Commonhealth is a five year collaborative research programme that aims to develop methods to evaluate new pathways to health creation and health inequalities reduction arising from social enterprise. Within this programme, the project ‘Growth at the Edge’ aims to investigate the health and wellbeing impacts of social enterprise in rural, remote and fragile communities in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and how such activity may contribute to the sustainability of communities.
Social enterprises that are taking part in the study are supported by the Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE). HIE is the Scottish Government's economic and community development agency that provides support to strengthen and sustain fragile communities in rural and remote areas of the Highlands & Islands through social enterprise activity. In partnership with HIE, 10 social enterprises have been identified to take part in the Growth at the Edge Project. Stakeholders from each social enterprise, including board members, service users and staff are being interviewed using in-depth qualitative methods. Ethnographic methods are simultaneously being used to gain an understanding of the context in which rural social enterprises exist, focusing on issues such as transport, education and lack of infrastructure.
Preliminary findings will be presented focusing on themes that are generated by the qualitative study and in-depth interviews. These findings will be centred on issues around the sustainability of communities and health inequalities that exist in these fragile settings. The findings will contribute to our wider understanding of measuring the ways that social enterprise may affect the health and wellbeing of individuals in varied settings.
References
Farmer, J., Steinerowski, A. , Jack. S. (2008) Starting social enterprises in remote and rural Scotland: best or worst of circumstances? International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. 6(3), 450-464
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Scottish Government. (2015) Rural Scotland key facts 2015: people and communities, services and lifestyle, economy and enterprise. Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0...
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Social Value Lab. (2015) Social Enterprise in Scotland: Census 2015. Available at: http://www.socialenterprisesco...
Steinerowski, A. Jack, S. Farmer, J. (2008) Social entrepreneurship in a rural context: an ideological ‘state’? Journal of Rural Enterprise and Management. 4(1), 20-38
