EATS Rosyth’s spaces feel very community-led, particularly their growing spaces, with some key volunteers feeling ownership almost as much as the staff. We would like to work towards this at GK, so it was interesting to hear their reflections on the time and circumstances needed for this to happen. We at GK are very consultative with our community but perhaps take their ideas and run with them more than supporting community members to develop the ideas themselves, which might mean they retain more ownership. EATS also work with schools and young children a lot more, meaning the community members they engage come from a broader spectrum, which means they continue to develop projects in a different way to us despite having similar aims and spaces.

Learning Outcomes

• Explore how EATS Rosyth have developed successful food social enterprise activities.
• Learn from EATS Rosyth’s approaches to delivering a variety of food and growing funded projects, including how they support and manage the volunteer teams vital for success.
• Improve our understanding of how a peer project ensures they continue to be community led – how they engage with their local community and develop in response to their needs.

"It was interesting to compare the benefits and challenges of relying on volunteer 'manpower' for delivery between our two organisations, and the staff and systems they have in place for volunteer development and support. It was also really good to see their growing spaces, which are in some ways similar to our own, but more volunteer-led than ours. All our management team now have a better understanding of EATS Rosyth, who have become a key partner of ours for more collaborative opportunities."