Museums, Libraries and Archives London (MLA London)

WSA Community Consultants continues to deliver workforce development training for MLA London.  For the financial year 2007 to 2008 training has been provided on:

  • Community Profiling
  • Community Partnership Building
  • Planning and Evaluating Community Participation Projects
Previously WSA Community Consultants were engaged to work on two major projects for MLA London.  
The first aimed to offer support, training and mentoring to London's archives, libraries and museums to contribute to a number of targets specific to New Deal for Communities programmes.

This project was called Community LInKS (Learning, Information, Knowledge and Skills). It worked to support four cross-domain partnerships (archives, libraries and museums) within New Deal for Communities areas in London. The four boroughs worked with were Lambeth, Haringey, Hammersmith and Fulham and Islington. The main consultancy interventions were:
  • A programme of support including training and mentoring to each partnership
  • Support to each partnership in developing community partnerships and making links with NDC partnerships
  • The planning and delivery of a one day training seminar on partnership working: working with community groups
  • The planning and delivery of a one day conference addressing Neighbourhood Renewal.
  • The production of a briefing paper on Neighbourhood Renewal targeted at those working within London's archives, libraries and museums
  • The provision of eighteen one to one support sessions to offer advice and specialised support on strategic/project development and potential funders
  • The production of an advocacy paper for the sector to present to those sitting on Local Strategic Partnerships' and involved in policy and strategic development
The project had remarkable success in securing NDC funding to develop local archive, library and museum services in three of the four boroughs to fund a community links librarian (outreach based) for Hammersmith and Fulham, a ‘writer in residence’ project for the London Borough of Lambeth and a local history group for the London Borough of Islington.

The second project for MLA London focused on Community Participation and involved the development of a framework for the sector on approaches to community participation including research around current good practice. WSA Community Consultants then worked directly to offer support and mentoring to 8 services through the provision and facilitation of an action learning and development group, development of tools to support the group in progressing the work, one to one support for each group member including support around a specific community project and a range of workforce development days.