Hi everyone! Here is a post from our latest (physical) meeting with the participants in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and two previous participants in the previous round of Sustainable Entrepreneurship.
The program is nearing its end and after an intensive six months of getting to know each other and delving into sustainability and transition issues, we have come to the final part, which is about applying for funding.
In Upplandsbygd we work with EU money, state money and municipal money. In other words, public funds. This means that the requirements are quite high. We want our common tax money to go to something good - of course!
We are of course very happy to receive money from the big EU that we can allocate to the small local. But it is not entirely simple. In the EU there are goals that we need to show that we can achieve locally. And those goals are created by EU people for all countries in the EU. So you can imagine that it will be quite general and it feels like the unique local in each place does not always come into play in those goals. But - that is how it is and we have to make the best of the situation. We at Upplandsbygd try our best to be a bridge between the big structures that finance and the local grassroots that carry out the practical things that are actually real.
What did the participants say when we went through application forms, agreements and project diaries? Yes, of course there were many questions. Some who are used to writing applications or working on projects may have felt safe, others who are not used to it probably did not feel as comfortable. And it is a problem that we have struggled with for a long time but have managed to curb to some extent by offering ”sub-projects” where we in Upplandsbygd take on the administrative burden towards the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the local projects only report to us. Which of course also requires some administration but not at the same level. We have seen that we get a greater diversity of project applicants then. And it feels very good 🙂
In Sustainable Entrepreneurship, participants also apply for ”subprojects” and can apply directly to us instead of to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. There are many questions to be answered and I would think that many are currently sitting and wondering about the application:
After a morning with a lot of focus on applications, administration and projects, it was rewarding to once again be visited in the afternoon by old participants from the previous round of Sustainable Entrepreneurship; Tord Olsson from Herresta Lada and Elin Boström from Bobrunna farm.
This day's theme was Economic Sustainability and both Elin and Tord openly shared both strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats based on their own experiences of running small-scale and sustainable businesses. I really admire all entrepreneurs who want to run something of their own and at the same time contribute to something bigger that is good for both our planet and the people on it. The overall social system we have today certainly does not benefit small-scale actors and local producers and actors, but in times of various crises, I believe and hope that these pioneers who are leading the way for a transition towards more locally active societies will eventually gain a following. What do you think?
PS If you want to know more about Sustainable Entrepreneurship, check here: Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2023-2024
Thank you for this! /Jenny