PLANED works with communities across Pembrokeshire, Wales and Europe to improve their quality of life by focusing on their opportunities, harnessing their potential and helping them realise their aspirations.
Read about their experience of receiving the Cynnig Cymraeg.
- Why is it important that PLANED have achieved the Cynnig Cymraeg?
The Welsh language is a key part of Pembrokeshire’s culture and identity, and is the primary language spoken in some of our communities. It is essential that we communicate and offer our services in a person’s chosen language. Therefore, we want to improve our Welsh language skills to meet clients’ needs and feel that reviewing and putting a plan in place enables us to set and work towards realistic and clear targets.
- Has it made a difference to your work?
The Cynnig Cymraeg has already had a positive impact on our work and on the professional development of team members. The team and trustees have come together to conduct an audit of our Welsh language skills and have found the following:
85% of us refer Welsh language queries to our colleagues. We are now creating a contact sheet so we know who to refer to.
The response suggests that we should all be working harder to greet visitors and take enquiries bilingually and increase the amount of Welsh content on our social media and in documents. This is something we need to do more often. One idea was to prepare useful Welsh sentences containing general greetings and terms relevant to the work. The team is currently looking at how best to create this.
- What have you done to raise awareness of the Welsh Language Development Plan amongst your colleagues?
From our audit we know that 5 members of our staff are eager to learn Welsh, in addition to our current learners. This is great news and there are many opportunities for them to learn Welsh at the moment. We have made recommendations for local and online training for the team and welcomed a conversation with their line managers to discuss ways PLANED can support their learning.
Many of our staff have also shown an interest in participating in Welsh language social events and a skills sharing session. We plan to hold an informal taster session in the summer.
- Describe the process from deciding on preparing a Welsh Language Development Plan to getting your plan approved by the Commissioner?
Awel from the Hybu team and the office of the Welsh Language Commissioner gave us a lot of encouragement to start looking at creating a Welsh Language Development Plan and before I knew it, we had lots of detail and exciting targets in place. The scheme provided us with an excuse to have much needed conversations about our Cynnig Cymraeg and discuss anything that was missing in our provision. It is very beneficial to have a structured plan and achievable targets to aim for.
- Do you have any advice for other organisations considering working towards the Cynnig Cymraeg?
Go for it! You will realise that it is completely worth it and you’ll feel proud to tell people about your Cynnig Cymraeg and your Welsh Language Development Plan! I have already recommended the scheme to other organisations because it is so much more than a policy that gets overlooked - it is an opportunity to utilise your organisation's strengths and make valuable improvements that benefit everyone in the long run.
