Disadvantaged Londoners are being offered a training programme, linked with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, that will provide people with a nationally recognised qualification in volunteering.

The programme, called Personal Best, will be rolled out to every London borough over the next six months with the aim of improving people's self esteem and to move them into work or further learning. Run by the London Development Agency (LDA), in partnership with the Learning and Skills Council and JobCentre Plus, the programme has been piloted in 11 boroughs with 875 people taking part.

So far 14.5 per cent of graduates have become employed and 23.5 per cent have moved into further learning. Personal Best is available for unemployed Londoners, disabled people, individuals over 50-years-old, ex-offenders, homeless people in sheltered accommodation, refugees and asylum seekers eligible to work in the UK.

Graduates from the programme are guaranteed an interview as part of the application process to become a 2012 Games Time Volunteer. Mary Conneely, the Learning and Skills Council's regional director for regeneration in London, said: "Personal Best has been developed to support the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to ensure we leave a real and lasting legacy.

"It is hugely important, not just for the Games, but for each individual to gain vital skills and qualifications to set them up for life. Participants beginning their journey with Personal Best have a fantastic opportunity to maximise their potential." London mayor Boris Johnson added: "It is encouraging that, on top of those who have found work as a result, many other graduates have decided to continue developing their skills by embarking on further training or volunteering at important major events across the capital."

The LDA is also offering students and academics the chance to find out first hand how the legacy benefits of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are being secured. It is offering a series of lectures and workshops exploring the key issues surrounding the establishment of a post-Games legacy held at Greenwich University. Topics include skills and employment, social and cultural change and providing a sustainable legacy.

The Sustainable Legacy seminar, will feature guest speaker Jason Prior from EDAW architects, and will explore the legacy in its widest sense including the physical, environmental and socio-economic regeneration of east London. It will discuss community environment programmes from supporting recyclables to the transport infrastructure on the local canal network and the outline plans for delivering the Legacy Masterplanning Framework (LMF) - a spatial plan for homes, parkland, schools, workspace, health and sporting facilities to be developed on the Olympic site after the 2012 Games. The objective of these sessions is for the invited students and academics to take control and ask questions of the panel of experts. Upon registering for the event, students are asked to pose questions they would like discussed both in the body of the presentations and also in the breakout working groups. Each lecture will be chaired by a student to encourage maximum audience participation.

Details: legacynow.com