Rural Science Association - Where to from here
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A few Years ago at the RSA Field Trip held in Mayo we adapted the theme of
"Learning from the Past; Looking to the Future"
and we explored two fundamental questions.
What is the Future for Rural Development and what is the future for the Rural Science Association?
The answer remains in the question as much as it might in any answers or solutions that we may have come up with. It is a question that we need to keep asking and seeking new answers to.
Even if our rural communities managed to benefit in any way from the trickle down of prosperity during the years of plenty, they again struggle in their quest to become better places in which to live and work.
Events in the Global village continue to have more of an impact on our rural communities than any effort we might make. Gaddafi's efforts to retain power in Libya and the consequent turmoil in the oil market are making the cost of living a normal and full life in rural areas all the more difficult to achieve and the worn out phrase of a yesteryear are echoing once again when we talk of the "brain drain" and "hemorrhaging" from rural areas.
But the Global village is also affording new opportunities with advances in communication and technology. The Main Street no longer needs to be the location for successful trading. In a time of cost competitiveness, rural areas are offering an affordable opportunity to incubate new businesses.
As the "Green Revolution" which heralded the mass production of food is now giving way to the revolution of "Localisation", so too is the globall village is giving way again to the rural village.
But there needs to be a new debate about the countryside in Ireland, new questions asked and new solutions sought. Old way of thinking need to be challenged, Paradigms need to be shifted.
Those of us who are studying of have graduated in the area of rural development or related fields need to find ourselves cente-stage in stimulating the debate and challenging existing paradigms.
Can the Rural Science Association act as a catalyst in the process?
Do we need to challenge our own ways of thinking?
Here is the link to a very interesting article on rural poverty and exclusion:
http://eapnireland.wordpress.com/category/rural-poverty/
This research would have been carried out during the days of the Celtic tiger and it paints a depressing picture of individuals/communities excluded during times of plenty. I would ask the question, why has this happened? How were these people allowed to slip through the net at a time when finance was freely flowing into this country? Would such a retrospective give us focus for the future? A lot of publicity is given these days to the term ‘lessons learned’ from outcomes/experiences. Will actions/ways of doing things alter as a result of learning from the past? How can the Rural Science Association further this cause?
We, as graduates in Rural Development, are much better informed on the subject but are we managing to change/influence the system, through the acquisition of the degree or has it purely provided us with a certificate which has improved our employment prospects or advanced us in organisations that expect conformity?
The conflict in Libya and consequent turmoil on the oil market impacts on every citizen in the country. While Libya accounts for only 2% of the world’s oil production, I understand Ireland sources 50% of its oil from this country. Externalities, wars, conflicts, peak oil, natural disasters, can impact at a local level but perhaps we could look closer to home when looking at the impact of oil prices on a ‘way of life’. According to the AA, (03/2011), tax accounts for roughly two thirds of the cost of petrol in this country. Consequently, our own government (through tax policy) is the greatest single influence on the price of oil to the consumer.
Negative equity/over-indebtedness has created a new poor – unemployment currently stands at 14.7% affecting the nation as a whole. This ‘brain-drain’ – the exodus of Ireland’s youth is being experienced in both urban and rural settings. Our young Irish are becoming economic migrants – history is repeating itself. If those of us in Rural Development knew how to reverse this trend we could run the country!
These are facts of life that impact on Ireland as a whole – they are not just limited to rural areas. As communities, we can moan and groan about the situation or we can decide to take action and to encourage others to take action. There are many real success stories in rural communities – social enterprises with a strong voluntary ethos are rising to the challenge of the current crisis. Success stories need to be captured, methodologies explored and best practice applied within other projects, across communities and across county borders. “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you find yourself.” Can the Rural Science Association play a part in capturing/disseminating these stories?
For many, co-operatives are associated with agriculture and food production in Ireland. But is there a place for promoting the Co-operative Movement within rural development? How could the Rural Science Association engage in this area?
The most recent GEM report cited fear of failure as being one of the main reasons why the number of new business start ups declined in Ireland by 50% between 2007 and 2010. One weakness identified within the Irish system was the lack of entrepreneurship education from an early age (primary level). Having witnessed an ‘impromptu marketplace’ in a rather progressive primary school, it was a joy to behold! But sadly, entrepreneurship education is not incorporated into school curriculum at this point in time. There is an unhealthy stigma attached to honest business failure in Ireland. Other countries encourage SME owners whose businesses fail due to circumstances beyond their control to learn from their experiences and try again. “Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement”. On the positive side, strengths identified by this nation’s entrepreneurs included Government Entrepreneurship programmes and the commercial and legal infrastructures which are in place to assist SME’s, so perhaps there is a role for the Rural Science Association to inform and champion in this area.
Congratulations, Bernard for starting this debate. I hope it can be entered into in a spirit of open mindedness and with a willingness to consider that there exists country-wide various solutions to the current problems which if viewed collectively could go a long way to providing a solution to the on-going crisis facing rural areas.
This event is taking place all day Thursday April 14 2011.
The person organising it is studying a masters on the topic,
I am going.
Thanks John
I posted full details under events if anyone would like to check them out.
As the bitter wind of recession begins to take bite North and South we all need to accept the term 'rural resilience' first coined by Bernard several years ago. The Rural Science Association has the potential to bring forward rational and informed debate that will have a lasting impact. Can we please think about what those top three issues are? For my part it's how rural youth are leaving often never to return. Just an observation here in deepest Fermanagh.
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Thanks all for contributing to the debate so far - It would be good to open the debate out to all involved in the Rural Science Association. I think the greatest skill that can be imparted as graduates is that of rural entrepreneurship. Sometimes the most obvious solution to poverty is that of teaching people to create wealth for themselves. It is unfortunately the solution that is overlooked all to often. Perhaps it is time to expand on the "Give a man a Fish......Teach a Man to Fish........" proverb (Apparently originally coined by a North Mayo Missioner) Perhaps we need to start to teach people in our countryside not just to fish, but to farm sustainably, to build, to write business plans, to attract funding, to organise, to manage... The difficult sometimes is that we haven't all mastered theese skills for ourselves. The more I consider if the efforts to constantly try and keep the Rural Science Association afloat are worth it, the more i realise that our greates asset may be in our "togetherness". We have been caught to a degree on the back foot of subscribing to "old paradigms", to waiting to see if the minister will deliver or if the next traunch of Leader Funding is going to the one! As we observe Neo-Liberal Economics and Capitalism teetering on the edge of an abyss, it is a stark reminder that it is time to change direction, to create new ways of doing business. As graduates of the profession of Rural Development we have certain toolkits at our disposal, we have learned of the importance of Localisation, how to set up an enterprise. Does anyone remember the exam questions on the "Multiplier Effect" and how a Euro introduced into a local economy can multiply in value if there are opportunites to spend money locally. We learned about Health and Social Policy and how we can influence change even from a local community level. If we have tools at our disposal that might prevent one young person from emigrating or might keep one local farm family out of poverty, then surely we must use them. If that task is too daunting, then perhaps we could seek the advice or support of a fellow graduate, perhaps from another part of the country. In many instances the graduates and students of Rural Development that are feeling the chill winds of rural decline.
Surely there was never a greater need for a strong and cohesive association of Rural Development Students and Graduates. Perhaps we don't know "Where To from Here" for the RSA but we at least know where not to go. We need to first steer away from the "old paradigms" and "Let Go" the old ways of thinking that we seem to have adapted. We then need to create a space where open-minded thinking and debate can be encouraged and flourish. This may be initially in some online environment and in supporting local cells of the association to develop.
It would be really good to hear from graduates and students who we have not heard so much from so far