About Us > Projects
Current Projects
Employment and Education Project (01 April 2012 to 31 March 2013) funded by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Recruitment Consultancy Project (01 March 2012 to 28 February 2013) funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Past projects
Core Mentoring Project (2000 to 2009) funded by the Big Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government.
Set up in 2000 LINKnet's mentoring project aimed to help people from Black Minority Ethnic backgrounds in 3 ways:
- find employment - CVs, application forms, job search, interviews, presentations, communication, office skills, cultural understanding etc.
- access education and training - finding the right course, information on financial help, support throughout the course.
- personal development - language support, confidence building, knowledge of area and services.
By providing one-to-one support, mentors helped individuals develop their skills and knowledge to enable them to achieve their goals in their career, education or personal life.
International Alliance Project (2008 and 2009) funded by The Scottish Government's "Fresh Talent: Supporting International Students Challenge Fund".
International Alliance Project was LINKnet's joint project with Napier University and indeed the first funded joint project between a University and a ME organisation in Edinburgh. Through this project the two organisations aimed to encourage Scottish Businesses to expand to other countries with advice and participation from overseas students studying at Napier University. Students who were interested in participating in the Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Initiative were encouraged to take placements with Scottish Businesses with the expectation of obtaining paid employment. LINKnet mentors supported them while on placement. The participants of the project benefited by getting work experience in Scotland and an income. The businesses benefited from the experience and the expertise of the students.
Grundtvig Learning Partnership (2008 and 2009) funded by "Education & Culture Lifelong Learning Programme Grundtvig"
Exchange of Good Practice in Skill Development was a partnership project between Scotland, Spain and Greece. The purpose of the project was for the partners to learn skill development techniques practiced in each partner country and explore the possibility of emulating them.
Resource Centre funded by Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations' Trust, Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association, Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland and Awards for All.
LINKnet's Resource Centre was operational with 10 brand new computers with broadband Internet facilities. The Resource Centre also had other relevant information regarding further/higher education and employment. All minority ethnic people could use the Resource Centre free of charge. For those who could not afford Internet cafes or private computers to improve their employability, LINKnet offered a valuable service within the Resource Centre.
Political Mentoring Project (2009) funded by Equality and Human Rights Commission.
To address the serious under-representation of Minority Ethnic, particularly Black Minority Ethnic, people in the Scottish Parliament and in local authorities, LINKnet designed a proactive political mentoring programme. With seven years experience in delivering structured mentoring programmes LINKnet was well placed with expertise and infrastructure to carry out an effective mentoring programme to develop political leaders from Minority Ethnic (ME) communities.
Mentors were to be recruited from current MSPs and Councillors. Through the programme aspiring ME politicians would learn what is involved in becoming a successful politician, would be introduced to appropriate contacts and exposed to the public.
All disadvantaged groups such as minority ethnic, disabled, gender, transgender/lesbian & gay, faith and traveller communities from Edinburgh, the Lothians, Scottish Borders and Fife were eligible to apply. The duration of the project was from June 2008 to March 2009.
LINKnet would run a structured mentoring programme with the participation of current politicians to prepare 15 people from disadvantaged groups to assume positions in the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh and Lothians Councils, Public bodies and other institutions that work at policy making level.
LINKnet Sikh Sanjog Joint Job Ready Project (2009/2010) funded by the Scottish Government.
Work-ready Mentoring Project was launched on the 01 April 2009 for a two year period to help BME females who have had little or no life chances. The project sought to serve hard to reach groups of BME communities in order to influence them to seek employment or further education opportunities.