Rural Social Enterprise Programme update
A development programme to establish and embed social enterprise in rural community transport in England. (Updated August 2011)
The Rural Social Enterprise Programme (RSEP) is funding eight rural community transport organisations (CTOs) to employ development managers with the express aim of significantly increasing the percentage of their income derived from securing public service contracts. The origin of the programme is in research carried out by the Community Transport Association (CTA) and the Plunkett Foundation (PF) entitled “Enterprising approaches to rural community transport”. This research was carried out in 2006 and the final report can be downloaded here.
Following the research and additional consultation a funding package was developed and secured from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; The Social Investment Business (formerly FutureBuilders England); the Department for Transport and the Commission for Rural Communities. This programme commenced with the appointment of the Rural Social Enterprise Development Programme Manager in September 2009.
The strategic objectives for this programme are to:
- Support the development of eight organisations to become social enterprises, achieve more sustainable income through securing public service contracts and provide even better local transport provision for the communities they serve.
- Demonstrate to the wider RCT network that the social enterprise model is both viable and achievable.
- Demonstrate to service commissioners that the RCT network is a viable long term delivery mechanism for a wide range of social, health, education and other transport services.
As part of the Programme there is a schedule of training events designed to assist the participant organisations in improving performance and skills across the board. This training is free to programme participants but is available to a limited number of additional organisations who wish to take part. Each session will normally have 5-8 attendees from the Programme and space for 8-13 other attendees.
The Full Training Programme is available for download here
To book a place on the training programme please download the registration form here and send to:
Norman Rides
RSEP Manager
CTA UK
1st Floor, 49-51 East Road
London
N1 6AH
with the appropriate remittance.
For any enquiries or further information about the Rural Social Enterprise Programme including the available training please call the CTA Rural Social Enterprise Manager, Norman Rides, on 020 7278 2528 norman@ctauk.org