Farming resilience: civil society's role in supporting vulnerable rural communities through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

在农村变革时期（英国脱欧后的农业转型是一代人以来农村政策的最大变化），大流行病的经历给农民、农村社区和支持他们的民间社会组织带来了一系列独特的挑战。该项目旨在：1)了解不同活动在限制COVID-19大流行对农民心理健康和复原力的“伤疤”影响方面取得的成功；2)了解大流行对民间社会组织本身的影响（包括严重的筹款不足、业务限制和社会挑战）；3)扩大这些理解，以建立系统和社区抵御未来冲击的能力；比如英国脱欧后农业转型带来的迫在眉睫的挑战。在已建立的伙伴关系和一个强有力的指导委员会的支持下，它将通过范围审查、对民间社会组织的调查和访谈，以及与一系列利益攸关方举行的一系列政策和实践讲习班来实现这一目标。这项研究很重要，因为我们对农业社区及其支持系统如何受到COVID-19的影响知之甚少。我们的成果将使政策制定者和组织能够支持农村社区的升级，并提高社区应对未来挑战的能力。

The experience of a pandemic at a time of rural change (the post-Brexit agricultural transition is the biggest change to rural policy in a generation) presents a range of unique challenges to farmers, rural communities and the civil society organisations that support them. The project seeks to: i) understand the success of different activities in limiting the 'scarring' effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on farmers' mental health and resilience ii) understand the impacts of the pandemic on civil society organisations themselves (including severe fundraising shortfalls, operational restrictions and social challenges) and iii) scale up these understandings to build system and community resilience against future shocks, such as the impending challenges presented by the post-Brexit agricultural transition. It will do this through a scoping review, surveys and interviews with civil society organisations, and a range of policy and practice workshops with a range of stakeholders, supported by established partnerships and a strong steering committee.This research is important because we know very little about how the farming community, and the support systems underpinning them, are being affected by COVID-19. Our deliverables will enable policy-makers and organisations to support the levelling up of rural communities and to increase their community resilience to future challenges.