MERSE Leadership Programme for Rural Social Enterprise Facilitators 2024-2026

Within the MERSE Project, a dedicated Leadership Programme has been developed to strengthen facilitation and leadership capacity among social entrepreneurs operating in rural contexts.

The programme responds to a recognised need for individuals who can lead learning processes, support peer-to-peer exchange and facilitate collective reflection around complex societal and entrepreneurial challenges in rural communities.

The programme delivered by Social Enterprise Academy and is grounded in their long established learning methodology, adapted to the specific context of rural social entrepreneurship within the MERSE partnership.

The aim of the Leadership Training Programme in the MERSE project is to pilot new procedures and transfer practices and develop a peer-to-peer learning concept for Rural Social Enterprises. The programme is targeted to the social enterprise facilitators who are provided tools to support rural social entrepreneurship development in their regions.

The Leadership Training Programme has a dual and interlinked purpose:

1.  It aims to equip participating social entrepreneurs with practical facilitation skills that they can apply independently within their own social enterprises. Strengthened facilitation competence supports organisational development, stakeholder engagement, collaborative problem solving and long term resilience within the enterprises themselves.

2.  It aims to build a distributed facilitation resource for the MERSE partnership and its associated ecosystems. After the project period, facilitators are expected to be taken forward and utilised by partner organisations in their respective countries, contributing to learning activities, peer processes and ecosystem development related to rural social entrepreneurship.

In addition, the programme deliberately invests in building a transnational facilitator network. Maintaining relationships between facilitators across countries is seen as a key long term value, supporting continued peer learning, reducing professional isolation and enabling knowledge exchange across rural contexts. This network is further supported through MERSE’s emerging digital platform, which facilitators actively test and help shape during the project.

In 2024 the project partners recruited in total 12 rural Social Enterprises from the five participating NPA regions in MERSE to participate in the about 1,5 years of leadership training in the Leadership Training programme. The design and implementation of the programme concept was procured and provided by an external expert, Social Enterprise Academy, Scotland. 

The methodology of the training is based on a peer-to-peer methodology and a comparative cross-border approach which enables participants to learn from their peers’ own experiences and contexts to find new solutions to societal challenges. When completing the programme the participating “facilitators” will have tools and procedures to be able to support rural Social Enterprises.

The distribution of the training programme will partly be online and partly on-site over the course of 1.5 years. It will provide training, tools and methods for facilitating the support of social enterprise development, based on the needs of rural social enterprises across the five project countries. 

The target group for the Leadership Training programme consists of social entrepreneurs active in rural areas who already engage with groups, communities or collaborative processes as part of their everyday work. Participants are practitioners rather than trainers, and the programme is designed for individuals who are expected to facilitate learning, not to provide expert advice or consultancy.

Participants were recruited by MERSE partners in five countries, with at least two facilitators per country. Recruitment approaches varied depending on national context and existing networks, including open calls and direct outreach. All participants share experience of rural social entrepreneurship and the potential to act as facilitators for peers, associations or local networks.

The following criteria was determined for the recruitment of participants:

a) You are motivated to support rural communities through facilitation in your local context.

b) You can commit to the in-person and online dates as specified in the programme.

c) You are committed to continue learning alongside your peers across five counties, - attending Online Connect Session quarterly for 1 year after the programme.

d) You are prepared to work towards and complete our fully funded Facilitation Skills Qualification, accredited by Glasgow Caledonian University (SCQF level 9, 10 credits)

e) You have previous experience from social entrepreneurship and enterprises in rural setting and has a tax number for your organisation.

If there were several enterprises who wanted to participate in the program, the MERSE partners in each country selected the ones in their region they consider most suitable based on the purpose of the MERSE project and the implementation of the leadership programme. The non selected social enterprises were offered to participate as one of the social enterprises that will receive in-depth support by the facilitators participating in the leadership training programme. In testing the concept and tools during the leadership programme period about 15 social enterprises will receive in-depth support in business development and impact communication from the 12 facilitators.

The Leadership Training Programme is structured as a blended learning journey combining in-person training, online follow up, practice in real life contexts and peer reflection.

The core of the programme was delivered as an intensive in-person training week in Galway in October 2024, facilitated by Social Enterprise Academy International. The programme content is documented in the Developing my Facilitation Skills – Resources and Reflections workbook, which functions as both a learning journal and a practical reference tool.

The in-person programme focused on three interconnected components:

1. Foundations of facilitation and learning methodology. Participants were introduced to key concepts underpinning facilitation for learning, including the facilitation–training spectrum, experiential learning and inclusive facilitation practice. Central to this was the application of Kolb’s Learning Cycle, supporting participants to design and facilitate sessions that move from experience, through reflection and sense making, to action and experimentation.

2. Developing facilitation skills and reflective practice. The programme placed strong emphasis on practical facilitation skills such as active and empathetic listening, exploratory and reflective questioning, creating psychological safety and working with diverse learning styles. Participants explored how to create a “high safety, high challenge” learning environment and how to gather and respond to feedback from learners. Developing as reflective practitioners was a recurring theme throughout the programme.

3. Leadership in rural communities. One full day focused on leadership development in rural contexts. Participants observed and reflected on a peer learning based leadership programme delivered by the Academy, using it as a live example of how facilitation can support leadership development in communities. This session also provided space for participants to reflect on their own leadership strengths and how these can be applied within projects, enterprises and rural ecosystems.

The final in person day focused on facilitation practice. Participants planned and delivered short peer learning sessions using tools from the programme, received structured peer feedback and reflected on their development as facilitators supporting rural communities.

Following the Galway training, the programme continued through online sessions facilitated by the Social Enterprise Academy. These sessions were designed to support participants in applying their facilitation skills in real life contexts and to provide space for peer reflection and guidance.

During this phase, participants were encouraged to keep facilitation practice simple and closely integrated into their everyday work. Rather than organising large-scale events, facilitators were expected to facilitate at least one short peer-learning session, typically 1–2 hours, within an existing group, association or network where they already had access. This could include colleagues, entrepreneurs, association members or other peers.

The focus of these sessions was not content delivery but facilitating peer-to-peer learning around a topic relevant to the group’s needs, for example storytelling for sales, addressing shared challenges or exploring societal needs linked to entrepreneurship. Partners were expected to support facilitators in identifying suitable groups and contexts and, where relevant, assist with practical arrangements.

Workshop notes and discussions during this phase clarified that facilitators were not expected to act as on-demand advisors for local communities. Instead, their role is to create structured spaces for peer learning, supported by partners where appropriate.

The programme is built around four core methodological principles developed by the Social Enterprise Academy: learning with and from peers, experiential and reflective practice, responsiveness to context and practice, and learning in a safe and supportive environment.

A wide range of facilitation tools are introduced and practiced, including small-group dialogue formats, triads, paired discussions, observation exercises, reflective journals and simple visual or written tools to support collective reflection. The emphasis is on adaptability and choosing tools that fit the group, context and purpose rather than applying a fixed framework.

Facilitators are given access to a dedicated online learning environment hosting programme materials and resources. In parallel, they are actively involved in testing and providing feed-back on MERSE’s digital platform, www.RuralSE.eu, which is being developed as a shared space for learning, reflection and network continuity.

They are also given the task to test and evaluate the measurement and communication of social value tool developed within MERSE.

Through this role, facilitators contribute as co-creators, helping to shape a platform that can support facilitation practice, peer exchange and ecosystem development beyond the project period.

The Leadership Programme concludes with a final on site gathering in February 2026. This meeting brings facilitators together to consolidate learning, reflect on facilitation practice since the initial training and online follow up, and strengthen relationships within the facilitator network. The closing meeting also serves as a transition point towards Post-MERSE use.

Partners and facilitators reflect jointly on how facilitation capacity will be carried forward, both within partner organisations and through facilitators’ independent work in their own social enterprises. In total there will have been six on line sessions and two on site for facilators network when the MERSE Project is finished.

Throughout the programme, important strategic learning has emerged regarding the introduction of facilitation roles within a complex, transnational rural development project. Questions around expectations, mandate and integration surfaced during implementation. Rather than representing methodological shortcomings, these insights are understood as strategic innovation.

The programme has functioned as a live learning environment, generating knowledge about how facilitation capacity, peer leadership and distributed roles can be built sustainably across countries and rural contexts.