Skills Brokering
Skills Brokering - Moretonhamsptead
Devon Farm and Village Action Project
The project has been running since May 2005,with the aim of developing and piloting a process for bringing together members of the local community to work cooperatively on local initiatives by matching existing local skills to ventures that have identified a support need. Originally set up by CCD in association with the Moretonhampstead Development Trust, the project will have a particular emphasis on adding value to the agricultural sector, through a community-wide skills sharing process known.
There is a skill exchange website which enables those with available skills and those who may require skills to exchange contact details. The website is free to use and allows anybody to add, update or delete their own details at any time http://www.skillexchange.org
For more information please contact Tanya Millard tanya@devonrcc.org.uk
Background to project
CASE STUDY. Collaborative venture between two Devon farmers and a new (retired) resident from non-farming background. The farmers had embarked on adding value to red meat production but lacked marketing and retail skills; a chance meeting brought the new resident in contact with them. He immediately recognised that the new business had potential but required new skills and more time put to it if the business was to be a success. A new company has been set up with the two farmers and the new resident as directors, and already demand exceeds current production. An ERDP bid should lead to increased production and the creation of a number of new jobs. (Business Information Point for CCD: April 2004)
Context
Agriculture is undergoing structural changes which parallel those that have affected rural communities generally over the past few decades. For, just as communities have a growing population of members who have recently settled in the locality, so as many as half of ‘new landowners’ do not come from a farming background.
Devon has a particularly high proportion of such in-migrants who, despite having little direct experience of rural life and the management of rural estates, do however, have an interest in both maintaining the fabric of the local community and the rural landscape. Furthermore, these new community members typically possess high skill levels in areas of expertise (e.g. marketing) which could be of great benefit to farming and other traditional rural businesses, who are often unable to access the expertise they need to maximise their potential.
Rural communities have a tradition of depending greatly on voluntary effort and self help to remain vibrant. Yet in many communities this cooperative approach has not translated beyond the community into local business and agricultural ventures, and has not maximised the potential of new community members.
Whilst there are of course already ad hoc and informal approaches to cooperative effort in social and community activity, and to a lesser extent in economic activity, there is currently no systematic approach to identifying under-utilised skills and capacity, and their availability within rural communities, nor to linking those skills to enterprise. Yet, recent research suggests the high potential of this approach to improving the socio-economic fabric of rural communities.
The Dartmoor Farm and Village Action project seeks to stimulate local regeneration activity by piloting a skills sharing process at community level, matching capacity with need and opportunity across the community, agriculture and business sectors.
Research
Click [HERE] to link to a piece of action research titled 'Skills Brokering: An Approach to Rural Regeneration.'
