilled workforce for employed and self-employed individuals in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, part-funded by the European Social Fund.
The project is supporting employed and self-employed individuals in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly through identifying where digital skills and technologies can improve their business results. The project aims to support businesses and the wider ecomony in the region.
The project offers opportunities for individual employees to develop their digital skills at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, leading to professional growth and improved employability.
Empowering Employed Women
Women are under-represented in both the uptake of digital qualifications and in digital roles. Progressing Business through Digital Skills will work with local businesses to ensure that at least 54% of participants are women employees. Digital fluency acts as an accelerant at every stage of a women’s career and through the project, women will gain critical digital skills to encourge their progression in employment and address the gender employment and wage gap.
The £753,784 project has received £603,037 of funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) and is being led by Digital Peninsula Network (DPN) with project partners Truro and Penwith College, the Isles of Scilly Council and the Penzance Business District contributing match-funding.
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What will the project offer?
Progressing Business through Digital Skills will support businesses and individuals improve their digital skills and online capabilities through a variety of means, including:
Digital Skills Workshops & Short Courses
Short courses in digital skills for small businesses in a range of areas such as:
- Website design
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Image editing
- Selling online with Shopify
Designed and delivered by professional tutors online who are available for extra support and mentoring outside of class by email and phone.
Training courses are broken down into four day-long sessions and aimed at employed or self-employed people looking to improve their job-specific digital skills, learn new ones and apply them practically at work straight away.
Digital Skills Qualifications
Relevant digital qualifications, or units at level 1 and above, are embedded in all our short courses to help individuals achieve recognised digital skills which can help improve their employability and progression at work. This includes basic IT skills right through to bite-sized units at graduate level and advanced technical skills.
Basic Skills
The project will also fund training for individuals already in work with low literacy and numeracy skills, helping people gain entry level qualifications to generate new opportunities for themselves.
European Social Fund
Progressing Business through Digital Skills has received £603,037 of funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions is the Managing Authority for the England ESF programme. Established by the European Union ESF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, skills development, job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations.
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Get in touch!
If you work for a business or you’re a self-employed sole trader operating in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly get in touch with our team to find out more about how you can use digital skills to further your business and professional goals.
