Who we are

In 1997, when partnership working was new, Derbyshire began an initiative called "Read On - Write Away!" to improve and celebrate literacy in Derbyshire and to contribute to the development of the workforce. ROWA! went from strength to strength and became nationally recognised for its community based learning support.

For ROWA! 2007 was a year of contradictions. At the same time as celebrating our tenth year of success, we began the process of reorganising to face a different kind of future. In this future, more public money is being spent on educational structures but grant funding is tighter and the opportunities to create community based solutions to literacy needs become more important. There is still a need for cradle to grave literacy support but this is a future of commissioning, partnership working to add value, target led outcomes and rigorous evaluation.

ROWA! is ready to work within this setting. Growing from our commitment to partnership working, responding to identified needs, working alongside our learners and recording impacts, we are planning to develop new partnerships and widen the understanding of the key role literacy has on the development of individuals and communities.

Our new Corporate Plan shows how ROWA! will encourage families to develop reading cultures at home, and support people, directly or indirectly, to gain more reading confidence and enjoyment. It sets out ROWA!'s approach for addressing disadvantage, increasing opportunities and development community engagement; it is the basis from which we will operate in the future.