Village Agent projects have been developed around the country and have been successful in providing older people in rural areas with easier access to information and services.
In rural areas it can be difficult to ensure that older people have easy access to the information and the services they need to enable them to maintain a quality of life and their health and well-being. Village Agents schemes bridge the gap between the local community and organisations able to offer help and support.
Case Study; Gloucestershire Village Agents
This is an example of how individuals in a community can work together and address problems that arise in their community. This approach has proven to work especially around emergencies such as flooding but would equally work in addressing any activity related to climate change adaptation, such a severe weather, storms, snow or heat wave.
Village Agents support people aged 50+ living in rural areas of Gloucestershire, bridging the gap between the local community and the statutory or voluntary organisations able to offer help or support.
There is a team of 28 part-time Village Agents who:
- provide high quality face-to-face information and support
- offer a facilitated signposting service and put people in direct contact with the appropriate agency
- help individuals make informed choices about their future needs
- identify unmet need in their communities
- primarily support older people, but other disadvantaged and isolated people are also be able to receive Village Agent support
- cover 160 of the most rurally isolated parishes of Gloucestershire; this has grown from 96 since October 2006
- are recruited locally and receive ongoing training
- The Village Agent website contains useful information and links of relevance to older people, plus much more.
From June 2008, Gloucestershire Village Agents has been mainstreamed as a service, with 3 year funding from Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust and Gloucestershire County Council. The successful partnership between Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucestershire Rural Community Council will remain in place with the Village Agents being employed and managed by GRCC. To find out more about the project in Gloucestershire visit their website https://www.villageagents.org.uk/index.asp
