Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. The signs all point to community social enterprise-- don't they? / Carol Hill -- 2. Developing rural social enterprise : the relevance of context / Sarah Skerratt -- 3. Socially entrepreneurial skills and capabilities in a rural community context / Sarah-Anne Muñoz and Artur Steinerowski -- 4. Organisational processes and the policy-practice gap / Jane Farmer and Kate Stephen -- 5. Socially enterprising communities : their dynamics and readiness for service innovation / Katy Radford and Sally Shortall -- 6. Sustaining social organisations in rural areas / Sandy Whitelaw -- 7. Measuring the value of social organisations as rural service providers / Jane Farmer and Sara Bradley.

This book addresses a clutch of contemporary societal challenges including: aging demography and the consequent need for extended care in communities; public service provision in an era of retrenching welfare and global financial crises; service provision to rural communities that are increasingly 'hollowed out' through lack of working age people; and, how best to engender the development of community social enterprise organizations capable of providing high quality, accessible services. It is packed with information and evidence garnered from research into the environment for developing community social enterprise and co-producing services; how communities react to being asked to co-produce; what to expect in terms of the social enterprises they can produce; and, how to make them happen.