ORGINISATIONAL WORKSHOP FACILITATORS - MARSH FARM OUTREACH
The first requirement for successful delivery of an OW in any community is a team of people living in the area who are willing to carry out the long process of feasibility testing, partnership building, design and facilitation of the entire OW process.
To this end, Marsh Farm Community Development Trust paid for a ‘capacitation’ course (designed by ‘Integra Terra’ OW specialists from Santiago, Chile and STUF consultants) to enable the Marsh Farm Outreach team to become ‘OW Facilitators’.
MFO have worked over the last 5 years to carry out an extensive programme of research and development work including:
detailed market research to determine which enterprises would be viable
business planning to ensure the businesses have a chance of being sustained in the longer term
community consultation to gauge levels of local support for specific new community businesses
surveys to determine the ‘economic flows’ which pass through Marsh Farm i.e. the annual incomes and expenditures of Marsh Farm based residents, shopkeepers, public and private agencies etc
partnership seminars to engage key partners and to acquaint them to the method
OW design activities to provide work contracts for emerging enterprises
The Organisation Workshop planned for Marsh Farm has been designed to provide up to 100 Marsh Farm residents, some of whom will have no previous experience or qualifications whatsoever, with a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a & sustain their own jobs in new community businesses, delivering a range of goods and services to the estate itself, and to the wider market.
In this way, participants can not only create jobs and incomes for themselves, they can also make a major contribution to the social and economic well being of their community in the process.
