The Village Ways Advisory Council

Village Ways was set up in 2005 as a social enterprise by seven “Founders’ from India and the UK.  Fundamental to Village Ways are the principles that good businesses, to be sustainable, require profitability for all partners and that all Village Ways business units are profitable from the grass roots up. To achieve the potential of the company, financial, marketing and other experts have been and will be brought in to the business. So that the founding social purpose - to sustain village life and culture, improve livelihoods in remote rural areas and reduce the need for outward migration - remains strong in the business the board has established an Advisory Council.

The members of the Advisory Council are drawn from the Founders and others involved in rural community work and the Council is chaired by an independent chair, (Professor of Responsible Tourism at Manchester Metropolitan). The purpose of the council is to provide a touchstone for the Directors and members of Village Ways so that they may adhere to its founding principles and the fulfilment of its social objectives. The Council has the responsibility to advise and encourage, and if necessary to warn, the Village Ways Partnership Directors of unintended consequences of their actions or divergence from Village Ways’ original principles. The Council is therefore responsible for monitoring the compliance of the Partnership with its founding principles. These principles are enshrined in the Founders Charter.

Click here to open the Charter as a pdf

Current Council Members

Graham Edgeley, Himanshu Pande, Keith Virgo, Lucy Edgeley, Manisha Pande, Mark Chapman, Ratnamala Kapur, Richard Hearn, Harold Goodwin (chair)