My colleague Ross Rabette has penned a few words on the reason for LocalSwitch and our shared mission..

The LocalSwitch Story

The problem

Second highest youth unemployment rate in Europe

Over the last six years, Ireland has seen huge changes in it's economy, which has massively impacted the economic prospects of it’s population. Over 1 in 3…

SO after three months of planning we've formed a development board, got a charity number and have worked out a six stage process that any village, town or suburb can use to get 'SWITCHED'. 

'Switch' over to locally owned energy, food and transport infrastructure;

'Switch' off energy and food imports and

'Switch' on to resilient, Co2 reductive, job creating businesses.

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Local Switch Associations have already formed in Borrisokane, North Tipp. Foynes,…

I wanted to bring everyone’s attention to a case study that I have recently written about how the rural village of Wray, in northern Lancashire, came together to get broadband access for the community. Internet access has become crucial to how our societies function – it forms an integral part of how we do business, interact, and gather information. Those without internet access are put at a disadvantage. Here’s a great fact I saw yesterday that highlights how important the internet has…

Details of current vacancies

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEH024/partnership-and-support-manager-higher-education/
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/employer/204070/unltd/

Last week, Nick Wilding and I were invited to a meeting of the North of Scotland Public Health Network, to share our work on assets and community resilience. The event was aimed at helping professionals get to grips with how assets approaches might be implemented in the public health sphere, particularly in rural contexts, following Chief Medical Officer Harry Burns' challenge to think and act differently. The organisers had worked hard to take an assets approach to the design of the day,…