Introduction

I have wide experience of facilitation and stakeholder engagement underpinned by a background in community work, housing, planning and rural social enterprise. I work with groups and organisations inclusively and creatively, including managing conflict situations, with extensive expertise in consultation and engaging people from diverse backgrounds. My specialisms include social enterprise development, community work, housing and planning.

Helen Fairweather

Core competencies

Helen’s core competencies are:

  • Facilitation and training – working with a wide range of organisations, groups and their stakeholders to reach agreed visions and sense of direction, generate energy and goodwill for collaboration, address issues and resolve conflicts; and build capacity and understanding for groups to deliver these tasks themselves: ‘Helping people think’.
  • Community and stakeholder engagement strategies and delivery – enabling organisations to strengthen their proposals and demonstrate quality involvement, and help secure further funding. (e.g. Audience Development Plans).
  • Programme and project delivery – acting as mentor, critical friend and adviser (Big Local), co-developing programme of conservation, restoration, community involvement, learning and training (Landscape Partnership Scheme).

Career highlights

In my role as Big Local Community Rep, I have supported resident partnerships to build confidence to lead transformational change, growing through successes, difficulties and conflicts.

Before becoming a consultant, I managed two of the most successful LEADER funding programmes in England for rural community economic development, and started and built up a housing and care organisation and a pioneering rural home care co-operative.

Other stuff

I am co-chair of an energy efficiency charity in the Marches helping households reduce energy costs and carbon footprints. I am a smallholder and horse logger, and a host for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

Helen’s recent projects include:

Landscape Conversations

There is currently a lot of interest in the ‘Landscape Scale’ approach to addressing nature’s decline and the impact of…

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