THE ARKLETON TRUST
Enstone
NEWSLETTER
2001
THE ARKLETON TRUST
Enstone
NEWSLETTER
2001
This has been a traumatic year for rural communities the world over, not least in the UK where the full impact of the Foot and Mouth epidemic and its control are only now becoming evident. Even the farm of Arkleton where the Trust was founded in 1977 did not escape collateral impact, being within five miles of infected stocks, and all of the hefted flock of Cheviots had to be destroyed.
One thing the Foot and Mouth epidemic highlighted is the scale and pace of rural transformation over the past two or three decades, changes which reflect those throughout Europe, if in varying degrees. A recent report by the Countryside Agency [1] confirmed that the outbreak affected 40% of businesses in the region of Cumbria in NW England, and that these were mainly tourist, service, agricultural supply and other land based firms but "everyone from car hire companies to decorators, brewers, charities, outdoor pursuit centres, anglers, foresters, traders, craft people and shopkeepers had suffered". The worst hit was the tourist industry that suffered losses of over £4 billion [2].
In addition to the economic losses, many inside and outside the farming industry "suffered mental health and well-being problems", and "the viability of some voluntary organisations" was undermined. Yet, in the 1960's, at the time of the last Foot and Mouth epidemic in Britain, a government cost-benefit analysis to assess policy choices only considered the impacts on farming, and this caused no controversy.
Thinking about what has changed in that period surely justifies the founding focus of the Trust on the whole rural economy and society, and on the broader aspects of rural education and training, rather than agriculture as a single and, in fact, diminishing sector within rural areas. We can but ask, where were the Ministries of Agriculture when we took this path, and why were they so very slow to change? The Foot and Mouth epidemic also revealed the weakness of the 'evidence-base' for rural policy making, a point which has not, it seems, been lost on all concerned.
During the year, the Trust agreed to help an 18-month joint project led by Professor Michael Winter and funded by the RDA and West Devon Borough Council. The project is addressing the economic and social consequences of Foot and Mouth disease in West Devon.
Margaret has been involved in rural policy and rural development issues for most of her career. In her present job, she has particular responsibility for the Agency's work in helping the Government to build in a rural dimension to policy and practice (known as 'rural proofing'), and for work on rural services, housing, social exclusion, local governance, transport and community action. She also has responsibility for overseeing the work of the Agency's South East and London, East of England and East Midlands regions. Prior to the establishment of the Countryside Agency, she was the Director of Policy at the Rural Development Commission and was involved in socio-economic policy and research work on various rural issues, including the rural economy, small firms and rural regeneration. Margaret was closely involved in the development of the Government's Rural White Paper, published in November 2000. She represents the Agency in the Community's Rural Action leadership team and the Prince of Wales' Rural Revival Initiative and is on the board of Hastoe Housing Association. Finally, she represents the UK on the OECD's Working Party on Territorial Policy in Rural Areas and will take over the Chair of the group in January 2002.
Malcolm is Professor of Rural Community Development in the Countryside & Community Research Unit of Cheltenham and Gloucester University. From 1987 to 1993 he was Director of ACRE, the national association of England's Rural Community Councils and prior to that Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. His current post at Cheltenham is mainly one of research and consultancy, broadly in the field of 'rural development and social issues'. Malcolm has just completed a major EU study of rural partnerships.
These appointments followed the death of Sir Kenneth Alexander, and the retirement of one of our Founding Trustees, Arthur Bell. Sir Kenneth gave the Second Arkleton Lecture (on rural education, training and development) in 1979 when he was Chairman of the Highlands and Islands Development Board. He was previously a lecturer and later Professor of Economics, first at Aberdeen University and later at Strathclyde. After his time at the HIDB he became Vice-Chancellor of Stirling University and then Chancellor of Aberdeen University. Ken was an original thinker, innovative, and highly articulate. When with the HIDB he was responsible for the introduction of the Community Co-operative Scheme, Land Reform proposals (which certainly influenced the more recent debates in Scotland), and decentralisation of the Board's staffing and management structure, among other things. The Trust was fortunate indeed to have had the benefit of Ken's advice as a Trustee, as well as his friendship and support, from the late 1980's. He will be sorely missed.
Arthur Bell was one of the first Trustees appointed in 1977. Arthur was a local businessman in Langholm, the nearest town to the estate of 'Arkleton' where the Trust was founded, and from whence it took its name. His family owned a well known Tweed mill, then synonymous with quality, and exporting world-wide. He supports many local causes, and gave unstinting and loyal support to the Trust for nearly a quarter of a century, missing only one Trustees meeting. Arthur did an immense amount of work in the early years in both helping to host the Seminars and in introducing some of our overseas delegates to Langholm and its people. We all thank Arthur for his unswerving loyalty over the years. We will miss his cheerful, practical and positive presence, and wish him well in his 'retirement'.
Caroline Higgs continues to represent the Trustees on the International Advisory Committee of The Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research at the University of Aberdeen, with which we continue to have close and fruitful relations.
We send our congratulations to Michael Galsworthy, one of our Trustees, who was awarded the CVO on his retirement as a member of the Prince's Council for the Duchy of Cornwall, and to Agnes Rennie who received an MBE for services to the crofting community, in the New Year's Honours List.
The main events this year were the Arkleton Seminar and the Arkleton Lecture, both organised at the MacRobert Trust conference centre at Douneside in October. We also continued to support various projects through the three 'funds' - the Bernard Conyers Fund, the David Moore Fund, and the John Higgs Fund.
The main themes discussed at the seminar were:
The report, drafted by Rhys Evans, will be published early in 2002 on our website.
The seminar was extremely lively, and we had many expressions of gratitude from the participants, especially for the work of the chairperson, Agnes Rennie, and for the variety of people present in terms of national and professional background.
The other outcome will be a major conference of the International Rural Network to be held in Inverness from 23-27 June, 2003. The topic is "Taking Charge: Rural Community Empowerment in Rural Development, Rural Health and Rural Education". It will be organised by The Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research at the University of Aberdeen and the UHI Millennium Institute [3]. This event builds on previous conferences in Queensland, Australia, and Vancouver Island, Canada. It is, however, the first International Conference of the International Rural Network of rural scholars, practitioners and policy makers established in 2000.
The International Organising Committee is particularly interested in papers, posters, displays, audio-visual or multi-media presentations etc, that give accounts and analyses of local community initiatives. Proposals should highlight the ways in which such initiatives have increased the Community's power over education, health, welfare, environment, quality of life, governance, and economic development and led to positive outcomes for people living in them. In addition to 'home grown' initiatives, the Committee is also interested in accounts and analyses of rural initiatives, policies, programmes and projects which lead to empowerment of disadvantaged rural communities and groups. These could include rural development, education and health programmes which have encouraged local initiatives and participation, and which have led to improved health, education and development outcomes as judged by local people. Delivery of papers to be presented by practitioners, policymakers, and academics in conjunction with the relevant community will be encouraged.
The Committee is anxious to encourage participation from as wide a range of countries and experiences as possible. To this end they are seeking funding for scholarships for participants from the CEEC and CIS countries of E Europe and the Developing Countries, as well as the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, N America and Scandinavia. In addition, although the working language of the conference will be English, they are prepared to consider the question of interpretation, at least into Spanish and French, if there is sufficient demand to justify the costs involved. They are anxious to encourage attendance of local community representatives of relevant initiatives, as well as rural development, health and education practitioners, policy makers and scholars. In many cases, scholars or practitioners could usefully be paired with local community initiatives or processes, which they have studied.
Proposals to organise workshops on specific themes will be welcomed. So far, ideas include: Money in Rural Empowerment (trade, and credit); Community Land and Resource Ownership and Management as a means of Empowerment; Arts, Language and Cultural renewal; Renewable Energy for Community Power; Information and Communications Technology as a tool; Community theatre and facilitation; Gaining control over Data and Knowledge; Engagement of Young People; Planning and Evaluation for Participative Partnerships; Networking and Community Health Initiatives; Life-long learning and community schools. No decisions have yet been taken on these, and the input of participants and sponsors is encouraged at this stage.
If you are interested, please send an expression of interest as soon as possible to rhys.evans@abdn.ac.uk in order to ensure that the organisers can send you further information about the conference and study tour arrangements, arrangements for posters and displays, etc. If you do not have e-mail, send a fax to Rhys Evans at +44 (0) 1224 27 3902.
Baburao launched his lecture with a quote from Ela R Bhatt:- "Democracy and development require active and informed participation at the grassroots."
He proceeded to comment on the great rise of NGOs in India since the 1980s and questioned the lack of systematic studies of this phenomenon:
Professor Baviskar was born the son of a small farmer in the State of Maharashtra. He was Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics until his retirement after 32 years. He has held visiting positions at the University of Sussex (IDS), McGill University, and the American University in Cairo. He has taken a special interest in Rural Development Co-operatives and Farmers Organisations. Currently he is President of the Indian Sociological Association. In 1980 and 1982 he was a member of a group of 'third world' experts who came, at the invitation of the Arkleton Trust, to visit rural areas in the UK, and advise on their development problems. He has been a member of the Trust's International Advisory Committee since the early 1980's.
The lecture was published by the Trust in December 2001 and is available by mail order:
|
The Arkleton Trust Lecture 2001: NGOs and Civil Society in India By Professor B S Baviskar, President, Indian Sociological Society
Published by The Arkleton Trust, Enstone, Oxon. OX7 4HH |
Following the evidence submitted by the Trust to the Agriculture And Environment Biotechnology Commission in November 2000, Declan attended a public hearing in December, and reviewed the results in 2001. Much of our evidence highlighted the lack of research on the social and economic impacts/implications of biotechnology, especially on small farmers and other poorer groups in rural populations. This we proposed as an additional theme for the Commission's work, and it was indeed noted in the summary of themes circulated to those attending the public meeting. However, it was not discussed, the meeting being dominated by environmental arguments. We also stressed the potential importance of biotechnology for health, as well as the dangers of control of biological material by monopolistic firms. Unfortunately, the key strategic areas that are important for the debate appear to be submerged by tactical issues.
Our thanks go to Declan for maintaining his watching brief on this important topic during the year.
Applications for the 2001 Award covered a varied field of interests and the committee decided to make three awards. An award was made to Eric Févre who is studying for his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. As part of his PhD research Eric is mapping the distribution of sleeping sickness cases in Soroti, to identify the most probable point source of an outbreak; to quantify the prevalence of infection in the cattle population, using cattle markets as a means of having access to cattle from many points of the district.
Another award was made to Ruth Marsden who is studying for her MA in Social Anthropology with Development, also from Edinburgh. Ruth's research is to explore development agencies from the outside-in: her fieldwork will take her to Nepal where she hopes to find out how a rural community in Far Western Nepal view social change in their community.
The final award went to Maria-Denise Gropas who is studying for her PhD in Social Anthropology at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Maria-Denise is analysing critical evaluations of neo-colonialism and the export of Euro-centric values associated with development projects: she will be looking at the social relationships and political processes underpinning EU development strategies and projects in Cuba.
2001 Awards
Again a variety of requests for funding were received from throughout the world, many
this year via our website, and we were able to make three awards:
Manfa Lutfie from the Institute for People's Education & Advocacy (LAPAR), Indonesia to make and publish comics created by local villagers entitled 'The Voice of Silence'. The aim of the comics will be to document the peasants' original experiences in their own words to aid their struggle for their rights and empowerment in rural areas. Dan Otieno Ong'or of Uhai Lake Forum, Kisumu, Kenya, to produce a video to show the ramifications of poverty against a rich fishery resource base in Lake Victoria. And, finally, to Ben Wensley, from England, to help him to publish a handbook, written in Sanskrit text, entitled 'Womens Health and Medicinal Plants'. His book will be published by Jajarkot Permaculture Programme and will be used in workshops.
Another award was made to a David Moore applicant - Joanna Willett, who is studying for her BSc (Hons) at Harper-Adams in Rural Enterprise and Land Management. Joanna is using her award to help her carry out research into the agricultural outputs in Kenya.
However, it was also the year when the three-year research development grant given by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council ended, posing a considerable financial challenge to the Centre, at least until the outcome of the resource allocation resulting from the RAE is known. We have been unable to reappoint some support staff (who have found new jobs) and one research Fellow, who has obtained a contract to teach at Sabhal Mor Ostaig (the Gaelic College) on Skye; we have drawn down on our reserves, and received some support from the University to enable us to continue as a major force in rural development research in Europe. In addition, we have strengthened our joint activities with the Macaulay Institute for Land Use Research through the re-appointment of Dr Deb Roberts as a part-time Senior Research Fellow (economics) and the confirmation of our joint Research Unit on Land Use Change and Rural Development, part of the Aberdeen Research Consortium.
Several major projects were completed during the year. These included PAYPIRD, an EU funded project on young people in rural development, co-ordinated by Mark Shucksmith; DORA, another EU funded project, on the dynamics of rural areas in Greece, Sweden, Germany and the UK, co-ordinated by John Bryden [final reports to be found at www.abdn.ac.uk/arkleton/dora1199.htm]; and Natasha Mauthner's project on work and family life in rural communities, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation [see www.jrf.org.uk for the Findings]. This last project "explored how families living in rural communities combine paid work and family responsibilities against the backdrop of changes in rural economies, the nature of work and family life".
Prizes awarded to Arkleton Centre Research Fellows so far include the Joel Gregory Prize, the Michaelis Jena Ratcliff Prize and the David Derry Prize.
For further information and details, see the Centre's website which contains staff details, news of recent and forthcoming events, research reports, newsletters, etc. It is at www.abdn.ac.uk/arkleton
Please note that this document, together with details of events, publications, and links to other relevant sites, is on our website at www.enstoneuk.demon.co.uk/arkleton
The Arkleton Trust
Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 4HHTelephone: +44 (0) 1608 677255
Fax: +44 (0) 1608 677276
e-mail: arkleton@enstoneuk.demon.co.uk
website: www.enstoneuk.demon.co.uk/arkleton/
The Arkleton Trust, Registered Charity Number: 275153
1 www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth; www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth; report in the Guardian, 30/8/01. The Countryside Agency was formed in 1999 by combining the English Rural Development Commission with the Countryside Commission, and is in effect the Rural Development Agency for England.
2 Farmers had so far received over £1 bn in compensation for capital losses.
3 The UHI Millennium Institute is the name given to the University of the Highlands and Islands in the making.