The Core Skills Development Partnership supports activity which:

Strategic elements

• links to the implementation of broader strategies
• adds value to mainstream activities by improving the quality and diversity of opportunities
• focuses on the needs of specific client groups, especially at identified critical transition times
• trains staff in appropriate ways of embedding key skills in a wide range of mainstream programmes
• enhances the existing professional development of staff to create whole-organisation approaches to core skills development
• sustains the changes long-term by creating new ways of working that become independent of on-going financial support

Activity/operational elements

• is structured not just on pilots but on activity that has impact on whole structures
• increases multi-agency approaches and joint planning, with differing roles clearly defined
• assists organisations to identify what creates success and to make this the norm
• has some targeting based on need, without defining people/organisations as failing
• expands the use of appropriate technologies to accelerate learning
• supports assessment and target setting, based upon disaggregated, reliable information
• increases the volume of voluntary activity
• contributes to planned outputs and contributes towards longer-term outcomes