Rural Alliances
The Enterprise-Community
Alliance Concept: A Guidebook
Lead authors: Lindsey Gilroy and Dr Jill Venus University of Wales Trinity St David
Florian Warburg and Prof. Dr. Markus Hassler University of Marburg, Germany
(Co-authors) (with input from RA partners)
www.rural-alliances.eu
Twitter Feed: @RuralAlliances1
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Foreword
This Guidebook is a practical manual
of how to build alliances between
enterprises and businesses and
communities in North West Europe
and beyond. It provides a narrative of
the stages to follow, with an “Alliance
Building Model”, case studies and
examples, and useful and innovative
Tool Cards to be used by any
organisation or individual interested
in building alliances for sustainable
community development.
The Guidebook and the
accompanying Tool Cards are the
culmination of over three year’s
work by the University of Wales Trinity
St David and Philipps-Universität
Marburg, Germany. These two
institutions have worked together in a
uniquely collaborative way to share
understanding and research on the
development of Alliance Building
under the Rural Alliances project.
This collaboration has been an
outstanding example of transnational
working, where different institutions
from different regions within Europe
have come together with a shared
goal; to understand how to build
effective, durable and innovative
Alliances between communities, local
authorities and businesses across rural
2
areas of North-West Europe.
Exploring the commonalities and
differences between the regions
and countries within the project area
has not been an easy process, as
understandings of “rurality”, “alliance”
and indeed “community” are different
in each region, and are explained
and understood differently in each
country’s different languages. This
rich cultural and linguistic diversity
has added a truly unique “European”
perspective to this Guidebook, which
represents the shared learning from
all of the partner countries, and
represents the views and ideas of
each whilst striving to maintain a
shared understanding, methodology
and interpretation of the different
experiences and alliances.
We would like to commend this
Guidebook as a practical tool,
to be used in a dynamic way by
communities, government agencies,
non-governmental organisations
and individuals who wish to deliver
innovative and inspiring local solutions
to rural areas. The Tool Cards add a
further element of practical guidance,
and can be used in many different
ways, either individually or as part of
a broader process or package of
interventions, with one overall goal;
to support the process of Alliance
Building, and to ensure that alliances
are inclusive, resource efficient, deliver
community-lead and communityowned solutions, and bring people
together.
We hope that this Guidebook and
the associated Tool Cards will
provide inspiration and ideas to
communities across Europe facing
similar demographic, economic and
environmental challenges, and that
they will form the basis of many new
Rural Alliances in the future.
Dr Jill Venus, Director of Research,
School of Business, Management and Finance,
University of Wales Trinity St David, Wales
Dr Markus Hassler, Professor of Human Geography,
University of Marburg, Germany
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Contents:
Background ................................................................................................. 6
The Rural Alliances project: Meeting the challenges of rural development
in North West Europe........................................................................................ 6
Introduction to the Guidebook .................................................................... 9
1.Who is this Guidebook for? ......................................................................... 9
How Building a Rural Alliance can support YOUR Rural Community ............. 9
2.How to use the Guidebook ...................................................................... 11
Chapter 1: What is an Enterprise-Community Alliance? ............................ 12
The types of Enterprise-Community Alliances formed by Rural Alliances ....... 13
Chapter 2: Common success factors and problems in
Rural Alliance Building ............................................................................... 14
Chapter 3: The Alliance Building Blueprint ................................................. 18
1.What is an “Alliance Building Blueprint”? ................................................... 18
2.The Enterprise-Community Alliance Building Model
(Diagram and Phases-Actions) ................................................................. 20
3.The Tool cards. ........................................................................................ 27
Chapter 4: Ten Alliance Building case studies ........................................... 28
Chapter 5: Alliance Building in action ....................................................... 44
1.Core values ............................................................................................ 44
2.The Rural Alliance partners and their contexts .......................................... 44
4
Chapter 6: Alliance Building – at the heart of rural development ............. 57
1.The Enterprise-Alliance Building concept and the 4 cross-cutting
themes of rural development ................................................................... 57
• Improved Governance structures ........................................................ 57
•Inclusion .............................................................................................. 59
• Resource Efficiency ............................................................................. 60
• Financial Engineering .......................................................................... 62
2.The Rural Vibrancy Measuring Index (RVMI) ............................................... 64
3.Transnational Collaboration ..................................................................... 65
Conclusion ................................................................................................. 67
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Background
The Rural Alliances project: Meeting
the challenges of rural development
in North West Europe
In many rural areas of North West
Europe, demographic change is
occurring at a rapid rate. In recent
decades this has been combined with
economic recession, which has led to
a heavy decline in socio-economic
potential. Rural areas across Europe
have suffered disproportionally as
a result of reduced income, loss
of public sector services and jobs,
increase in transport costs and food
prices, environmental challenges
and a lack of political momentum to
address the urban/rural divide.
6
The Rural Alliances project has
focused on the combination of
12 partners’ collective expertise
to develop innovative solutions to
these challenges. This guidebook
is part of a collection of tools and
solutions that the partners hope will
serve as inspiration to help other rural
communities to support themselves.
The Interreg project enables different
partners to share experience
and information and collectively
develop new approaches for more
competitive, productive and inclusive
rural areas. Partners have contributed
their individual expertise to collectively
identify and exploit opportunities for
development.
The co-operation between the 12
project partners has resulted in
a newly established and ground
breaking concept designed to
address these challenges whilst
focusing on building rural capacity
and developing local resilience. The
Rural Enterprise-Community Alliance
concept aims to to increase rural
vibrancy and counter negative
demographic change by connecting
rural communities with businesses
and enterprises, whilst maintaining
mutually supportive relationships with
public authorities and 3rd sector
organisations in the local area.
ages, backgrounds and residential
status undertaking joint actions
and becoming their own agents
for change, along with local and
regional businesses both large and
small, with the co-operation and
support of the local public authorities.
These alliances integrate enterprise
principles with community values
and use the power of loyalty, pride
and self-esteem to improve their rural
areas’ competitiveness, sustainability
and inclusivity. These have been
supported by the development and
use of innovative financial engineering
techniques and the development of
a new common method to measure
rural vibrancy and to develop
participatory community action plans.
The new alliances are at the same
time forging new relationships with
the public sector to safeguard and
enhance rural resources and services
and to ensure that the activities and
priorities of the public authorities are
aligned with and supported by the
new alliances.
76 Enterprise-Community Alliances
have been formed across NorthWest Europe, directly contributing
to the development of selfsupporting, inclusive, and confident
rural communities. This new form
of alliance involves people of all
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
The Project would like to acknowledge and thank the co-funding support
provided by the European Regional Development Fund’s Interreg IVB NWE
Programme and the 12 partners from North West Europe:
•Brecon Beacons National Park Authority (UK)
•University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (UK)
•Innovatiesteunpunt vzw (BE)
•Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (VLM) (BE)
•Stichting Streekhuis Het Groene Woud &
De Meierij (NL)
•Huis van De Brabantse Kempen (NL)
•Gemeente Lochem (NL)
• Philipps Universität, Marburg (DE)
•South Kerry Development
Partnership Ltd. (IE)
• Mayo County Council (IE)
•Maison de l’Emploi, du Développement, de la Formation et de
l’Insertion du Pays de Redon- Bretagne Sud (MEDEFI) (FR)
• Laval Mayenne Technopole (FR)
www.rural-alliances.eu
Twitter Feed: @RuralAlliances1
www.ruralalliances.ning.com
www.ruralalliancenetwork.ning.com
www.ruralvibes.eu
8
Introduction to the Guidebook
1. Who is this Guidebook for?
The Enterprise-Community Alliance
building concept has been
developed over a period of 4
years as a response to some of
the demographic and economic
challenges facing the North-West
Europe region in the last few decades.
It is an approach to community
development that seeks to bring
together communities, entrepreneurs,
small and large businesses and the
public sector, to tackle common
problems in a united manner. This
publication is therefore meant as a
guide to any individual, community,
organisation or body that wishes
to make a real and progressive
difference to their rural community
by exploring and developing this
concept. The stakeholders and
beneficiaries of the rural alliances
established so far are incredibly
varied, and encompass all aspects
of rural human life. This guidebook
has been written with all of these
people in mind, and in particular, this
guidebook can be used by:
•Any rural community, wishing to
work together to address problems
and find innovative solutions
•The Public sector, wishing to support
rural community development and
enterprise
•The 3rd sector, in particular
developmental organisations
working with rural communities
•Rural businesses, wishing to
develop their businesses and make
connections with the community
How building a Rural Alliance can
support YOUR Rural Community
Rural Enterprise-Community Alliances
are mechanisms of positive change
for rural communities that can support
all sectors of rural life, including:
Older people: Being a member
of an alliance gives older people
opportunities to play an active
role in business and society, and
many alliances rely heavily on
the involvement of retired people
who have valuable skills, expertise
and time to dedicate to help their
communities. Being a member of a
Rural Alliance can also support older
people to remain independent.
Some alliances have been
established to protect
the local provision of
health care, transport
9
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
and community support, and provide
better access to a wider range of
facilities and locally sourced utilities.
Younger people: Rural Alliances can
help to provide new job and career
prospects for graduates, school leavers
and the unemployed, in a wide range
of networked professional business and
community services. Being a member
of an alliance will develop the skills
and capacity of young people,
and will better integrate them into
their communities, whilst working on
such issues as affordable housing or
transport, modern ICT provision, or
increased social activities for a better
quality of life.
Migrants and new arrivals: The Rural
Alliances concept includes initiatives
to make rural areas welcoming and
attractive to new people, including
welcome packs, increased job
prospects and social inclusion
initiatives enabling people to take
an active role in rural business and
community affairs.
Rural families: Rural Alliances
seeks to improve the viability
and attractiveness of rural areas
by safeguarding and improving
public services including access to
information and local services such
as health and social care. Parents
10
of children are often less involved
in community life but the alliance
concept seeks to find new ways to
improve access and inclusion.
Enterprises: The Rural Alliances
combine local business and
community sectors like commerce,
health, housing, energy, tourism,
ICT and mobility, based on mutual
interests to stimulate local economic
growth and community support. The
end result is often increased income
for local businesses, plus security for
the future through customer loyalty
schemes.
Politicians: Rural Alliances contributes
to the 2020 objectives and the Cork
Declaration challenges to address
economic disparity and social
fragmentation, achieved through
new alliance-building models
between enterprises, communities &
public authorities to bring about rural
vibrancy and protect and enhance
rural services and resources of key
areas of Europe.
2. How to use the Guidebook
“The Enterprise-Community Alliance
Concept – a Guidebook” is a
practical manual.
to find out more, go to the Rural
Alliances website:
www.rural-alliances.eu.
The first part of the Guidebook is a
textual introduction to the concept
of Enterprise-Community Alliances,
with descriptions of both the regional
contexts and of the alliances that
have been formed. This part also
contains the “Enterprise-Community
Alliance Building Model”, which
maps the process of alliance building
over 4 phases with actions to be
completed within each. These actions
are accompanied and supported by
tools which have been developed by
each of the project partners during
the project to facilitate and develop
best practice in alliance building.
So what are you waiting for?
The second part of the Guidebook
is the Tool Card pack, with 44 Tool
Cards that link back to the Alliance
Building Model and its related
action points. These Tool Cards
are practical, easy to use and
attractively designed. They are to be
used by any individual or organisation
that finds them useful for community
development or alliance building
work. They each have the logo of
the partner organisation which has
developed them. For follow-up and
11
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Chapter 1: What is an EnterpriseCommunity Alliance?
The Rural Alliances project partners
spent a long time discussing what the
term “Rural Alliance” meant! They finally
agreed that an Enterprise-Community
Alliance can be defined as:
“A union of one of more businesses or
enterprises, one or more community
groups or community representatives,
with a mutual goal or aim which
will have a positive impact on the
members of the alliance and on the
wider community and region.”
The alliances that have been formed
over the project period have usually
consisted of a mix of very different
types of enterprises and communities,
with a range of different governance
models depending on their size and
financial position.
There are some commonalities in the
alliances across the regions, including:
•Members, usually volunteers, with a
wide range of skills, expertise and
experience
•A few dedicated individuals who
take charge of the alliance, called
“champions”
12
•Many active “followers” taking on a
range of roles and responsibilities
•The use of initial baseline
information, particularly the “Rural
Vibes” survey, to assess the vibrancy
of the area and to pin-point both
strengths and weaknesses (see
“Rural Vibrancy Measuring Index”,
Tool Card number 30)
•The development of a “Plan”, either
a business plan or a plan of action
•The development of capacity of
the alliance through identifying skillsgaps, using the “Skills Plotting Tool”
(see Tool Card number 33)
•The use of new types of
communication, social media and
on-line networking
•Cost effective marketing and
publicity, including newsletters,
leaflets, email updates and
newspaper articles to promote the
goals of the alliance to recruit more
supporters.
The types of Enterprise-Community Alliances formed by Rural Alliances
There are many different types of
Enterprise-Community Alliances, but
all start from the creative energy of
individuals with a vision, an inspiration
and a goal, to improve their region.
The alliances in the Rural Alliances
project have been built around
various themes. These themes include
tourism, green and renewable
energies, heritage and conservation,
social care and well-being, local,
or regionally produced food, and
regional branding.
All the alliances developed around
mutual goals, which bring huge
benefit to both the local businesses
of the area, and to the wider
community. They also benefit the
Public sector organizations, as they
fulfil a role that adds value to local
council or municipality funding, with
the added benefit of being locally
managed and participatory.
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Chapter 2: Common success factors
and problems in Rural Alliance Building
Extensive research was carried out by
the academic partners of the Rural
Alliances project, the University of
Wales Trinity St David and the University
of Marburg (Germany), to learn
more about what alliance building
processes and methods work most
effectively. This research has informed
a list of the most common success
factors in building alliances. This list
has informed all parts of the “Alliance
Building Blueprint”, fully documented
in Chapter 3.
The top ten most common success
factors in building rural alliances :
1.A clear and shared “Mutual Goal”
that meets unmet needs of the
community and businesses.
2.A core group of motivated people
and “Champions”, with shared
leadership and a supportive and
inclusive approach to the wider
community and “Followers”.
3.A strong intermediary or facilitator
to support the development of
the alliance and build regular
communication between the
different stakeholders.
4.
Clearly defined roles and
responsibilities, well matched to
14
the skills and expertise available in
the community and linked to the
needs of the group.
5.
A time-bound action plan with quick
wins built in to establish success and
build momentum early on.
6.A clear and consistent message
with clear, well targeted marketing
that communicates and
celebrates small achievements
and progress.
7.Periodic reflection on alliance
achievements and the
development of a narrative or
“Story” developing a cohesive
“identity” to create added pride
and ownership.
8.Socialising and having fun is a key
part- organising events or festivals
to celebrate together.
9.The integration of alliance-building
into broader strategies for areabased development - critical to
the longer term sustainability of the
alliances and the development of
political support.
10.Being brave and daring to
take a risk - building alliances is
challenging and requires a new
way of thinking about the world,
but the results can be inspirational
for rural communities!
7 common Alliance Building
challenges and suggested solutions
During the alliance building process,
many common problems or
stumbling blocks can occur. This is
inevitable in working in collaboration
with diverse groups of people, and
the lessons learned from the Rural
Alliances project can help to prepare
communities to face these problems
and explore solutions to them!
A list of the top 7 most common
challenges in rural alliance building
follows below, accompanied by
suggested solutions to each problem
based on the experience of the
alliances developed so far. This
is linked to some of the tools that
specifically support a solution to each
problem. A full set of these tools is
available as part of the “Alliance
Building Blueprint” in Chapter 3.
1.Goal selection: Conflicts of interest
can sometimes arise between and
within stakeholder groups.
Solution: A good facilitator can
enable communication and find
solutions.
Suggested Tools: Business Model
Canvas (6), Cartes Outils (8),
Community Futures (9), Customer
Experience Journey (11), Facilitation
techniques (13), Rural Vibrancy
Measuring Index (30),
2.Time delays: Democratic
processes and the establishment of
new ways of collaborating across
social sectors are time consuming
and it can be frustrating to arrive at
consensus.
Solution: Building in “quick wins”
and making a time-bound action
plan can help this.
Suggested Tools: Alliance Action
Plans (2), Festivals and Events (14),
Management Transition (20), Quick
Wins (29), Story Telling (36).
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
3.Resource restrictions: Most Alliance
members are volunteers and
have many competing demands
on their time. Financial resources
are scarce and raising funds and
distributing them is complex.
Solution: Exploring innovative
ways to work, including looking at
alternative financial systems, can
support this.
Suggested tools: Business Model
Canvas (6), Crowd Funding (10),
Green Adoption (17), Green
Handshake (18), Op Liemt Gemunt
(19), Open Challenge (27), Totally
Locally (41).
4.Reliance on key people:
Dependancy on the facilitator
and “champions” to initiate and
manage activities means that the
alliance may be unsustainable in
the future.
Solution: Developing a strong
base of supporters and keeping
communication open, whilst
planning succession strategies and
building skill-sets of members can
help here.
Suggested tools: Ambassadors
Scheme (5), Cartes Outils (8),
Management Transition (20),
Sustainability Plans (37), Scaling Up
(31), Professionalisation (28), Skills
Plotting (33).
16
5.Burn-out by key players:
“Champions” can invest a lot of
time and energy and can also
become protective of their roles,
creating a barrier to participation.
Solution: Taking periodic
moments to reflect and celebrate
achievements is crucial here. Time
and energy need to be rewarded
by “quick wins”.
Suggested tools: Ambassadors
Scheme (5) Community Futures
(9), Quick Wins (29), Management
Transition (20), Sustainability Plans (37),
Scaling Up (31), Professionalisation
(28), Skills Plotting (33), Festivals and
Events (14), Story Telling (36).
6.Working with the Public Sector:
Inflexibility on the part of centralised
state systems to work with
community-based alliances can
sometimes reduce the potential
impact of alliance building for
business purposes, or limit the
scope for innovation.
Solution: Communicating with local
authorities and working together
to develop mutually supportive
alliances is critical here.
Suggested tools: Community
Futures, (9) The Game Changer
(15) Government Participation
(16), Network analysis (25),
Professionalisation (28), The Dutch
Challenge (40)
7.Scale: Working in larger regions
and municipalities requires radically
different approaches to working
with a village or small community.
The concept of a rural community
can differ from one European
region to another and there is no
one-size fits all alliance building
methodology.
Solution: Modifying the Alliance
Building Model by selecting
appropriate tools and resources from
this guidebook can help develop
alliances in any part of Europe and
beyond. A flexible approach with
regional-specific understanding is
crucial here.
Suggested tools: Business Model
canvas (6), Databases (12), Network
Analysis (25), Networking Café (26),
Touch Table (42), Scaling Up (31)
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Chapter 3: The Alliance Building Blueprint
1. What is an Alliance Building “Blueprint”?
Definition of “Blueprint”:
“Noun: Something which acts as a plan, model, or template for others”.
(From Oxford Online Dictionary http://
oxforddictionaries.com/definition/
english/blueprint)
This “Alliance Building Blueprint” has
been developed over the course of
this project through intensive reflection
and research on the process of
building rural alliances across 6
European countries. The Blueprint
is composed of the following key
elements that complement and link
together to form a pathway to best
practice alliance building:
•An “Alliance Building Model” represented by the diagram
below showing the 4 phases of
the process. These phases involve
“actions”, which link one phase to
the other in sequence.
•A set of “Tool cards” which are
linked to the model, and support
the actions in each of the 4 phases.
These are provided at the back of
this Guidebook. These tools have
been developed by the Rural
Alliance project partners during the
18
project to support and develop
alliances and can be selected at
random and used to suit the needs
and phase of a particular alliance,
or used in sequence if an alliance is
starting from the very beginning.
•The “The Enterprise-Community
Alliance Concept – a Guidebook”
This guidebook is in two parts: the
narrative and the accompanying
tool cards.
The Blueprint can be used by any rural
community or organisation in any
sector that wishes to build an alliance
between businesses, enterprises and
communities.
The model makes it clear that
Enterprise-Community alliances will
best flourish when they are connected
to and work alongside local authorities
and structures. The model gives
guidance on how to ensure that the
alliance is both inclusive, uses the
resources available to it as efficiently
as possible, involves alternative
financing systems and develops
an effective and appropriate
governance structure that will allow
it to have real and transformative
impact not only on the community
itself, but also on the wider systems,
be they economic, social or political.
The Tool Cards that accompany this
Guidebook as part of the Blueprint are
a key part of the process of alliance
building and support to ensure that
these key priorities are met.
Alliance building model is a very
dynamic process. All around it are
many processes going on as well.
Alliance members have many more
roles to play outside the alliance in the
broader sense - which causes a lot
of dynamism. Adapting to constant
change is a key part of the process
of alliance building. An alliance, as in
life itself, can be complicated, and
in each phase of alliance building
people might exit the process. At the
same time, in every phase new people
will join the alliance, and a dynamism
is created by the alliance being able
to adapt to these continuous changes
and continue to absorb the new
energies, interests, skills and ambitions.
Diagram from the Dutch organisation Educatiegroep
(www.educatiegroep.nl), depicting the constant change and
dynamic movement of alliance members as the alliance building
process unfolds.
governance structures. The Blueprint is
therefore more of a “pathway” or plan
of how to build an alliance between
communities and businesses with
links to the public sector, in any rural
European context.
The Blueprint is therefore not meant
to be a “one size fits all” approach to
alliance building as there are many
contextual differences between
regions, communities, goals and
19
20
•
•
•
•
•
•
lo pin g th e g a rden
Celebrate and communicate
Tell the story
Involve more people
Develop collaboration with local government
Monitor and Review progress
Review the Governance Structure
Building on
success
De v e
Create new possibilities
Be a “game changer”
Ensure the legacy
Embed the change
Allow an exit strategy
PHASE 4
•
•
•
•
•
PHASE 1
in g th e seed
Making things happen
PHASE 3
g and re-plan
estin
ting
v
r
Ha
Enterprise Community Alliance
Building Model
Pla n t
Getting people and businesses together
•
•
•
•
•
•
in g th e pl a nt
PHASE 2
Building the
structure
Connect the People
Add business and the public sector
Develop the Shared vision
Find a “window of opportunity”
Find a Facilitator
Harness the energy
Develop an Action Plan
Agree a Time Frame
Develop a Governance Structure
Devise Roles and responsibilities
Review, reflect and re-energise
Develop a “game changer”
Grow
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
The Phases, Actions and Explanation
Phase 1: “Getting
people, businesses
and the public sector
together”: Planting
the seed
Pla n t
in g th e seed
Connect the People
The origins of the alliance don’t matterit can be from an idea that has been
in the community for a long time, or a
completely new initiative. It can come
from a group, or the government, or a
business, or one person with a dream.
ENERGY is the key to the beginning.
The key is to enable people to join
together around a common goal or
idea and to make sure that the energy
they put into it has a ripple effect,
creating more energy and building on
the momentum.
Add Businesses and the Public Sector
The role of the public sector is to
support the alliance in its very early
stage of development by providing
guidance and advice around how
the alliance can add value to
the community and support local
authority projects without trying to take
over or control the process. Once
the energy has begun, people need
space and time to develop their
ideas and agree a common shared
vision. The shared vision should have
local community development at its
heart, with clear understanding of who
the stakeholders are. The early stages
involveGrowmeetings
and conversations
Har
ing
vest
in g th e pl a nt
in g a nd re-plant
run democratically whilst recognising
that key people or “champions”
will begin to take the lead. Others
need to be kept on board at this
critical time to ensure the vision is
comprehensive and inclusive. The
early meetings or discussions will map
out the mutual goals and objectives
of the alliance.
Find a “window of opportunity”
A window of opportunity is a
moment where the “right people”
are connected together at the
“right moment”. This means acting
upon events which propel the
community forwards, and making
the most of opportunities that present
themselves to develop a network. This
“networking” is vital to ensure that a
longer term vision and strategy is not
lost to short term ideas and goals with
relatively limited or short-lived impact.
Find a “Facilitator”
Any developmental process requires
facilitation to ensure that the
goals and objectives
and plans are realistic
and appropriate.
21
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
In terms of alliance building, a
facilitator can ensure that the alliance
is meeting the core objectives of
being resource efficient, inclusive,
having good governance, and is
looking at innovative ways of financial
engineering whilst ensuring that all
parties are represented equally and
all views are listened to.
Phase 2: “Building the
structure”: Growing
the plant
Pla n t
in g th e seed
Grow
in g th e pl a nt
Develop an Action Plan
Now the alliance has its shared vision
and mutual goals and objectives. The
next stage is to plan a practical path
towards meeting the objectives laid
out. It is important that this practical
work is done with good humour and
enjoyable and rewarding activities
are incorporated to keep people
involved.
Agree a Time Frame
A time frame should be realistic and
will vary depending on the objectives.
Delays are inherent in working in a
democratic process and also in
working with local authorities. For this
reason organising short and medium
term goals is important, and within
the short term having a “quick win”
planned will help to build momentum,
22
increase awareness and support, and
garner goodwill and enthusiasm from
existing members.
Develop a Governance Structure
This is important so that the
alliance has credibility, a sound
and sustainable structure, and
transparency in terms of membership,
responsibilities and remits. It does
not need to be a heavy or laborious
process. Sometimes an alliance may
wish to remain a casual grouping
of people who are in loose contact
De v e
Har
en
ng
lopingoals
vest
over a certain
But the end
g the g ard
a n ti
ing and re-plissue.
of such an organisation may be
limited by the nature of the structure
it chooses. Most importantly when
choosing a governance structure
is to reflect on what the alliance
wishes to achieve, and how much
organisation, bureaucracy and working
with outside structures this will entail. A
written agreement or memorandum
of governance may then become
necessary.
Devise and allocate Roles and
Responsibilities
Any alliance will have a variety of
tasks ahead of it that will benefit
from having people with skills in
those areas. Often communities are
full of people who wish to dedicate
their time and energy to meeting a
mutually beneficial goal. Ensuring
that the right people are involved
and are doing the right jobs is key to
the success and sustainability of the
alliance. A few key roles are critical to
the success of the alliance. These are:
•“Champions” from both within the
business sector, and from the wider
community. These people dedicate
time and effort to supporting and
building the alliance.
•“Facilitators” who guide and
support the alliance in meeting
its objectives democratically and
effectively.
•“Overseers”. In order to ensure that
the alliance is successful, you need
people helping to take the right
steps, to ask the right questions, and
to re-balance if it becomes onesided. An “overseer” can link up with
their regional or national networks
and focus on supporting the alliance
to grow and develop into a more
viable and sustainable entity.
•“Do-ers” are the individuals who
DO the work, who have time and
energy to make things happen.
Review, Reflect and Re-energise
Once the mutual goals have been
agreed and roles devised, the energy
must not be lost. This is a really critical
time for the alliance as the early
momentum will have waned, activities
and plans will have begun, and
energy may dip if immediate progress
is not reached or if delays occur. In
order to keep the alliance on track,
a periodic review and reflection is a
good idea to see what has already
been achieved, where the alliance is,
and what it needs in order to develop
to meet its goals.
Develop the “game changer”
A “game changer” can be a person,
an idea or a concept that can bring
about a progressive change in the
fundamental nature of societal
relations. An alliance that looks to the
wider context and plans how to have
a positive impact on the broader
community and region is on the way
to becoming a game changer. This
means recognising the need for
local action, while at the same time
finding ways to link up with the more
strategic level. An alliance may only
achieve relatively small-scale and
localised objectives and will still have
a real and beneficial impact on the
community. However, relationships will
have been built with local authorities
and larger interests in the area. The
alliance may consider its longer term
vision at this stage and the possibilities
for “scaling-up”. This means looking
at local or regional
governance, economic
policy and priorities,
green energies,
23
d
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
food production and consumption.
Working to promote effective and
sustainable change at this level
ensures that the alliances have a
meaningful impact on the community
for the future and will continue to
provide a solution to the problems
that face the community. In practical
terms, it means having dedicated
and interested people making
connections and liaising with the
structures that sit above the “ground
level” of the alliance. These might be
local councillors, aldermen or elected
officials who have an interest and are
committed to supporting the alliance.
Phase 3: “Making
things happen”:
Harvesting and
Grow
re-planting
in g th e pl a nt
Har
vest
in g a nd re-plant
ing
Celebrate and
communicate with pride
At this stage the alliance will
have achieved some of its goals
or objectives. Key here is to
communicate those quick wins and
to develop the interest in the alliance
that they may generate. Even small
successes are important, and should
be celebrated, as these all help
to establish pride and a sense of
ownership and achievement that will
drive further action.
24
Tell the story
Finding out what is the story that people
want to tell, and enabling them to tell
it and spread the word across their
communities and beyond is vital at this
stage. Telling the story of the alliance
and documenting its journey is vital
to give the alliance pride, a cohesive
identity and vision, and communicable
messages for the wider community.
Involve more participants and
supporters
During this phase the development of
interest and enthusiasm around the
alliance is really important. Businesses
may wish to delegate more staff
to supporting or working with the
community. The community members
may wish to change or swap roles, or
to allow newcomers to take over their
De v e
en
lopindevelop
g the g ard
roles or to
new ones. Bringing
new ideas and new people into the
alliance at this “building up” stage is
important and will ensure the alliance
remains aware of the many societal,
economic and political layers that
surround it.
Develop collaboration with local
government
It is vital to ensure that alliances
operating between and amongst
communities and businesses also
involve and liaise with local authorities.
This collaboration is critical as the
alliances exist within a political
governance structure and are not
able to operate independently of this
structure. Agreements, approvals and
negotiations with local authorities are
all an important part of the process
of establishing what the alliances
are able to do. The role of the public
sector here is to firmly establish links
and to look at ways that local authority
funding can support the goals of the
alliance, and how the alliance can
work alongside state structures whilst
maintaining independence of action.
Monitor and review progress
The “middle phase”, where an
alliance has developed as an entity
and had some progress and success
is a really good time to review and
reflect. This can be done in a meeting
or in a more formal way, but the
critical success factor here is including
everyone involved in the process
and communicating
the results,
Grow
Pla n t
in g th e pl a nt
in g th e seed
decisions and impressions that all the
participants have together, to reflect
on what changes need to be made
and how to go about them.
Review governance structure
The alliance is now operating with
a vision and a program of change
and development beyond its initial
ambitions. It may now be able to
visualise a systemic change in the
power structures around it. These
include economic structures, or
the relationship with local and
regional government. In order to be
effective at this level, a review of the
governance structures surrounding
the alliance and also of the structure
of the alliance itself is necessary.
Critical to this is a plan for transition
of management to avoid one of
two major issues that can affect an
alliance; “burn-out” or “loss” of key
players or “champions”, often who
have given so much time and energy
that they need a break or a change in
their own lives and interests. Changing
or amending the framework of the
alliance itself may also support a
scale-up of focus and activities.
Phase 4: “Building on
Success”: Developing
the garden
Har
vest
in g
e-plan
tin
g
De v e
lo pin g th e g a rden
and r
Create new
possibilities
Alliances need to occasionally
re-invent themselves to sustain
the energy and enthusiasm. This
may mean the broadening and
expansion of economic or societal
objectives, or a change
in focus or targets.
Whatever it entails, the
emphasis must be on
25
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
“harvesting the crops” of the previous
efforts and activities, and “re-planting
the seeds” in new ground. The public
sector has a critical role to play here.
Civil servants can support this phase
by communicating, planning and
developing linkages and advising
on scaling-up by looking at funding
opportunities or other partners to link
up with.
Be a “Game changer”
Many alliances that are successful in
achieving their goals and objectives
during the earlier phases will have
created a momentum that means
they are having an impact and can
build on that success to widen out the
objectives of the alliance. In practical
terms, this means an alliance may
have altered the socio–economic
relationships in the community; for
example, by changing the way
renewable energies are provided,
food is grown and consumed, or
how social care is delivered and
managed. The alliance, having
started at a bottom-up local level, will
have a transformative and sustainable
positive impact on the whole
community, with a story to tell to other
communities with similar needs and
problems. The example of the “Esbeek
Co-operation” illustrates this concept
(see Chapter 4).
26
Ensure the legacy, embed the
change
Developing a plan for the ongoing sustainability of the alliance is
important as a process; not only to
give the alliance a life-span beyond
the immediate future, but also as a
way of reviewing and assessing the
direction it is going in. For this reason,
an exploration of how to raise funds
and support will be necessary to
enable the alliance to grow even
further and to develop supportive
structures to spread the benefits of the
alliance to a wider audience.
Allow an exit strategy
Exit strategies are extremely important.
Alliance members should feel able to
reflect, modify, sustain or finish their
work on an alliance, if the activities
were time-bound, or if the alliance is
not flourishing or is having unforeseen
results. Alliance members need to be
supported to quit, or to “re-frame” the
goal of the alliance and begin again,
either under a new identity, with new
members or simply a new strategy for
the future.
3. The Tool cards
The Alliance Building Model and
actions are supported by 44 “Tool
Cards” that give practical support
and tips and that accompany this
Guidebook. These Tool Cards are
coded according to the phases that
they support, and are also linked to
the 4 cross-cutting themes of the Rural
Alliances project that are discussed
in Chapter 6. They can be used
separately or as a package following
each of the phases sequentially.
Please see the accompanying pack
for more details and a full index that
lists all of the tools:
27
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Chapter 4: Ten Alliance Building
Case studies
1. The “Co-operation Esbeek” alliance, THE NETHERLANDS
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Huis van De
Brabantse Kempen)
The area of North Brabant in the
Netherlands has produced an
exciting and dynamic alliance in the
“Cooperation Esbeek”. This alliance
was born in the village of Esbeek in the
region of Hilvarenbeek and involves
around 25 businesses and over 300
community groups. The alliance
began when the village discovered
that the local pub was due to be
closed down due to lack of funding.
Various community members came
together to discuss this problem and
explore ways that they could save
the pub, an essential meeting point
and the “heart of the community” for
hundreds of years.
28
The alliance was able to establish
a crowd-sourcing funding strategy
to both purchase and run the pub,
thus linking the community with
local businesses that were interested
in supporting this initiative. The
pub is now open for business as a
community-owned co-operative, and
the alliance has further plans to use it
to develop ideas around renewable
energy and for social care, amongst
many other ideas. Key to the success
of co-operation, Esbeek is the vision of
the community; their rallying cry: “We
Organise Pride!”
Strong mutual support and well
organised and motivated individuals
with vested interests in the success
of the alliance became the
“champions” of the alliance. These
community leaders realised the
importance of connecting the
residents to the mutual goal of the
businesses and community around
the sense of pride in their area
and what they were able to do
together. Celebration of success
and the respect and support of the
local authrities has now generated
further projects and plans, and the
enthusiasm of the area to improve
the “liveability” of the area continues
to grow. For more infomration on
Co-Operation Esbeek please see the
website: www.esbeek.eu.
2. The “Discover Llangorse and Bwlch” alliance, WALES, UK
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Brecon Beacons
National Park Authority)
The “Discover Llangorse and Bwlch”
alliance is one of the Brecon Beacons’
success stories. The alliance funding has
helped unite these two communities
that sit four miles apart into a vibrant
alliance, with a strong committee and
a number of sub-committees working
towards various goals.
By linking and working together the
Llangorse and Bwlch alliance has
achieved a number of goals since
the beginning of the Rural Alliances
project, starting with commissioning
and completing their Sustainable
Tourism Action Plan in May 2013. The
alliance produced a printed guide
to the area which included a map
and a 12-mile walk that links the two
communities together. The group
have since released a second and
third edition of the leaflet with updates
about the region, with the third one
being funded by themselves making
it a sustainable project. In total
they have had 32,000
copies of the map and
guide produced.
29
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
The alliance also undertook a signage
“rationalisation” study that was
completed in October 2013. This was
to give the area a more coherent
visual image and “brand”, and a
number of signs and interpretive
materials have been successfully
installed to date. Additional
success has included developing
a destination website; a number
of events including the “Bwlch with
Altitude Challenge” which is now part
of neighbouring alliance, Talgarth’s
walking festival, and now has three
communities working together; and a
“Dark Skies” event, taking advantage
of the Brecon Beacons becoming
the 5th Dark Skies Reserve. The group
have also developed a community
newsletter called the “Grapevine”, to
keep people up to date on events
and issues locally, and which is
available in print and online and are
currently in the process of creating a
walking booklet for the area. A final
“success story” is that Ryan Thomas,
an active member of the committee
has been shortlisted by Visit Wales for
the 2014 “Rising Tourism” Star.
For more information on the Llangorse
and Blwch alliance please visit
http://aroundllangorselake.co.uk/
30
3. The “Volkstuin De Keiberg” alliance, BELGIUM
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Innovatiesteunpunt vzw)
This alliance has developed around
the concept of ‘Boerenhof’, meaning
“A farmer’s garden”. In the strongly
urbanised region of Flanders, as in
many parts of both urban and rural
Europe, many people don’t have the
space or the expertise to create their
own kitchen garden and grow their own
food. However, the interest in organic,
home grown fruit and vegetables has
never been higher! The demand for
allotment gardens has been growing
exponentially in recent years and in
some UK cities there is a year-long
waiting list for a plot in an allotment. The
Flemish “Volkstuin De Keiberg” alliance
was established in order to respond to
this need; by sourcing spare farmland
that the farmers cannot or do not need
to utilise, and renting it a very low cost to
their non-farming neighbours.
The idea behind the alliance is
to use the farmland to bring the
community closer to the farm,
both by decreasing the physical
distance, and also removing the
psychological boundaries. During the
alliance’s development, neighbours
came to the farm to get a better
understanding of what farming on
a modern farm means. In addition
to this, farmers used the alliance to
commercialise their food-farming
knowledge by offering courses and
practical help to the community,
thereby supporting them to become
more self-sufficient and to grow their
own organic and cheap food.
So far 8
customers have
started allotment
gardens on
the farm and
are extremely
satisfied, as the
first fruits have
already been
harvested!
The farmers have worked hard
to get community buy-in
and have developed
publicity materials
and promoted the
31
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
alliance in the local newspaper, and
have held some events to increase
awareness. They do this to satisfy the
unmet need in the community to
learn about and grow food, and at
the same time improve relationships
between the farming and non farming
sectors to promote better trust and
understanding.
For more information on the Volkstuin
De Keiberg alliance please visit
http://goo.gl/clekFt
4. The “Mayenne Alliance“ FRANCE
(Associated Rural Alliances partner:
Laval Mayenne Technopole)
Mayenne Alliance is based in the
department of Mayenne, in the
region of Pays de la Loire (NorthWest France); a rural area with a
low population density. Mayenne’s
economy is based on farming
(dairy and meat production, with
quality marks as ‘Boeuf fermier du
Maine’), commerce and industry
(food and dairy industry, electronic
manufacturing). One of the
characteristics of Mayenne is the
many English speaking people who
have settled here for retirement,
especially in the North of the region
where there are almost 3,500 people
from the UK, out of 307,000 Mayenne
inhabitants.
Mayenne Alliance is composed of
English and French speaking people,
working together to stimulate and
develop economic and community
32
initiatives. They are mostly retired
and want to continue to contribute
to their society by using the skills and
capacities they have developed
throughout their careers for the benefit
of the region. These skills include
those learnt through their careers in a
variety of sectors including business,
marketing, sales, social work or
research and development. This
variety of skills and expertise is the
real wealth of the alliance.
Mayenne Alliance was established
in 2012 and has since developed 3
projects, with many potential partners
and “customers”. These projects are:
•“May’ Link” offers free cultural,
business and English language
mentoring to local companies
wishing to improve their
international relations, develop the
linguistic skills of the employees,
The alliance members are very
motivated people and they have a
real willingness to be involved in their
new area and into their community.
They wish to meet new people, to
be a part of something, and to bring
their abilities to the area. The Rural
Alliances concept has given them
an opportunity and a framework from
which to do this, with the benefit of
the wider community and indeed the
region at the heart of their motivations
and aspirations.
and increase social cohesion. This
includes offering English discussion
workshops to allow employees
or entrepreneurs to improve their
spoken English. 4 companies
already used May’ Link, 2 others
are expected.
•“English in schools” supports native
English speakers to visit primary
schools to enable children to
practice English vocabulary. This
project uses the experience of a
woman who has visited schools
since she arrived in Mayenne, and
the alliance is hoping to spread this
initiative to the whole department
of Mayenne.
•“Mayenne Welcome” is a project
to establish a quality mark in shops
and businesses to highlight the
“Mayenne Welcome” (which seems
to be better than in other regions).
For more information on the Mayenne
alliance please visit www.facebook.
com/mayennealliance
33
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
5. The “Co-operation for Wellbeing and Healthcare”
alliance, THE NETHERLANDS
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Stichting Streekhuis Het
Groene Woud en De Meierij)
The ”Co-operation for wellbeing
healthcare ‘Zorg voor elkaar’ (Care
for Each Other)” is a service for
the communities of Oisterwijk and
Moergestel en Heukelom (combined
under the municipality of Oisterwijk).
Oisterwijk is situated in the province of
Brabant in the Netherlands.
The Co-operation focuses on the
development of small scale service
provision for wellbeing and care for
people of all ages, from the above
mentioned communities. The purpose
34
is to give people control over their
own lives and care. This is achieved
by matching supply and demand in
a better way, particularly by utilizing
a digital (online) platform. The Cooperation also supports its members
by providing knowledge and
information, and offers co-ordination
where required.
The Co-operation has 5 key principles
for wellbeing and care: It must be
personable, efficient, reliable, friendly,
and high quality. It partners as much
as possible with organisations and
individuals who offer services based
on the same principles. Together
with these partners, the Co-operation
searches for solutions to practical
problems of its members and strives to
be as cost efficient as possible.
From the beginning of its conception
(August 2013) it has been supported
by Rabobank and Rural Alliances. To
this day, they are important sponsors
and they enable the activities of the
service Co-operation. Provincial and
municipal authorities have been
approached for support, but success
is very limited to date.
providing innovative and responsive
solutions to challenges in the field of
wellbeing and care. On request of
the Municipality, it will form a “Core
team”, which will focus on handling
more complex care issues based
on the proven family care method.
Co-operation between formal
and informal care, interdisciplinary
approach, reduction of unnecessary
bureaucracy, cost control and focus
on people are central themes.
For more information on this Cooperation please visit http://goo.gl/
FTULvD
After a year and a half, the
Co-operation has become a
recognised entity which is now
35
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
6. The “Innovative Road
Maintenance” alliance,
THE NETHERLANDS
(Associated Rural Alliances
partner: Gemeente Lochem)
The “ Innovative road maintenance”
alliance was set up firstly to ensure
that the public roads in the area were
well maintained. As in many parts of
Europe, public sector spending has
been cut in the last decade, to the
degree that some basic services are
no longer paid for from the public
purse. In the Netherlands, this has
affected the maintenance of some
public roads. The catalyst for this
alliance actually came from the
Lochem municipality, as they realized
that they had insufficient money to
maintain the roads properly in the
rural suburbs of Lochem. They wanted
to find a new and innovative solution
to solve this problem, to which the
former alderman responsed. He
brought several inhabitants and
companies together to jointly try to
find a solution.
The best, and most sustainable
solution to this problem was to
collaborate with the community,
and to develop an alliance. This
alliance has since brought community
members, residents and construction
and maintenance businesses
36
together in a series of meetings and
consultations to develop a business
plan. This plan looked at the ways
that the maintenance was previously
done, and identified ways to reduce
costs going forward, by using local
contractors, better planning and
use of volunteers. The plan will
actually provide Lochem with a huge
reduction to their road maintenance
budget. Importantly, the alliance has
also increased the social cohesion
in this neighbourhood, by bringing
people together to work on a shared
problem, and to find a common,
commuity owned and community
driven solution. The third benefit that
the alliance has brought to the area
is that by ensuring that the rural roads
are well-maintained, the economic
vitality of the rural areas will be
sustained and actually enhanced.
Gemeente Lochem hopes that the
“Innovative Roads maintenance
alliance” can be used as a pilot
project from which the lessons learnt
can be replicated in other rural
areas that are suffering from similar
problems.
For more information on the
Innovative Road alliance please visit
http://goo.gl/EGJYlp
7. The “Heritage Publication” alliance, BELGIUM
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Vlaamse
Landmaatschappij [VLM])
The “de Merode” region of Belgium
is a very rural area, characterized by
the fascinating history of being part
of the old estate of the “de Merode”
family, an ancient and very powerful
noble Belgian family. Since parts of the
estate became publicly accessible,
alliances have been formed in the
area between local businesses,
including local food producers,
heritage organizations, hotel and B
and B owners, schools and colleges,
local authority organizations and
the local communities that inhabit
the area. The “Heritage Publication
Alliance” was established with the initial
goal of producing a book about the
rich natural and cultural heritage of the
area. The other goals of the alliance
stemmed from this, and included
the wish to improve relationships and
increase communication between
the 9 communities of the Merode, by
organizing events that bring people
together to share their knowledge and
understanding of the region and by
making contact with new-comers. The
alliance also wished to create a tool
for local rural entrepreneurs to connect
their products and services with local
stories, thereby creating a regional
identity and brand and increasing the
potential for tourism.
The book ‘Prinsheerlijk: The heritage of
de Merode.’ was published
and launched on the
14th of September
2014 during
37
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
the annual regional festival, the
‘Merodehappening’.
During the festival about 300 books
were dispersed to the local people
that pleaded willingness to do
something for the community in
return. These activities included setting
up an educational activity for the 85
primary schools in the Merode, or
organizing community visits to local
heritage organizations. By giving
the book away “for free” in return for
commitment to the community, the
book has now developed a value
as being part of the heritage of the
region in itself, and has developed
solidarity and local pride. The alliance
38
members have made up a list of ways
to disseminate the further 3,000 copies
of the book, including by giving them
to heritage organizations, local libraries
and schools, and to all the local
entrepreneurs of the region, who have
now developed a brand and a sense
of responsibility over the book and the
heritage of the region itself.
For more information on the Heritage
publication alliance please visit
http://goo.gl/RWIuO6
8. The “Mulranny” alliance, IRELAND
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Mayo County Council)
Mulranny alliance is located in a
unique position, surrounded by
natural, cultural and historic assets,
in particular the beautiful Clew Bay,
Achill Island, outdoor and water
activities, as well as access to nearby
attractions such as Ballycroy National
Park. This alliance has the objective
of increasing tourism revenue to the
small businesses in the area, whilst
also improving the quality of life for
the local communities by improving
the infrastructure and organising
events. The alliance members include
local businesses, the local council,
community members and volunteers.
They have worked hard together to
improve their area for both local
inhabitants and businesses and to
attract more visitors and tourists.
Activities include the construction of
new footpaths through a section of
the village to improve access and
safety, and the development of local
training courses to increase skills and
expertise locally; for example, the
“Failte Ireland Tourism” training course.
The alliance has also developed a
“Sustainable Tourism Action Plan”,
which was launched in October 2014
by the Minister of State for Transport,
Tourism & Sport. The Launch was
attended by community members,
local tourism services providers and
local County Councillors.
The alliance developed this plan in
order to support a sustainable, vibrant,
and interconnected tourism base
that complements the existing local
economy.
The group is set up as a Voluntary
Group with no formal status.
A Chairperson and a
committee manage
the process and
39
The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
the group uses the actions from the
Community Action Plan from the
Community Futures programme (see
Tool card 9). The alliance members
are well motivated and have several
“champions” prepared to go the extra
mile to provide a more secure future
for the rural area of Mulranny for the
future generations to enjoy!
For more information on the Mulranny
alliance please visit http://goo.gl/yJiId7
9. The “MacGillycuddy Reeks Mountain Access”
alliance, IRELAND
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: South Kerry Development
Partnership Ltd. [SKDP Ltd.])
The MacGillycuddy Reeks Mountain
Access alliance has developed
with the main goal of increasing
the safety and access of Ireland’s
highest mountain, Carrauntoohil. This
mountain is part of the “Reeks” range
of mountains and attracts many
tourists and visitors, which has lead
to some erosion and damage to the
main paths up the mountain. The
other goal of the alliance is to support
the development of new sustainable
business opportunities, to enhance
the vibrancy of the rural communities
in the area. The alliance has so far
been very proactive and has put in
place people counters to confirm the
40
actual numbers of users at the three
main access points to the mountain.
They are also studying the condition
of the main climbing routes on the
mountain, and looking at innovative
ways to prevent further erosion and
ensure safe access for climbers.
They are also finalising an insurance
scheme to ensure landowners who
provide access to the mountains are
fully covered from liability. The alliance
is actively involved in managing the
mountain area as a natrual resource
by cleaning away litter, and carrying
out repairs.
This alliance is so successful because
it brings together all the groups who
have an interest in developing this
natural asset, including landowners,
the local businesses and community
groups, those who use the mountain
for recreation purposes, and also the
Public sector, including the council
and the South Kerry Development
Partnership Ltd. The alliance is
creating a united voice with regard
to the sustainable development of
this wonderful, prime natural asset,
and will enhance the vibrancy of
the communities in the area of the
Reeks over the coming years. It is an
excellent example of the benefits
building alliances, and the learning
from this alliance is to be used at
a national level in Ireland, to put in
place similar alliances in other areas
throughout the country.
For more information about the
MacGillycuddy Reeks Mountain
Access alliance please visit
http://www.southkerry.ie/
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
10. The “Te-Mix” alliance, FRANCE
(Associated Rural Alliances partner: Maison de l’Emploi, du
Développement, de la Formation et de l’Insertion du Pays de
Redon- Bretagne Sud [MEDEFI])
In rural France as in many parts
Europe, transport is a key issue, as
there is a lack of public transport,
and running a private car can be
costly or impractical for many people.
MEDEFI has been trying to find ways to
improve the mobility of rural areas for
many years, and has assisted in the
emergence and the building of the
Te-Mix alliance. Te-Mix was established
in 2011 to develop a new concept of
transport to meet the needs for better,
cheaper and more available transport
in rural Brittany.
42
The idea behind this alliance was to
establish a mixed transport system by
allowing passengers and goods to
travel together in a single vehicle.
The aim was to rationalise the
transport options available to meet
local demand, by increasing the
availability of transport, making it more
cost effective and easier to access.
The benefits of this would be an
increased mobility of rural inhabitants,
reducing costs to individuals and,
critically, reducing the isolation felt by
those living in rural communities with
no access to a car. There would also
be benefits to local businesses, as
the scheme would enable a better
access to labour and reduce the
costs of transporting goods.
The alliance has included various
community groups, individuals who
will benefit from this type of mixed
transport, and transport companies
themselves. First, they clarified the
legality of this type of initiative, and
then they established a governance
structure using a co-operative system
to ensure democratic decisionmaking. The next step was to study
the logistical possibilities of adapting
vehicles for mixed transport, and
to undertake market research to
understand demand for this type
of service. The demand is huge,
incorporating both the young and the
older generations, local businesses
who would benefit, and also disabled
people. The alliance is now looking
for funding streams to develop
the initiative further and identifying
transport companies who are willing to
run pilot schemes across the region.
For more infomration ahout the
Te-Mix alliance please visit
http://www.medefi.fr/index.asp
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Chapter 5: Alliance Building in action
1. Core Values
The following values have been
developed by the Rural Alliances
partnership in building EnterpriseCommunity Alliances. These values
have been used consistently by
all communities, businesses and
organisations building alliances in
Belgium, France, the Netherlands,
Ireland, Wales and Germany, and are
considered essential for transnational,
regional and local co-operation.
1.Mutual respect and support of all
parties, resulting in co-operation
and a sharing of knowledge
and ideas.
2.Innovative outcomes resulting
from cross-fertilisation of ideas and
experiences.
3.Essential equality of all parties
arising from responsiveness and
listening to all views, but providing
professionalism and leadership
where required.
4.Pride in alliances that deliver high
quality innovative outcomes
5.Mutual trust and honesty between
all parties producing an openness
which allows new ideas to flourish.
6.A socially responsible project that
invests in a sustainable future.
7.A stimulating and enjoyable
44
partnership that is focussed on
community and business needs
and delivering tangible benefits to
them.
2. The Rural Alliance
partners and their regional
contexts
Rural areas in North West Europe and
beyond are facing similar problems
caused by rapid demographic and
economic change, and urgently
need new solutions and strategies
to maintain economic and social
viability. Cooperation under the Rural
Alliances project has brought together
partners from 6 different European
Countries and from three different
sectors: The public sector, academic
institutions and foundations/not-forprofit organisations. These partners
have very different skills, ways of
working and ideas about how to best
protect their rural areas, including
how to best use and conserve
the countryside, manage the
environment and develop new ecobased enterprises across North-West
Europe. This transnational working and
co-operation has provided a wealth
of information, new ideas and models
of community development.
The Rural Alliances project has involved
the following organisations as partners:
From the Public Sector:
Brecon Beacons National Park Authority (BBNPA) – WALES
The BBNPA manages the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales,
an area of 1344 km² comprising the Brecon Beacons mountain range
and an administrative area of 9 Unitary Authorities.
The total population of the National Park is around 32,000 people.
The organisations has experience of forming and supporting clusters
of tourism-based enterprises, using sustainability, quality, sense of
place and use of new tech as the binding values. The BBNPA also has
experience of community consultation and promoting and supporting
businesses to improve environmental performance and to attain
recognised eco-standards. They have pioneered an “Ambassador
Scheme” for local businesses to
promote the local area (see Tool
card 5).
The BBNPA has strategic support
from the Welsh Assembly
Government, Natural Resources
Wales, and 9 Unitary Authorities.
For more information on the BBNPA
please visit http://www.beaconsnpa.gov.uk/
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (VLM) - BELGIUM
VLM is a government agency
responsible for the organisation
and management of open spaces
in rural Flanders. Flanders is a
geographical region in the north of
Belgium coinciding with the federal
Belgian state’s Flemish Region, an
area of around 13,522 km2 and
around 6,350,765 inhabitants,
giving it a population density of
around 470/km2.
VLM has experience in contributing to rural policy-making, to improve
the quality of life in rural and peri-urban areas of Flanders. They have
experience in developing integrated projects dealing with economic,
social and spatial development issues, and assisting rural business
developments and networks. VLM has strategic support from the Flemish
Government, provinces, and municipalities.
For more information on VLM please visit http://goo.gl/2W53Ne
46
Comhairle Contae Mhaigh Eo - IRELAND
Comhairle Contae Mhaigh Eo, or
Mayo County Council, is located in the
North West of Ireland, the third largest
of Ireland’s 32 counties, incorporating
2,159 square miles (5591.78 km2) with
123,839 inhabitants, giving the country
a very low population density. Mayo
County Council has been promoting
integrated responses to the challenges of rural depopulation and service
rationalisation for many years under the Mayo Community Futures
initiative, which has been delivered in over 16 communities across
County Mayo to facilitate rural communities in identifying prioritised
development goals and action planning to make positive changes.
Mayo CC has the strategic support of the Mayo County Development
Board (incorporating the local development sector, enterprise support
agencies, social partners and the local government sector), Mayo
County Community Forum, and the Mayo Ideas Lab.
For more information on Mayo County Council please visit
http://www.mayococo.ie/
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Gemeente Lochem - THE NETHERLANDS
The Municipality of Lochem is
a local government authority,
comprising 33,000 inhabitants
covering 200 km2 with 1 town
and 9 villages, with extensive
rural surroundings. Lochem is a
rural municipality, rich in beautiful
scenery. It has a municipal centre
(Lochem), several villages (Almen;
Barchem; Epse; Eefde; Gorssel;
Harfsen; and Laren), and a number
of hamlets (Exel; Joppe; Kring van
Dorth; and Zwiep). The municipality
is characterised by its rural nature
and agricultural production.
Gemeente Lochem facilitates
rural communities in identifying
their development goals and
shares practical ways to develop
new service delivery and social
businesses; for example, in energy
and health care. It has strongly
promoted collaboration between
enterprise and community groups,
welfare and housing associations in
the region.
Lochem has the strategic support of the National Government & Province of
Gelderland & National Climate Alliance & Association of Dutch Municipalities.
For more information on Gemeente Lochem please visit
http://gemeente.lochem.nl/
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Academic Institutions:
University of Wales Trinity St David - WALES
The University of Wales Trinity St David
has campuses in Cardiff, Swansea,
Carmarthen, Lampeter and
London. The Rural Alliances project
was developed and supported by
the Lampeter campus. The small
market town of Lampeter (Welsh
name Llanbedr Pont Steffan ) is
situated in Ceredigion, South West
Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Teifi and the Afon Dulas.
At the 2001 National Census, the population was 2894. Lampeter is
therefore the smallest university town in the UK. The university specialises
in traditional humanities and modern business-focussed programmes,
coupled with experience in rural development research, managing grant
funded projects and a history of community development work in Wales
and beyond. Trinity St David has contributed practical research on social
enterprise development and corporate responsibility and the role of
entrepreneurship in local sustainable development.
The University of Wales Trinity St David has the strategic support of the
Welsh Assembly Government; Local Authorities (Carmarthenshire,
Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire), Cadw, and the Wales Rural Network.
For more information on The University of Wales Trinity St David please visit
http://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
University of Marburg, Department of Geography - GERMANY
The University of Marburg, founded in 1527, is one of the oldest and
most famous universities in Germany. Approximately 25,000 students
and 8,000 staff work and study there in over 150 buildings, spread
all over the city. The Department of Geography is located close to
the Elisabeth Church right in the city center and offers around 1,000
students a fabulous place to study and work. More than 80 people are
working at the department in the various fields of Geography. The variety
of research approaches in the faculty gives the opportunity to gain
insights into new fields of study and look at similar issues from diverse
perspectives. The Department of Geography focuses on environmental,
social and economic issues to understand and solve problems from
a spatial perspective, with experience of rural development and
demographic change research, including how economic growth can
be sustained. The department has a history of working transnationally with
universities across Europe.
The County of Hessen where Marburg is situated is a predominately rural
area with a mix of agriculture & forestry, whereas the City of Marburg,
as the administrative centre, is dominated by the public service sector,
academic and related services as well as the pharmaceutical industry.
For more information on University of Marburg please visit
http://goo.gl/wEO3zo
50
Foundations / Not-For-Profit organisations:
Innovatiesteunpunt vzw – BELGIUM
Innovatiesteunpunt vzw is the Flemish agricultural and horticultural
organisation which comprises of 75% of all Flemish farmers and has
200 local chapters, covering East and West Flanders. It incorporates
LANDELIJKE GILDEN, a rural socio-cultural organisation with a membership
of over 70,000 rural families. Agriculture and horticulture in Flanders has
traditionally a familial character, but just like agriculture in other regions,
is increasingly characterised by an increase in scale, modernisation and
expansion. In Flanders, intensive sectors constitute the largest segment
of agriculture including pig breeding, poultry and dairy farming and
vegetables, plants and fruit.
Innovatiesteunpunt vzw has a wealth of experience of rural enterprises
and communities, developing new markets, agri-diversity projects and
services, business planning, agriculture & rural policy.
It has the strategic support of the Flemish municipalities,
Plattelandscentrum Meetjesland & RURANT.
For more information on Innovatiesteunpunt vzw please visit
http://www.innovatiesteunpunt.be/EN/Home
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Laval Mayenne Technopole (LMT) – France
LMT is a non-profit organization based in the Mayenne department, in the
Pays-de-la-Loire region (North-West France). The Mayenne department
covers 5,175 km² and has a population of 307,031 with a density of 59/
km². It is characterized by agriculture and industry (including the food
industry and manufacturing).
LMT is the key actor for innovation in Mayenne and supports economic
development of the territory through innovation. With more than 15 tailormade programs and tools, LMT supports innovative entrepreneurship
(start-up companies and SME’s): start-ups acceleration program
(Idénergie), a boutique dedicated to start-ups (Neoshop), territorial
innovation Day (Inov’Dia), Incubator UP (with 30 start-ups), business
premises, events on innovation, and training in business and marketing.
Moreover in the heart of local, national and international networks, LMT
facilitates the co-operation between scientific and technological skills,
and supports companies in collaborative projects and partnership.
The main goal of LMT in Rural Alliances has been to establish, assist and
cultivate rural businesses to improve the area’s economic potential and
to bring innovation to the partnership.
Within RA, LMT has two local partners
who supported and developed their own
projects and alliances: Communauté de
Communes des Coëvrons (local authority
for 39 “communes” with a population of
27,496) and Mairie d’Evron (population of
7,121).
For more information on LMT, please visit
www.laval-technopole.fr
52
Stichting Streekhuis Het Groene Woud – THE NETHERLANDS
Het Groene Woud (The Green Forest) is a special area located in NorthBrabant between the cities of Tilburg, Eindhoven and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
It includes nature reserves such as the Kampina, the Oisterwijk forests
and fens, Velderbos and the Dommel. In 2004 “Het Groene Woud” was
designated by the government as a National Landscape to prevent the
area between the three large cities from becoming more urbanized.
HGW is a not for profit network that works across 13 municipalities with a
range of community-oriented, non-government organizations aiming
to strengthen landscape and green economy. And to promote cooperation and innovation in the region with a long legacy of experience
in rural development working with businesses and the community.
It receives strategic support from the Province of North Brabant; 13
Municipalities (including the 3 cities), 2 Water Boards: Dommel, Aa
& Maas; 3 nature conservation organizations: Brabants Landschap,
Natuurmonumenten, Staatsbosbeheer; organization on agriculture ZLTO;
Regional Account Het Groene Woud; Cooperation Het Groene Woud.
For more information on Stichting Streekhuis Het Groene Woud please visit
http://www.hetgroenewoud.com
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Huis van De Brabantse Kempen –
THE NETHERLANDS
Huis van De Brabantse Kempen
is located in the southeast of
Nord Brabant, a province in the
Netherlands located in the south of
the country, bordered by Belgium’s
Antwerp and Limburg provinces in
the south, the Meuse River (Maas) in
the north, Limburg in the east and
Zeeland in the west.
Huis van De Brabantse Kempen is
a non-governmental organisation
that provides development support
to eight municipalities, where
organisations and residents work
together to develop their rural
communities, with the aim of
transforming them into thriving,
sustainable and happy places
to live. The organisation’s staff
have expertise in developing locally based renewable energy projects,
self-build housing schemes, & regeneration of village shops with joint
enterprise & community involvement, along with the KempenGoed
Foundation approach of local entrepreneurs organising regional
branding.
They have strategic support from the Province of Nord Brabant,
Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven, ZET Brabant, ZLTO, Esbeek
Cooperative; Zorgcoöperatie Hoogeloon, and Kempengoed.
For more information on the Huis van De Brabantse Kempen please visit
http://www.brabantsekempen.eu/nl
54
South Kerry Development Partnership Ltd - IRELAND
The SKDP Ltd. is one of 36 National Integrated Local Development
Companies operating in Ireland. SKDP is based in South Kerry, in
the Southern part of the County of Kerry, covering 2,500 km2 with a
population of 47,192. Kerry is the 5th largest of the 32 counties of Ireland
by area and the 13th largest by population. The regional capital is
Killarney, which is one of Ireland’s most famous tourist destinations. The
Lakes of Killarney, an area of outstanding natural beauty, are located in
Killarney National Park. The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the most westerly
point of Ireland.
The SKDP Ltd. aims to redress the particular forms of exclusion
experienced by people living in rural areas, by providing assistance
for rural business development and networks, developing micro-finance
projects and running rural training programmes. It has huge expertise in
establishing and supporting clusters of businesses and community groups,
building in processes to develop greater autonomy and self -reliance.
SKDP Ltd. has the strategic support of Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland,
TEAGASC, Enterprise Ireland, 31 Community Groups, Chambers of
Commerce and the National Farmers’ Union.
For more information on SKDP Ltd. please visit http://www.southkerry.ie/
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Maison de l’Emploi, du
Développement, de la Formation
et de l’Insertion du Pays de RedonBretagne Sud (MEDEFI) – FRANCE
The Department of Employment
Development, Training and
Integration for Redon and South
Brittany (MEDEFI), is a not-for-profit
organisation dedicated to local
and sustainable development of
55 municipalities, both rural and
industrial. The region of Redon is
a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine
department in Brittany in northwestern France. The department
is named after its two main rivers,
the Ille and the Vilaine, whose
confluence is in Rennes, the capital
of the department and of the
region. It has an area of 6,775 km2
with a population of 955,846, and
a population density of 140/km2.
MEDEFI has a programme of
assistance for rural business
development, with a focus on
developing environmentally friendly
mobility solutions for people living
in rural areas. It also provides information on policy and planning to
improve rural living and sustainability in the countryside.
MEDEFI has strategic support from the MEDEFI Board, Chambers of Trade,
Local Authorities & Development Agencies.
For more information on MEDEFI, please visit http://www.medefi.fr/
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Chapter 6: Alliance Building at the heart of Rural Development
1. The Enterprise-Alliance Building concept and the 4
cross-cutting themes of rural development
The Rural Alliances project recognises
that the need for a holistic approach
to rural development is necessary.
This means that building alliances
in rural communities cannot work in
isolation from the wider social issues of
marginalisation, deprivation, misuse
of resources, economic decline
and weak or ineffective governance
structures. Therefore, throughout the
project the partners have focused on
working towards greater functionality
and integration of 4 key cross-cutting
themes. These are:
•Improved Governance structures
•Inclusion
•Resource efficiency
•Financial engineering
A short description of the work on each
of these four areas follows, and is written
by the designated “Cross-cutting Theme
Leaders” within the project, whose
expertise and experience in working on
these issues has given them a position
of authority and guidance within the
context of transnational working, both
within the project and beyond.
Improved governance structures:
Changing roles between the public
and private sectors:
While the large fossil fuel based
utilities in Western Europe are facing
near bankruptcy, thousands of local
energy companies, often citizendriven cooperatives, are thriving.
Also, while our health systems can
hardly cope with the demographic
change and, as a consequence,
the increased demand for care,
new localised systems of healthcare are proving to be competitive
with the large-scale institutionalised
health industry. Local initiatives get
the “right to challenge” and often
prove that they have a better business
case, can create more value at
different levels, and can strengthen
the economic and social structure
of the local communities far better
compared to traditional “outsourced”
or “government” initiatives.
It is not only social innovation
which does this. It is
also technological
innovation, from
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
solar energy and wind farms to
the Internet and smartphone. All
of these developments allow local
entrepreneurs to take up an active
role. For local, regional and national
governments, it is often a challenge
to recognise this constructive strength.
It is even more of a challenge to
identify the initiatives, communicate
and empower them. This change
demands new rules of governance.
The government needs to change
from the institute which controls, into
an institute which facilitates. Instead
of providing answers, the government
needs to stimulate the debate and
will help with formulating questions.
It needs to invite local partners, nongovernmental organisations and
businesses, to join on equal basis
in a search for answers. And local
government needs to help these
local initiatives to professionalise,
to build business cases. The local
government will see its role change
from representative democracy
to participatory democracy. And
leaders of local initiatives won’t look at
government as decision-makers, but
will take up their own responsibilities.
This demands “governance”.
New roles have to be defined
and understood. The government
organisations, with its partners, will
have to learn to become adaptive.
Innovation in our new and circular
58
economy is a key-issue. Learning by
doing, making mistakes, and taking
risks, in an open and transparent
environment. Also at this level, from
human resource management to
the way controllers function demands
a change of rules and cultures.
Everyone has to be part of this
change, or success in transition and
innovation will be a lucky chance.
Finally, we will have to move from
short-term to long-term thinking.
Our work is based on a vision,
translated into a persuasive story.
Which in its turn, is translated into a
business case which shows increase
of value, runs for a long period, is
dynamic in its design and allows
for innovation. There are few public
institutes which have, within culture
and practice, such long term
perspective. Most of the governance
models focus on one or two year
cycles, while many of the political
cycles are of the 4-year kind. This
has to change, and governance
structures need to be in place to allow
for long-term, circular business cases
with multiple value creation.
Thijs de la Court, Adviseur duurzame
ontwikkeling en circulaire economie,
Gemeente Lochem
Inclusion
Inclusion has been an important
cross-cutting theme for the Rural
Alliances project. Through Master
Classes and workshops the Rural
Alliances partners have a common
understanding that rural inclusion has
to take into account the following: the
complexity of communities; apathy/
fatigue of initiatives; over-reliance on
key individuals; it is time consuming and
there could be underlying conflicts that
have to be managed.
The subject of inclusion has thus
given rise to new tools and initiatives
of alliances; such as the Welcome
Scheme, where rural villages provide
a hamper of local produce and
vouchers to joint local clubs and
societies when new people come to live
in their area. Remote rural communities
are being linked through social media
and training has been given to assist
with this. Rural areas are at risk of
losing young people when they go
away to study and make their new lives
in other places. In order to attract them
back and find out how they respond
to this initiative a “customer journey”
process has been developed. This
evaluates how easy and how well
the whole cycle of helping young
professionals to re-settle or move back
to rural areas works for them.
Mary Wrafter, Support Worker,
Community & Integrated
Development, Mayo County Council
Laetita Guth, Chef de projet
Mutations économiques, MEDEFI
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Much has been learned through the
Community Futures initiative of Mayo
County Council. This initiative is run
through a partnership of communities
and agencies to: encourage more
people to become active in their
communities; strengthen and develop
local community organisations, i.e.
set up alliances; enable communities
to identify and progress priority
projects and actions; and enable
communities to effectively represent
their interests at local, county, and
national levels. Community groups
review themselves to get a current
status on elements such as housing
provision, jobs and job potential,
key assets, tangible and intangible;
this includes investigating the mix
of people in their communities and
identifying areas of concern. The
Community Futures programme
importantly asks communities to
future-gaze and set out projects and
priorities to maintain and improve the
vitality and sustainability of their area/
town/village. The Communities Futures
process specifically includes a review
and reflection on inclusion issues.
60
Mobility has played a key role the
workshops and discussions between
partners. Mobility within Rural Alliances
has come to mean more than rural
transport and getting people from ‘A’
to ‘B’. Mobility includes social mobility,
i.e. the opportunities available to
rural people to work, socialize and
be part of their community. It also
means access to, and the ability
to be given, good information.
Interactive workshops have been run
with alliances and members of rural
communities to make them more
aware of the meaning, the barriers
and opportunities that “mobility” has
to offer.
Resource efficiency
Rural areas across Europe have
experienced the withdrawal of
traditionally thought of public
services; such as buses, social and
medical care, housing for those who
can’t afford to rent or buy, public
conveniences, telephones, post
offices and libraries. At the same time
rural areas have sought to develop
really innovative renewable energy
schemes within their communities,
including joint bio-mass and biogas projects, electric and biodiesel
community car schemes, alongside
wind and solar energy projects.
Throughout the Rural Alliances project
the theme of resource efficiency
has been the subject of lectures
and workshops for partners and
their alliances to share the range of
initiatives that they have undertaken
that could be transferrable to
other areas of Europe. At each of
the workshops the most apparent
resource was found to be people.
People: to take the first steps to
developing innovative service
provisions. People: to break down the
conventions of compartmentalised
barriers to the delivery of contracts
and new approaches to setting up
renewable energy projects. People:
to make things happen! Alongside
the recognition of the importance of
motivated people has also been the
need to “care for the environment”,
promoting eco-efficiency and
stewardship across the range of
alliance projects that are undertaken;
for example, the Green Business
Tourism Scheme, which sets ecomanagement criteria and targets for
businesses involved in tourism in the
Brecon Beacons National Park.
Transnational and bilateral visits took
part during the Rural Alliances project
to provide first-hand experience and
foster closer working relationships
between alliances and partners
focused on resource efficiency
issues. One of the key outcomes of
this cross-cutting theme has been
the establishment of a Renewable
Energy Transnational Alliance Group.
This group has taken on the
responsibility for organising
its own meetings,
swopping ideas and
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
technologies and is poised to continue
into the future with plans for joint
projects and applications for funding
future projects together.
Seán de Buitléar, Project Manager/
Communication Officer - Rural
Alliances South Kerry Development
Partnership Limited
Paul Skellekens, Huis van De
Brabantse Kempen
Financial engineering
The “Financial Crisis” has put into
sharp perspective the need to look
at different ways to support rural
economies and communities in
North West Europe. The Rural Alliances
opening conference drew attention
to alternative and complimentary
currencies during a focused workshop
to highlight the cross-cutting theme
of Financial Engineering. Even at this
early stage in the project partners
shared their experiences on the
“Local Enterprise Trading Scheme”,
which uses local currency and taps
into community skills and experience
to provide for goods and services.
In addition, the so called “Regional
Account”, practised in North Brabant
is a partnership between traditional
financial institutions, such as banks,
which have set up and provide a
fund for local projects in exchange for
customer loyalty.
These two examples are some of
the many that were provided and
the subjects of workshops at the
transnational exchange meetings
taken from the experience of
partners and their alliances. Partners
all contributed to the handbook on
“Alternative Financial Systems for
the Countryside” produced by the
Flemish Land Agency, one of the
Rural Alliances’ Partners. This crosscutting theme not only featured at
each of the transnational exchanges
with master classes and workshops,
but it also provided a comprehensive
portfolio of case studies, highlighting
different approaches to supporting
projects, services and other initiatives
with practical examples as to how
these different approaches been
implemented.
Partners and their alliances were
actively engaged in a process to
find ways of supporting a publication
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for de Merode area as a test of the
methods used to generate ideas for
alternatives to conventional funding
mechanisms. Having highlighted
the problem and need for financial
support, the transnational group
was asked to identify the different
stakeholders and target groups that
could provide financial or other
support. Next, the group split up
to brainstorm as to different ideas
that could be used to raise finance
and help to distribute the book. This
process culminated in a range of
practical and feasible ideas that
were taken back by the Flemish
Land Agency, who have since
implemented a number of these.
This workshop was a great illustration
of transnational working and drew
upon the skills and experience of the
partners and their alliances.
Sylvie Fosselle, Vlaamse
Landmaatschppij
Kees Margry, Stichting Streekhuis Het
Groene Woud en De Meierij
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
2. The Rural Vibrancy Measuring Index (RVMI):
A diagnostic tool for rural vibrancy
in communities
The very core of the Rural Alliances
project is the creation of transnational
cooperation and tools that help to
initiate Enterprise-Community Alliances
to enhance rural vibrancy.
The Rural Alliances project partners
spent a long time trying to find a
definition for ‘vibrancy’ that would
translate into several other European
languages. It was surprisingly
complicated to find common
ground! The definition that everyone
finally agreed with is as follows:
‘Rural Vibrancy’ describes the
condition of a rural community, which
is characterised by active involvement
and the creative, dynamic interaction
of people from different generations
and groupings, with the capacity to
act jointly and to create common
interests and objectives.
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The project partners agreed that in
order for alliances to truly reflect the
needs of rural communities, using a
measure of the vibrancy of Europe’s
rural areas to act as a baseline
was vital. Moreover, a lot of other
important terms like ‘rural’ are likewise
not defined easily. The methodology
was developed over a number of
years and uses a dual approach.
1.The first part is a toolkit to be
used for groups, alliances and
intermediaries working together in a
participatory methodology.
2.The second part is an individual
questionnaire, the “Rural Vibes”
survey. This survey is accessible
online, and can also be printed off
and used in face-to face interviews
or discussions, over the telephone
or in the café over a cup of tea
and a cake!
The importance of the Rural Vibrancy
Measuring Index is in its use and in
the analysis of the results gathered.
If the survey is done by a number of
people from the same community,
results highlighting the strengths and
weaknesses of the community can
be easily obtained, and generate an
overall impression of how vibrant the
area is. The alliance or community
group can then ensure that any
action plan or activities planned will
have a direct and positive influence
on the community.
The RVMI is summarised in Tool card
number 30 and the Rural Vibes survey
can be accessed online using this link:
http://www.ruralvibes.eu/
Florian Warburg, Rural Alliances Project
officer, Philipps-Universität Marburg,
Fachbereich
3. Transnational collaboration
The benefits that have resulted from
transnational participation in this
project have been considerable
in terms of the alliance building
tools and methods jointly produced
over the project period. Many
parts of North West Europe have
had to face similar problems of
rapid demographic change the
challenge of finding new solutions
and strategies to maintain economic
and social viability in their rural areas.
Cooperation between the partners
and their alliances has combined
knowledge, skills, ideas and methods
to develop a completely new
Enterprise Community Alliance
approach to tackle these challenges.
The Enterprise-Community Alliance
formula outlined in this model is
based on tapping into the best
of entrepreneurial attributes
and combining these
with the best of
community values.
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Transnational exchanges, visits and
workshops have provided the unique
opportunity for rural communities
to share and borrow ideas from
each other. The resulting alliances
have developed tools and methods
that are transferable to other rural
areas and situations. Cooperation
between alliances has helped to build
confidence in what they are doing
singularly as well as jointly, with more
and more alliances from across the
partnership getting together to form
long-term relationships. These groups
include those focusing on renewable
energy, arts and crafts, local food,
heritage and culture, mobility, health
care and access to the countryside.
They have been able to share reallife experiences when they have
come together on either transnational
meetings and exchanges or bilateral
visits to each other.
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The partnership has had the benefit
of having new academic insights into
the way that alliances are formed
and sustained from our partner
universities. These have included the
collection of information, data and
visits to the alliances and partner
areas and taking part in transnational
workshops and events to gain firsthand knowledge and experiences of
alliance building methods. The result
has been a remarkable store of tools
that current and new alliances can
draw on to stimulate and sustain their
alliances and, through them, rural
vibrancy across North West Europe
and beyond.
Richard Tyler, Sustainable Tourism
Manager, Brecon Beacons National
Park Authority
Conclusion
Eurostat states that around 80% of EU
citizens live in urban areas, with rural
areas home to 25% of the population,
and yet accounting for more than 80%
of the total EU Territory. Each rural area
has its own cultural, economic and
social patchwork of activities which are
in turn being dramatically affected by
the various challenges associated with
demographic change and economic
instability in the last decade. There is
evidence of both an ageing and in
some cases a declining rural population,
accompanied by the economic and
societal challenges associated with
migration. This leads to isolated groups
including elderly people and young
or single parents, increasing social
polarisation, reducing employment
prospects, sinking fiscal receipts and
reduced investment in services and
infrastructure. All of this compromises
the capacity of rural areas to remain
vibrant and to realise their full
economic and innovative potential
to contribute to a culturally dynamic
and competitive Europe. Traditional
solutions are no longer sufficient.
Co-operation and mutual support
is desperately needed in rural areas
of North-West Europe as an urgent
priority. Rural Alliances’ “The Enterprise-
Community Alliance Concept – a
Guidebook” can support communities
across Europe that are facing these
same issues and problems on a daily
basis. The Alliance concept offers a
new and ground-breaking system of
community development targeting
community groups, individuals,
businesses and enterprises.
By using the concept of collaboration
and mutual support across the different
sectors in rural areas, stronger and
more resilient communities can be
built quickly and effectively, raising
the quality of life of the areas, and
improving access to affordable
and sustainable services for the
more vulnerable sectors of society.
By following the “Alliance Building
Blueprint” comprised of this guidebook,
the Alliance Building Model and Tool
cards, communities across Europe
can now come together and seek
new ways of working that are locally
owned and bring a sense of pride and
togetherness to their regions.
For more information on any of the
elements of this Guidebook or
to learn more about the
tool cards please visit
www.ruralalliances.eu
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The Enterprise-Community Alliance Concept – A Guidebook
Partners
This project is co-financed
by the European Regional
Development Fund through
the Interreg IVB North
West Europe Programme
to promote strong and
prosperous communities.
Maison de l'Emploi
du DEveloppement
de la Formation
et de l'Insertion
du Pays de Redon
Bretagne Sud
68
( M E D E F I )