ruralnet|uk establishes its independence today as a new rural regeneration charity.
ruralnet|uk is a uk-wide, membership-based organisation. It impacts on the lives of rural people by making links and building relationships, and pledges to bring ideas, inspiration and information for the development of a creative and connected countryside.
Says Chief Executive Simon Berry, who has lead the team for the last 6 years,
"We celebrate our launch in 2002 linking over 2002 people in our online communities, across both rural and urban areas. Independence marks the start of a campaign to recruit members and Trustees for the new organisation, so they can have a say in how our services are run."
Building on the work of the National Rural Enterprise Centre, established in 1989, the new organisation brings together grass roots rural activists, and the organisations and agencies which support them. Key to its aims is the sharing of experience, intelligence and expertise. The new organisation benefits from over a decade's experience of designing, rolling out and supporting appropriate ICT developments for the rural development community.
"People are the most important resource the countryside has," says Simon. "Everyone recognises that 'who you know' matters just as much as 'what you know'". Especially today: in the Information Age, supporting people's ability to work together on both local projects and through wider networks is vital. Developing this 'social capital' may be a relatively new idea, but it's one we can trace back through our work over the past decade, and aim to take forward".
ruralnet|uk is a highly networked organisation equally at home in the business, public, community and voluntary sectors. Through partnership, it also works across urban as well as rural communities. This enables it to 'join up' communities of interest, of practice and of purpose, encouraging people to make links, and share resources quickly and easily in an increasingly pressured environment, where information overload can be just as much of a problem as access to information.
Face-to-face events are just as important as 'virtual' meetings. They cement relationships between people and organisations, build partnerships, transfer skills, motivate and inspire. ruralnet|uk strongly supports face-tface networking and, following the success of its first ever conference last year, the launch of the new charity will be celebrated in Great Malvern at the ruralnet|2002 conference on 16-17 October. This will feature the launch of the Rural Action Network.
Other recent achievements include the development of ruralnet|online and the wider Networks Online; two awards for e-commerce and sustainability; and a wide range of projects for central and regional government, local authorities, small business support, and the voluntary sector. Most activities build in an element of online working and value-added information services. Such a track record in the practical application of Information and Communications Technology is rare in the voluntary sector. Now, the ruralnet|uk team plan to build on their well-established reputation of sharing successful developments with partner organisations UK-wide, to improve and support ICT use in the voluntary sector.
Contact: Simon Berry
t 0845 1300 411
m 07932 107109
e [email protected]
Note to Editors
1 ruralnet|uk launched as an independent rural regeneration charity on 1 August 2002. For the past 12 years the team have worked as The National Rural Enterprise Centre (NREC), part of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. More information can be found at www.ruralnetuk.org
2 ruralnet|online is at www.ruralnet.org.uk
3 All ruralnet|online users are able to join ruralnet|uk free of charge, and thereby influence the work and strategy of the charity. ruranet|uk is seeking trustees and will co-opt members with expertise in rural areas concerning disability, poverty, ethnicity, youth, and the elderly.
4 Networks Online is a network for networks spawned by ruralnet|online. More information can be found at www.networksonline.org.uk
5 Details of the eCommerce Awards can be found at www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk
6 Details of the eWell-Being Awards for Sustainable ICT applications can be found at www.sustainit.org
7 Details of the ruralnet 2002 conference are at www.ruralnet.org.uk or ring 0845 1300 411
8 To join ruralnet|online as a subscriber call 0845 130 5480. To join ruralnet|uk as a member (free to subscribers) call 0845 1300 411
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