Mari Lewis is Research and Development Officer at Rural Health and Care Wales. We talk about the Sustainable Communities Lampeter project.

Episode Summary:

01.00 Mari tells us about her role and rural health interest

04.00 What is the background to the Sustainable Communities project?

06.50 What is the context of Lampeter?

10.00 How was the Cardicare/Solva toolkit applied in Lampeter?

13.55 What were some of the insights from dialogue with the community?

18.10 What are some of the opportunities that exist in Lampeter?

24.35 What were the outcomes of the project?

31.55 What would a more sustainable Lampeter look like?

Key Messages:

Health is experienced differently by people living in rural areas.

Community support plays a vital role in helping people maintain independence and wellbeing.

The project in Lampeter is focused on building community resilience and reducing social isolation for those living in rural areas by providing weekly socialising sessions.

Cardicare used the Solva Toolkit, a pilot project started in Pembrokeshire which had positive outcomes in Aberporth. This was used again in Lampeter.

Lampeter is a small market town in Caredigion, with about 2500 people, with a strong sense of identity and a vibrant community.

The community has an aging population, with many elderly residents living alone.

Loneliness and isolation continues to be a significant issues, particularly for those with mobility issues and due to limited transportation options.

The existing community groups can be difficult for people to engage with so the project tried to establish a single point of contact to act as a link between the services available and the residents.

Aberporth and Lampeter are two different communities so they did some initial research and resident surveys to see how the project would be accepted. That feedback was used to adapt the toolkit to Lampeter.

Through dialogue with the community they explored the issues that residents faced and what they would like to see.

Word of mouth was the best way to spread the word about the project. It was still challenging to get the word out to more isolated community members.

Residents said they needed support with household chores, the internet, getting transport to appointments, companionship or a buddy system so that they could have a cup of tea with someone once a week. Music based events were popular.

The project wanted to approach social isolation in a preventative way.

There is a need to provide a consistent weekly opportunity for people to socialize without any pressure with optional activities.

There was already strong social capital in Lampeter. There was an opportunity to create a consistent and welcoming entry point to help link to existing community assets.

It is important to find accessible community spaces so that everyone in the community can get to the space.

Findings from the project:

The main finding was that the model needs to be flexible to work in different communities.

The project and the events need to be community-led to reflect the culture and interests of that community.

It is vital to build relationships when you are working on these kinds of projects, to properly engage people and listen to them to build trust.

Partnerships strengthen reach and collaboration with local groups helps to build shared ownership which is a strong principle.

Constantly take feedback on board and avoid over formalization as it can deter people from activities.

You don't always need a large investment to strengthen community resilience.

Solva Toolkit: https://www.solvacare.co.uk/toolkit/

Rural Health & Care Wales

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Rural Health Compass

Matt Paneitz is the Executive Director of Long Way Home, an organization which works on sustainable education and community transformation.

Episode Summary:

01.05 Matt tells us about his role and how he became interested in working with rural communities

01.48 What is Long Way Home?

03.10 What is the philosophy behind the work of the organization?

05.20 How has the use of trash as a building material impacted the health of the community?

07.00 How did they decide to make rubbish part of the school tuition fee?

07.55 What is the context of San Juan Compalapa?

09.50 What are the challenges for education in this region?

12.08 How has the availability of secondary education impacted the community?

13.50 What were the challenges when they were initially setting up the school?

16.03 How did they build relationships with the community?

17.50 Who is part of the team of Long Way Home?

19.30 How has indigenous culture been included in the work they do?

20.46 What is the school campus like?

24.40 What resources are available to support others to do something similar?

25.35 What have been some of the most meaninful successes?

27.40 What change would you like to see in rural development and sustainability?

Key Messages:

The work of Long Way Home started in San Juan Comalapa, a Maya Kaqchikel (indigenous) community in Guatemala.

Long Way Home is a non-profit organization which is integrating sustainable rural development, education and addressing poverty.

Built the first city park and they wanted to charge an entry fee, the entrance fee became a plastic bottle filled with trash.

There was no system for trash management, there was nowhere to put it, so they decided to use trash as a building material.

At their school the tuition fee is one plastic bottle filled with trash. One family will send 3 or 4 children to the school and they will clean up the trash in their environment. This then helps to clean the neighbourhood.

They were experimenting with alternative material such as trash to bring down the cost of building materials.

San Juan Comalapa is in the western highland of Guatemala, the area has volcanoes, it is 60km west of Guatemala city. The people are mostly farmers, growing maize.

They opened the first high school in the town. There is a lack of money going into education. Not all of the children had a space in public school. Only 30% of children were enrolling in middle school as there is 87% unemployment locally.

The availability of a secondary school with low tuition fees enabled more young women to go to school. This is also improving their chances of going to university. Members of the community are not becoming professionals with better employment opportunities.

There were many obstacles to building the school. It was important to know the right people in the community who could help.

Building relationships and trust was important, it meant never asking others to do something they would not do themselves.

The school includes a Kaqchikel class where they learn about their language and culture.

The school campus uses a variety of materials, they experimented with different building methods including tyres, earth bags, cob, and bamboo. There are 22 different buildings which have integrated conventional and unconventional materials.

They used this experience to build further infrastructure with the wider community.

They have shared their experiences with other organizations around the world. They have also shared their expertise in building with alternative materials and documented the process to create a profile for the different types of buildings.

Website: https://lwhome.org/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LongWayHomeOrg

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Rural Health Compass

Learn more about the work of Rural Health Compass and the Rural Health Equity Chat Community.

Rural Helth Euquity Chat Report: https://ruralhealthcompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/rural-health-equity-chat-report-2026.pdf

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Rural Health Compass