Rural Community Carbon Network

R C C N

www.ruralaction.org.uk

collaborate|200728 June 2007

Simon Berry ruralnet|uk

What is the RCCN?

• 3-year programme• Raise the awareness of the collective approaches to climate change

• It builds on existing, isolated community action

• It will support other rural groups who wish to take collective action

• It will provide access to• an online panel of experts• good practice ‘New Media’ toolkits• a mentoring service linked to a small grants programme

• RCCN will link up existing groups with nascent ones for peer-to-peer support and knowledge transfer through events, twinning and online.

Why rural?

• New employment opportunities• Development of under-utilised assets (eg woodland)

• Local employment (eg in micro generation)

• Opportunities for local generation

• Emphasis on local: local food, local energy

• Rural proofing - does car=bad?

Where does the RCCN come from?

• The Community Broadband Network

• 2003-5

• Phone Co-op

• DTI• Defra• Co-operatives UK• CISCO

What did CBN achieve?

• Growth in the number of DIY community initiatives

• Establishment of an independent Co-op

• Change in BT policy?

• Stronger communities -> spin-off initiatives

• Success?

The RCCN approach

• Building on what is already happening

• Resourcing the network to support itself• Augmenting Experts Online• Mentoring• Exchanges• New media materials• Events

• Making local action more effective not interfering with it

The Networks Online Active Brokerage System was demonstrated to show how the RCCN would recruit mentors from community projects and match them transperently to other communities requesting support.

Progress to date - internet resources

www.ruralaction.org.uk

Progress to date - mapping initiatives

www.ruralaction.org.uk

Progress to date - fundraising

Yes Maybe No

RCCN Budget Summary (3 yrs)

On-going action research (Carnegie) 15,000Project set-up, protocols, procedures, technology (ruralnet|uk) 15,000Awareness raising 88,500Capacity building 472,000Networking and facilitation 234,500Monitoring and evaluation 26,000Project management 130,000Succession planning/fund raising 15,000

----------996,000

50% reduction in carbon emissions in 70 communities with 350 households would be worth £635,000

RCCN - exit strategy

• Becomes an inter-trading membership organisation - possibly with a co-operative structure

RCCN - please get involvedwww.ruralaction.org.uk s.adams@ruralnet.org.uk