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Last updated: 12 January 2010
Office of the Third Sector Director General, Rolande Anderson, attended the launch of the new Devon School for Social Entrepreneurs on 12 January 2010.
The School for Social Entrepreneurs runs action learning programmes for enterprising people who work in deprived communities and just want to get an innovative, socially minded project off the ground but don’t know where to start. This is not a traditional learning course with lectures and essays and exams: the students bring their project to the school and over the course of a year work through it until it can be feasibly put into practice; hence why it’s called action learning.
Devon SSE is based at the Dartington Hall Trust, a charitable company based near Totnes in South Devon. The aims of the Trust are realised through a number of arts programmes; by research, reflection and teaching on environmental and economic sustainability; by social research and policy development on the protection of children; and by farming, forestry, conservation and retail enterprises.
SSE has expanded its franchise model over the course of this year with additional funding from the Office of the Third Sector of £500,000 – all part of the Government’s commitment to combat the current economic climate through investing in enterprises that will benefit those communities most affected by the effects of the recession. Government funding has allowed SSE to open three new schools across the country – in Devon, Hampshire and in Yorkshire & Humber – which will help treble the number of SSE fellows to 1,200 over the next few years.
Rolande Anderson spoke at the launch and said:
“I am delighted to be here at Dartington to launch Devon School for Social Entrepreneurs and to meet its first group of pioneering students. During my earlier career at the Department of Trade and Industry, I have been aware of the contribution of social enterprise in the economy and the positive influence that social enterprise can make. I am really pleased that the Office of the Third Sector has funded the School for Social Entrepreneurs to open this new school in the South West and look forward to hearing more about their achievements in the future.”