Community Development Action Hertfordshire
Rural Support Networks
Further Research and Support for our RSNs / Rural Support Networks!
In 2023 we were delighted to have received the valued support of our Funders Herts Community Foundation and Herts Valleys CCG to enable us to undertake some Research and Development work with these vitally important Groups of Volunteers who have been supporting the vulnerable, elderly, and isolated during the pandemic and the immediate years following.
We contacted all the known RSNs throughout the County to find out what assistance they had been provided and whom they had been helping and ascertaining whether they require any support to be able to continue their invaluable work.
Over 80 RSNs were contacted supporting 185 Villages and Hamlets and these are our key findings.
2052 = Total number of people currently receiving help & support each month
2020 = Total number of volunteers involved in the provision of assistance & support to others since the beginning of the first Lockdown
1376 = Total number of volunteers currently involved
2030 = Total number of volunteer hours currently given each month
93% – Provide help with shopping / essential supplies
92% – Provide help with medical assistance / collecting prescriptions
63% – Provide help with mental anxiety / depression / loneliness
57% – Provide assistance with Transport needs
57% – Offer a Telephone check-in service for the vulnerable
47% – Offer Digital help re getting & doing things online
16% – Offer help & advice re Financial Assistance
30% (15 Groups) also responded to other assistance
63% – Said that they envisaged a need for the community to have an ongoing support network after the Coronavirus crisis was over
94% are still offering support and assistance to local people through the ongoing coronavirus crisis and isolation restrictions
98% said that they can continue to offer support and assistance to local people
Please contact connectedcommunities@cdaherts.org.uk for further information.
Click Here for Rural Covid-19 Information Bulletins
Click Here for information about Rural Community Information Champions
Click Here for a list of all the known Hertfordshire Rural Support Networks (RSNs) and the Villages and Hamlets they support