ruralnet|uk news

Capacity Building in Progress!

Networks Online relaunches with a new interface.

Networks Online, the collaborative ICT network provided by ruralnet|uk has been relaunched. A capacity building grant from the Active Communities Directorate has enabled ruralnet|uk to radically overhaul its online services.

This has allowed ruralnet|uk to make its service simpler, easier to access and more effective. This will benefit over 4,000 Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) customers by simplifying access to the capacity building resources contained within the network.

Capacitybuilders Grant to Help Rural Communities

It’s a great start to the year for Rural Regeneration Charity, ruralnet|uk who have secured £96,000 grant funding from Government body, ‘Capacitybuilders'.

The funding will be used to provide isolated rural communities with the expertise and support to use ICT to build capacity and overcome isolation.

In partnership with the ‘Teesdale Village Hall Consortium’, the programme will initially benefit 33 community groups. It will then be promoted on a national basis through further partnerships.

Hebditch to Address ruralnet|2006

Simon Hebditch, CEO of Capacitybuilders, will address the Rural Development Conference, ruralnet|2006, in Nottinghamshire on 11 October.

As opening keynote speaker at this important annual event, Simon will be outlining his vision for how Capacitybuilders will be supporting the rural voluntary sector. In the light of the recent review of the National Hubs, this plenary session is expected to be of particular interest to the media and delegates alike.

ruralnet|uk promotes Good Governance to Rural Voluntary Organisations

ruralnet|uk has joined forces with the Governance Hub to provide support for Trustees and Chief Executives of rural voluntary and community organisations.

Through a Code of Good Governance, the hub has set out a number of main principles of best practice.  As good governance plays a huge role in how voluntary and community organisations are held accountable, the principles of this code will inform and guide the decision making process of trustees and the work of the board.

ruralnet|uk urges convention attendees to invest in making collaboration work

“Collaboration doesn’t just happen, you have to work at it”, was the key message from Simon Berry, ruralnet|uk’s Chief Executive, at their Collaboration Convention held in Warwick last week.

VCS organisations try out collaborative tools for effective event planning

The I-See-T collaboration project continued with its first Hands-on workshop exploring the use of a variety of web based tools to help with planning and reporting ‘effective & efficient events’.

During the workshop attendees learnt more about the different online tools available and tried out some of these tools. The afternoon was devoted to starting weblogs (or ‘blogs’) that can be used, amongst many other things, to quickly and easily publicise and report on events.

Web log to Showcase Rural Delivery Framework

Rural organisations across the East Midlands can make sure their voices are heard during the consultation period of the rural delivery framework for the region.

Developed by ruralnet|uk for the Government Office for the East Midlands, the specially designed web log will give rural organisations and community groups the opportunity to view and comment on the draft framework before it is established in full.  This will help refine priorities for the East Midlands prior to development of the framework and subsequent rural action plan. 

net:gain First Stage Funding Winners announced

From rural Teesdale in the North East to Newport on the Isle of Wight, 16 UK Online centres across England have been selected as the very first to receive funding under the net:gain programme.  This innovative support initiative will enable these centres to help local Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs) put a firm foot forward with their future ICT planning and developments. Whilst the programme is funded overall by the Home Office’s ChangeUp programme, the development grants are from Ufi, a net:gain partner. A full list of winners is at www.net-gain.org.uk.

ruralnet|uk to support Futurebuilders initiative

ruralnet|uk is delighted to confirm today its involvement as a support organisation of the Futurebuilders initiative. Futurebuilders is a new £125 million Government investment fund which aims to improve public service delivery throughout the voluntary and community sector in England by means of a mixture of grants, loans and capacity building; i.e. support, training and advice.

Experts Online expands to include Sustainable Transportation

The Experts Online Service available to all Networks Online subscribers (eg ruralnet|online, CAN Online, DTA etc) just got better. Chris Endacott has joined the Expert panel to deal with queries relating to Sustainable Transportation. This should be a key resource to those seeking funding to sustainable transport initiatives or implementing Parish Transport Plans or putting together projects with a sustainable transport element.