Enterprise for Inclusion was a Defra-financed action research programme which examined the potential for social enterprise approaches to make a positive contribution to tackling rural social exclusion. The programme was implemented by a consortium headed by the Plunkett Foundation and comprising ACRE, Co-operativesUK, the Development Trusts Association, PRIME and Voluntary Action Cumbria.

The core of the programme was a project grants programme, directed at organisations which wished to undertake new activities using social enterprise approaches to tackle social exclusion in rural areas. The grants programme was innovative in offering combined packages of grant and advisory support, with the latter delivered by means of a brokeraged advisory support infrastructure, modelled on Plunkett’s Rural Revival campaign. The programme supported 98 projects in four of the eight English regions, the North-West, the North-East, the East Midlands and the South-West.

As well as providing valuable support to real projects, the programme was also a form of action research, capturing research data from projects, support providers and members of the consortium for subsequent analysis and research.

The programme adopted a partnership approach to its management and implementation, with a broad-based consortium overseeing the work of a managing group of three organisations. It also engaged with partners in the four regions in which it worked by establishing Regional Delivery Partnerships.

This website illustrates the programme findings, but more importantly highlights the initiative and people supported via the Enterprise for Inclusion programme.