Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership

The Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership (RWLPIP) will connect researchers, stakeholders and communities in generating, sharing and applying evidence to enhance local policy and innovation for inclusive, sustainable growth in Rural Wales. It aims to:

Expand and enrich the evidence base, address data gaps and improve accessibility through an Online Integrated Evidence Hub.
Amplify the voices of diverse communities in the region and increase their effective engagement in policy-making and implementation by supporting community action research to build evidence on self-defined priority issues.
Strengthen the capacities of local and regional institutions to devise and deliver innovative, evidence-based solutions to policy problems tailored to the distinctive context of Rural Wales.
Identify and promote scalable lessons and outcomes that are transferable to other rural and non-rural regions.
The central challenge is to understand how growth can be achieved in a rural region, without a dominant urban centre and with typically small sized businesses, limited endogenous capital, and a dispersed labour force. Inclusive and sustainable growth must additionally encompass ideas of social and environmental justice, with an economy based on unlocking the region's natural capital for the Net Zero transition that delivers equitable benefits between and within places, including supporting Welsh language communities. Yet, obstacles to realising these goals are presented by inadequate infrastructure, uneven public services, and concerns around cultural and landscape impacts, as well as by constraints on institutional capacity and by gaps in evidence for policy-making.

Accordingly, RWLPIP focuses on four priority themes: 'Building a Regenerative Economy'; 'Supporting the Net Zero Transition'; 'Empowering Communities for Cultural Recovery'; and 'Enhancing Wellbeing in Place'. An overarching framework of the 'wellbeing economy', connects with the policy context shaped by the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales.

To address its objectives, RWLPIP brings together a team of experts from Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, the Countryside and Community Research Institute, the Centre for Alternative Technology, Together for Change, Antur Cymru, DEG, Rural Health and Care Wales, Sgema and Represent Us Rural.

The RWLPIP programme, co-designed in consultation with stakeholders and communities, is structured around seven key activities:

Innovation Labs to identify barriers to change and develop and test innovative solutions;
Community Action Research, supporting communities in carrying out their own research on local issues to gather evidence and explore responses;
Data Synergy, Analysis and Mapping, constructing an Online Integrated Evidence Hub as a single portal for data on Rural Wales;
Surveys to address data gaps;
Responsive Research, with quick turn-around, targeted studies on emerging issues and problems;
Public Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building, including 'Dialogues' engaging stakeholders in discussion of 'wicked issues' informed by RWLPIP evidence;
Evaluation and Learning.
The detailed work plan will be determined on a rolling basis by recommendations from four Thematic Groups linked to the RWLPIP priority themes, comprised by researchers, stakeholders and community representatives. An Equalities and Inclusivity Mainstreaming Action will additionally encourage participation from under-represented groups and ensure that their interests are reflected in the research programme.

RWLPIP will produce diverse outputs aimed at policy-makers and practitioners, businesses, third sector organisations and public audiences. It will deliver benefits through expanded and updated evidence, strengthened resources and capacities for knowledge exchange and analysis, new innovative solutions, and empowered communities engaged in supporting inclusive, sustainable growth in Rural Wales.