The charity which uses outdoor pursuits in the Highlands to help young people develop employment skills is celebrating a series of successes
Young person’s organisation Venture Scotland has picked up the sought after Investors in People Gold at its first attempt.
The charity, which has help a record number of young people into jobs, college and traineeship over the last year, also announced it has become a living wage employer and achieve its Investors In Young People award.
Minister for employment Jamie Hepburn MSP recently visited the organisation to congratulate it for its recent progress.
He said: “Congratulations to Venture Scotland for achieving this new accreditation which recognises their commitment to supporting young people, providing them with training and development opportunities to build their confidence and expertise.
“This approach is crucial as the Scottish Government recognises that providing access to a range of skills training and employability support that helps to create an educated, skilled and motivated workforce, is important to our economy.”
Venture Scotland believes that achievement changes lives. Its year-long personal development programme helps young people, mostly from Glasgow and Edinburgh, to not only build resilience, a sense of belonging, to gain skills and confidence, but also to use and embed their learning over five progressively more challenging stages.
Most of these activities take place in the beautiful Scottish wilderness, including at their remote highland bothy in Glen Etive. Young people experience at least five expeditions for up to five days at a time with no access to phone or broadband coverage or electricity. Everything us usually under candle light and their bothy is so remote it is 25 km from the nearest public transport.
Chief executive Tam Hendry said: “It was fantastic having the minister, Jamie Hepburn, celebrate with us and to spend so much time listening and chatting to young people. They asked him loads of questions and described some of the tremendous barriers they have had to overcome. They explained how important it was for young people like them, especially those who are just over 24 years old, who want help, to be able to get the support they need.”
Investors in Young People is the only people management standard that focuses on an employer’s recruitment and retention of young people.
Peter Russian, chief executive of Investors in People Scotland, commended the organisation for also achieving Investors in People Gold on its first attempt.
“This is a fantastic achievement for Venture Scotland, and I and the whole IIYP team would like to wholeheartedly congratulate them.”
“Globally recognised, successful accreditation against the Investors in People standard is the sign of a great employer, an outstanding place to work and a clear commitment to sustainability.
“Gold Accreditation shows Venture Scotland is a cutting-edge organisation that is operating at the highest levels of people management practice using Investors in People to drive your business forward.”
