NPTC Group of Colleges senior business consultant Wyn Prichard, has been named as one of Wales’s 100 Future Generations Changemakers for his work on strategic green and sustainability programmes.
Over the last seven years, the unique and world-leading Well-being of Future Generations Act has been inspiring people across Wales to act today for a better tomorrow. Its achievements have been highlighted over the years with Sophie Howe at its helm as Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. To mark the end of her tenure in post the spotlight is now on some of the people who helped create positive change. To launch the Future Generations Changemaker 100, a hybrid event has been held which will included: Reflections from Sophie Howe, and Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales as well as human libraries sharing their stories of implementing the Act and creating change.
The list of ‘100 change makers’ – inspirational people bringing about positive change in Wales was also released and includes Welsh business people, poets, local authorities and community campaigners, including Wyn.
He said he was honoured to be recognised as a Future Generations Changemaker as he paid tribute the Future Generations team for the world leading work undertaken over the past seven years. He also paid tribute to the support he has had at NPTC Group of Colleges, which is the only College partner of the Sustainability Supply Chain School and recognised as a lead body in supporting organisations. Wyn is also proud to be the Chair of the School.
He said: “Having been involved in skills development for over 30 years, I have always felt it was my job to champion Wales industry, individuals and apprentices to the UK and beyond. A number of the innovations and programmes were developed in Wales first, before going UK wide, to major success, much like the Future Generations Commission. As a new sector emerges, beyond the traditional sector footprints, a radical new collaborative approach is required to meet the quality and competency expectations.
“No individual has the wide depth of knowledge or expertise to fully understand the complexity of this new sector, so people with the relevant knowledge and expertise are needed to come together.”
When Wyn refers to ‘people’, he is talking about his ‘friends’ who have the expertise to help drive change. He describes the new green/sustainability sector, which he believes needs to be a patch work quilt, and a journey of discovery, as no one is sure yet of the completed finished design. “Those involved must be carefully chosen in terms of expertise, joint working and experience to ensure the final product matches the expectations of all, he added.”
Wyn has worked for the College for several years where he has successfully worked on several green energy projects including the Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP), managed by SERO, who appointed him to the role of Chair of Training and Skills Working Group. This allowed him to call on his ‘friends’ with whom he had personal and business engagement with for over 20 years to offer input the group.
“This was the core, which we built on to develop a skills framework, far beyond ORP and my expectations, through the strong membership with the group being recognised as one of the key groups in the UK, in this specialism. One final point on this patch of the quilt, is the positive interaction, support and general can-do approach by Wales Government Skills department officials, which has made the approach so successful. We also had invaluable input from Skills Development Scotland.
He continued, “Along with manufacturers, installers, and product innovators, as well as the Wales training infrastructure all will be pivotal in delivering the skills and training requirements to ensure we lead on this agenda. I have also been fortunate, to be in most cases the only Wales representative, on a number of UK groups, including the IFATE apprenticeship community, BEIS Working groups, Green apprenticeships task group and a number of T LEVEL development groups, where the discussions has been invaluable in shaping the approach and work in Wales.
“Given the upcoming need for green/sustainable skills for industry, existing employees and apprenticeships, the work already in place should provide the region with the launchpad to be able to hit the ground running and not playing catch up, as is normally the case. We have major opportunities to capitalise on, in terms of Homes as Power Stations, Afan Adventure Park, Rail Academy, regional City Deal projects, as well as the potential Celtic Freeport and we have the skills knowledge group in place to deliver the job and training opportunities.
“As I near the end of my working career, my reflections, show some patches completed, but not the makeup of the final quilt, so still some key work to be done, but ‘with little help from my friends’ 2023 could be a year of great achievement and one to look forward to”, he added.
