scotland plan

8/2/2019 Scotland Plan

1/69

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

Celebrating Success: Inspiring Change


2/69

The Scottish Government, Edinburgh 9

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

Celebrating Success: Inspiring Change


3/69

Crown copyright 9

ISBN: 98--9-8-

Housing and Regeneration Directorate

The Scottish GovernmentVictoria QuayEdinburghEH QQ

Email: [email protected]

Produced or the Scottish Government by RR Donnelley B9 /9

Published by the Scottish Government, March, 9

The text pages o this document are printed on recycled paper and are % recyclable

IMAGE CREDITS:Cover: Visit Scotland/Scottish ViewpointPages , , , : Copperworks Housing Co-operative


4/69

1

Page

Ministerial Foreword

COSLA Foreword

The Community Empowerment Action Plan Introduction

Why Community Empowerment is Important

What is Community Empowerment? 8

Communities o Interest and Identity 8

Equalities and Diversity 9

How Do Communities Become Empowered?

How Community Capacity Building Supports Community Empowerment

Roles

Evaluating the Impact o Community Empowerment

Specific Actions 8

Funding Streams

Case Studies

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

CONTENTS


5/69

MINISTERIAL FOREWORD

Trust in the abilities and potential o the Scottish people lies at the core o thisGovernments philosophy. Our approach to Governing Scotland is underpinnedby the belie that the people o this country can, and should, take increasedresponsibility or the issues that afect our nation. It is through our ownpeoples eforts that we will achieve our shared single purpose o increasedsustainable economic growth that will benefit all o Scotland.

It should be no surprise then that we are setting out in this Action Plan ourcommitment to community empowerment: the process that brings peopletogether rom across communities to deliverreal and lasting change.

Ensuring we all make the most o the collective talents, creativity anddetermination o our people is never more important than during tougheconomic times. By working together our communities become more resilientand confident. These are key qualities in meeting the challenges we all ace,and in taking new opportunities as they emerge.

Community Empowerment is a shared enterprise and I am delighted that thisplan is being launched jointly with COSLA: another tangible example o the

mature and trusting relationship that has developed between National andlocal Government in Scotland. I am also delighted that the third sector andcommunities themselves played such a strong role in shaping the plan. As aGovernment we were determined rom the outset that we must listen andrespect peoples views on what community empowerment meant to them, andhow it can be supported. This plan is built on the oundations o what we heardrom people rom across Scotland.

We are not starting rom scratch when it comes to communities doing thingsor themselves. As a nation, we have a long and proud tradition o people usingtheir energy and talent to make a diference or their ellow Scots. We celebrate

here only a ew o the hundreds o examples o empowerment that already existin Scotland, and I congratulate everyone involved in each o them and look orwardto hearing about other inspiring stories over the coming years.

The launch o this plan is not an end in itsel. Like the process o communityempowerment, it has no fixed destination. We are starting on another phase o anexciting journey in Scotland. At times we will no doubt ace challenges inseeing more communities becoming more empowered. But, as a Governmentwe dont shy away rom challenges, and we are determined to work with all ourpartners to meet and overcome whatever obstacles appear on the journey.

Alex Neil, MSP, Minister for Housing and Communities


6/69

COSLA FOREWORD

As Chair o COSLAs Community Empowerment Task Group I have beenencouraged to see the collective enthusiasm around this issue rom electedmembers, the voluntary sector and others on the group.

I hope that this exercise o drating a high level action plan in partnership withthe Scottish Government will be but the beginning o an ongoingdevelopmental process which will enable communities to participate ully in theevents and afairs which afect the communities in which they live.

Vibrant and healthy communities need community members who know there areopportunities to engage ully in the decision making processes that have animpact on their lives. We in Local Government cannot compel or require anyone

to become empowered, we cannot make it happen, but we can remove barriers, promote betteropportunities and support those already involved.

It is my hope that the launch o this plan will provide a platorm or raising awareness about thegood practice that is already happening across Scotland and about what still stands in the way oempowerment or others.

This action plan is not a stand alone document. Community Empowerment is a cross cutting issue that

has the potential to revitalise wider and constructive participation in Scotland's democratic processesand bring new voices into policy and service delivery debates at all levels o government.

Along with this plan COSLA and the Scottish Government have signed a joint statement on CommunityLearning and Development, outlining how this approach contributes to the achievement o the outcomescouncils have signed up to in their Single Outcome Agreements. Community Learning and Developmenthas long been a key part o working with communities at a local level and is inextricably linked with theempowerment agenda.

This plan also ties into the wider commitment by COSLAs Community Wellbeing and Saety ExecutiveGroup to address Social Inclusion issues including opportunities or democratic participation.

COSLA and the Scottish Government have signed up to three joint rameworks that are necessarilylinked. These are Equally Well health inequalities; Achieving Our Potential tackling poverty; and theEarly Years Framework. These three rameworks are all based on a common principle o early intervention.Progressing this approach will be a gradual but determined undertaking to which both levels ogovernment are committed. It will necessitate integrated working between public and private sectorpartners including the voluntary and third sector. But crucially it must involve, in a real andparticipatory way the communities themselves. Their voices must be heard and listened to.

I believe that this Community Empowerment Action Plan and the work that will ollow in communitiesacross Scotland will provide a basis or engagement with these three strands o work that are so importantto improving the quality o lie in our communities and the lie chances o the next generation.

Harry McGuigan, COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Safety


3


7/69


8/69


5

THE COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

ACTION PLAN INTRODUCTIONIn Scotland we have not been immune to the efects o the challenging economic picture that emergedacross the globe in 8. We also still ace long term complex social problems that we must tackletogether; inequalities in health, wealth and opportunity. The Scottish Government, acting with partnersacross the country, is determined to meet these challenges head on with vigour and creativity. We wantto see a step change in how we address the big issues we ace.

The Government has taken early action to address our economic challenges and has also launched, inpartnership with COSLA, three rameworks which will be the dawn o a new social policy. These set thescene or a sustained long term efort to tackle inequality in Scotland. They cover the key areas o health,early years, and poverty all o which will be afected positively by empowered and engaged communities.

The confidence and resilience that grows when people work together in their communities is nevermore important than in challenging economic times and when acing major social problems.

This means that community empowerment the ability o people to do things or themselves orms akey plank o the Scottish Governments approach to delivering a more successul Nation.

In April 8, the Scottish Government and COSLA announced a joint statement o commitment tocommunity empowerment. This is an important first or Scotland. It sets Government at national andlocal level on a long term path to make sure that more communities become more empowered across

the country.

This Action Plan builds on that statement and provides clarity on what community empowerment is,why community empowerment is important and how communities become empowered. It also sets outa range o new and existing practical actions which underpin the process o community empowerment.Taken together, these actions are designed to help everyone involved in community empowerment todeliver more empowered communities over the coming years.

The plan takes account o the views that were expressed by nearly 8 people in the dialogue on makingcommunity empowerment a reality, that took place at the end o . It has also been developed withthe active involvement o COSLA and third sector colleagues.

The launch o the plan signals a significant milestone on a journey. In some places there will need to bea process o culture change, in communities and the public agencies who support them, to make surethat local people have opportunities and the ability to play their ull part in helping Scotland to flourish.At times there may be a need to re-visit where power and control currently reside, as we continue todevelop the relationship between Government and communities across the country.

This change process may not always be straightorward or comortable, there are barriers to overcomewhen empowering communities whether they are the afects o poverty, or lack o confidence orisolation, but the benefits that can flow rom people having more responsibility or their own destiniesare potentially so great, that we must overcome the challenges and barriers together, as we seek todevelop the confidence and ambition that lies within our communities.


9/69

WHY

COMMUNITYEMPOWERMENTIS IMPORTANT

We want more communities across the country to

have more opportunities to play their part in helping

to deliver the outcomes that matter to Scotland.

DELIVERING ON OUR SHARED OUTCOMES

Scotlands communities are a rich source o talentand creative potential and the process o communityempowerment helps to unlock that potential. Itstimulates and harnesses the energy o local peopleto come up with creative and successul solutions tolocal challenges. Community empowerment is a keyelement in helping to achieve a more successulScotland and in delivering our shared outcomes.

The Scottish Government has a clear purpose tocreate a more successul country, with opportunitiesor all o Scotland to flourish, through increasingsustainable economic growth, and it is determined towork in partnership across Scottish society to deliveron that purpose.

The purpose is underpinned by five strategic objectivesand the new National Perormance ramework, whichsets out a set o agreed outcomes in a range o areasthat will be critical to making Scotland more successul.This new approach to delivering change plays out atLocal Authority level through the new Single OutcomeAgreements, which are a product o the new, mature

and trusting relationship between central and localGovernment. From 9/, Single OutcomeAgreements will be developed by Community PlanningPartnerships in recognition o the act that all o Scottishsociety, the public and third sectors and communitiesthemselves, have a role to play in delivering the purpose.

We want more communities across the country tohave more opportunities to play their part in helpingto deliver the outcomes that matter to Scotland. Thisis about all o us recognising that communities doing

things or themselves can sometimes be the best wayo delivering change. This will require maturedialogue between the public sector and communitygroups, underpinned by trust and respect. CommunityPlanning Partnerships should each think verycareully about the role that communities themselvescan play in delivering Single Outcome Agreements.The Scottish Government is clear that we have someway to go beore we realise the ull potential thatcommunities have to help deliver economic growththat benefits everyone in Scotland, wherever they live,and in a way that leaves a legacy or uture generations.


10/69

INVIGORATING DEMOCRACY

Community Empowerment also plays a vital role in the democratic lie o Scotland. Elected representativesat all levels o Government in Scotland have a key role to play in providing leadership and promotingthe active involvement o the Scottish people in the democratic lie o the country. They are responsibleor key decisions on delivering services and deploying significant resources across the country in a waythat is accountable to the Scottish people. The concordat between the Scottish Government and localGovernment cements the importance and legitimacy o the role o elected representatives in deliveringa better Scotland and explicitly commits Government in Scotland to work together in a mature andtrusting way.

However, elected representatives on their own cannot deliver the vibrant democracy in our communitiesthat we need in the st century in Scotland. Government at national and local level sees the process ocommunity empowerment as a key way o complementing representative democracy.

When local people are actively engaged in tackling issues within their community, and in helping torealise the communitys potential, those people are likely to have an increased interest in and engagementwith the afairs o local government and indeed Government across the board.

This active involvement is most oten driven by the community groups who exist in our neighbourhoods,towns and villages, whether they be community councils, registered tenant organisations, communitybased housing associations, or one o the many other models that communities choose or themselves.Oten, diferent community groups working together can be a powerul way o stimulating communityaction and helping people to engage with the public sector.

In particular, the leadership role o local elected members, who are closest to our communities, plays avital part in promoting and supporting the work o these community based groups as part o our everydaydemocratic lives. The key to a vibrant democracy is that all the players with an interest work together inan atmosphere o mutual trust and respect even where there may be disagreements with a ocus onthe needs and aspirations o the wider community.

IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE

From existing evidence, wed expect to see a number o positive changes when a community becomes moreempowered. Increased confidence and skills amongst local people; higher numbers o people volunteeringin their communities; higher levels o satisaction with quality o lie in a local neighbourhood. All o

these benefits flow rom people eeling more in control o their lives.

Community empowerment can also have a less tangible, but nevertheless very powerul outcome.It can give people a long term stake in the uture o their communities, and can confirm and strengthencommunity pride; bringing people together rom right across communities, rom a variety o backgroundsto work or a better uture.

Each o these are important reasons in their own right or supporting community empowerment.Taken together, they provide a compelling case or all o us to strive to help more communitiesbecome more empowered.


7


11/69

The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed the ollowing definition:

Community empowerment is a process where people work together to

make change happen in their communities by havingmore power and

influence over whatmatters to them.

Coming up with a definition wasnt straightorward, but it was absolutely necessary to be as clear as we

could about what we mean by community empowerment. There may be debates about the specific wordingo this definition. But i we put these to one side, on one level, communities who eel a sense o controlover what happens at a local level know exactly what empowerment is. Fundamentally, it is about peopletaking collective action to make change happen on their own terms.

Community empowerment is a highly complex process to achieve and requires the active understandingand commitment rom a wide number o stakeholders to achieve it. Community empowerment can be aslow, gradual process which involves continual learning and the constant building o a communityscapacity to take on more there is no finite end point in the process o community empowerment.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT?

Communities are oten defined by the place they live, oten single or small sets o neighbourhoods.However many people eel part o communities around common issues or circumstances, such asdisability, age, or ethnic minority and may want to join together and organise over larger geographicalareas, such as a town or local authority area.

Our commitment to empowerment includes these communities o identity and interest. They are likelyto have particular needs and priorities or public services and want power and influence in relation tothese. In some cases they may want to directly deliver services.

In prioritising and resourcing communities o identity and interest, we should ocus on those communitiesexperiencing disadvantage or inequalities, or example in relation to race, disability, and those most inneed o greater capacity.

COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST ANDIDENTITY


12/69


EQUALITIES

ANDDIVERSITY

Throughout the dialogue process we heard time andagain that the process o community empowerment

must be about everyone living in a community havingthe opportunity to get involved. Any model that ailsto take positive steps to include all sections o acommunity, is not community empowerment.

We need to remember that at the moment too manyinequalities still exist in our society and that too manypeople can be excluded rom ulfilling their potentialby discrimination, victimisation or harassment. Peoplecan ace these problems because o their race or ethnicbackground, because o a disability or their age, sexualorientation, religion or gender.

Community Empowerment must recognise andcelebrate the richness that diferent cultures andbackgrounds bring to our society. We must be awareand help overcome the barriers and diculties that somepeople ace in getting involved in their communities.This means that community groups must look veryclosely at how inclusive and welcoming they are being,and o course we all in the public sector have a duty topromote equalities.

This can mean investing in practical action, orexample training on equalities and diversity or stafand communities, and challenging some negativeinfluences o stereotyping and lack o awareness oequalities issues. We heard through the dialogue thatpeople rom a diverse range o backgrounds somewho ace major personal challenges are very keen tobecome involved and to contribute their considerabletalents and insights, but oten need to be welcomedand supported into the process, both by publicagencies and by communities themselves.

9


13/69

HOW DO

COMMUNITIESBECOMEEMPOWERED?

Storytelling Session, Glenshee

There are many diferent ways in which communitiescan become more empowered. There is no one model

which would fit every circumstance. For somecommunities empowerment will involve owningassets, and controlling budgets, or generating theirown income to re-invest. In some cases, communitieswill want to take action around an injustice or toprotect a valued resource. Others will want to have anenhanced role in shaping the services delivered ontheir behal by others.

All o these approaches can be empowering dependingon thecircumstances.Whatever models work or diferentcommunities, they must provide an explicit and real

increase in the level o power and influence that localpeople have. The key thing is that empowerment cannotbe given to communities by others. Communities mustdecide the level o empowerment they want and howto get there themselves.

Most oten a critical characteristic o communitieswhich are empowered is the existence o locallyowned, community led organisations which oten actas anchors or the process o empowerment. Theseorganisations, which may be the local housing

association, church group, community association,development trust, community council or anycombination o these, oten have a range ocharacteristics that enable them to provide a localleadership role and a ocal point or other localservices and groups. Some o these characteristicsinclude: that they are multi-purpose, usually operaterom a physical hub, and will oten own or manageother community assets. The confidence and abilityo these groups is closely linked to the confidenceand ability o the people who are involved in them.Individuals who eel empowered can bring a dynamicand enterprising approach to the work o their groups.

0


14/69

HOW COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING

SUPPORTS COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENTOten the very things that create disadvantage poverty, lack o educational opportunity, poor health,and poor transport links also create barriers to bringing about the empowerment that is one o the keyingredients or bringing about real change. Many o our communities, particularly those acing high levelso disadvantage in both urban and rural areas, will need support to help them build the skills,confidence, networks and resources they require on the journey towards becoming more empowered.

We call that range o support community capacity building and it can be a critical step in laying theoundations or community empowerment. Partners need to invest time, money and skills into work thatsupports community capacity building, i they are serious about community empowerment.

This means investing in highly skilled support or what is a complex process. Activities to help buildconfidence will contribute to community empowerment only i they are linked to support or buildingefective organisations. These will only have a longer term impact i people are enabled to learn romtheir experiences. Developing local leadership needs to be combined with widening involvement andparticipatory processes. These processes build communities capacity to engage efectively with publicbodies, develop services, and ultimately improve community lie.

Specialist staf who orm a relationship with communities and groups, and support them over a periodo time and through diferent stages o their development, play an important role in community capacitybuilding. Other staf, working in a range o settings and providing an input to community capacity

building as one part o their role, also contribute significantly and also need specific skills in order tobe able to do so efectively. The most efective capacity building is usually embedded into the processo helping communities take action towards their goals.

In Scotland, work to build community capacity building is oten developed under the umbrella ocommunity learning and development. This puts it in a strong context where it is linked to a range oother non-ormal learning and social development work with individuals, groups and communities.

Community learning and development is delivered by a wide range o organisations, oten working inpartnership, including local authorities, third sector organisations and a range o other partners likehealth boards, colleges and others.

The Scottish Government has set out clear expectations o the outcomes community capacity buildingshould deliver. Community capacity building in CLD ocuses on achieving:

I Confident, skilled, active and influential communities.

I Efective and inclusive community organisations.

I Efective relationships between community organisations and other organisations and services.


11

InWorking andLearningTogether to BuildStrongerCommunities the Scottish Government defines community learning

and development as learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range oormal and inormal methods. A common defining eature is that programmes and activities are developed in dialogue withcommunities and participants.

DeliveringChange: understanding the outcomes o community learning and developmentCommunities Scotland: .


15/69

Staf providing community capacity building supportcan ace challenging issues o accountability and may

be working with communities on issues that arepolitically sensitive. It is thereore important that theirwork is inormed by commitment to a widely-understoodset o principles.Working andLearning Togethersets out the ollowing principles as those on whichcommunity learning and development practice shouldbe based:

I Empowerment;

I Participation;

I Inclusion, equality o opportunity and

anti-discrimination;I Sel-determination; and

I Partnership.

These principles should be embedded in work topromote Community Empowerment, in evaluations oits efectiveness and in assessments o its quality.

Our evidence is that communities that receive highquality community capacity building support canbecome more active, influential and more able to work

together to achieve change that matters to them.

It is thereore important that the ull range o partnerswith an interest in community empowerment also payattention to support or community capacity building.Structures to develop strategic partnership approachesto building community capacity oten exist as part opartnership working or community learning anddevelopment, under the umbrella o CommunityPlanning. Partners should take advantage o and buildon these structures to make the most o the available

resources to support community capacity building.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have alsoagreed a joint statement on community learning anddevelopment, building on Working and LearningTogether to Build Stronger Communities, which waslaunched on 8 November 8. This will mutuallyreinorce the messages sent out in this action planabout the important contribution that communitylearning and development, and community capacitybuilding within that, can make to the empowerment oall our communities.

2

Literature review o the outcomes o community learning and

development University o Edinburgh: .


16/69


ROLES SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL AND LOCALGovernment in Scotland has a shared role to providestrategic leadership in promoting and supportingcommunity empowerment. This action plan is a keystep towards delivering that role.

At National level the Scottish Government will ensurethat the benefits o community empowerment areunderstood across its portolios and that reerences tothe part community empowerment can play inachieving our Strategic Objectives are made inappropriate policies. The Scottish Government willalso continue to promote the benefits o communityempowerment across a range o partners. It willcontinue to develop policy in partnership with othersto help to urther develop culture change.

The Scottish Government is investing around m inthe wide ranging actions which will build capacity orempowerment in this plan. Since May , theGovernment has also developed new and extendedexisting, grant programmes which are accessible tocommunity groups, which total approximately 8mto . These practical actions and resources will

provide some o the key underpinning or the culturechange we want to see happen.

At local level, local authorities, in particular throughtheir elected members, have a key role to play inpromoting the benefits o community empowermentand engagement, in particular in articulating howcommunities themselves can help to deliver outcomesset out in Single Outcome Agreements. Councils alsohave a key role in helping to drive a urther cultureshit which will see community empowerment as a

process which can help to deliver a range o localoutcomes. Local Government also has a key role toplay in continuing to support and develop thecommunity groups which are the backbone o thecommunity empowerment process. This may involverethinking the ocus o current communityengagement and community learning anddevelopment work to ensure that resources and staftime are allocated to activities that make the mostimpact in building the capacity o local communities.

13

Bus trip to Wester Hailes to see good examples


17/69

COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

The ormation, existence and development o,democratic, inclusive and competent communitygroups, is key to community empowerment. These arethe groups who provide the ocus or community ledaction. They are around or the long term and havestrong ties into the wider community. They will takemany orms: Development Trusts; community basedhousing associations; community councils; registeredtenant organisations; community orums. The listcould go on. The key thing is not the precise model,but that they are recognised in their communities asimportant, open organisations.

The process o community empowerment relies onthese organisations being in place. Support or thedevelopment o these organisations should be a keyocus or investing in community capacity building.We want to see the ongoing strengthening o groupswho are committed to equalities and connecting totheir wider communities, who are ambitious andvisionary; and who take an energetic and enterprisingapproach to their work.

COSLAs signing o the joint statement ocommitment to community empowerment means inpractice that Local Authorities want to ensure thatlevels o community empowerment increase acrosstheir communities over the coming years. Councilsare committed to exploring opportunities where localcommunities can take on more responsibility orhelping to achieve outcomes set out in SingleOutcome Agreements. Local Government in Scotlandfirmly believes in the invaluable role that manycommunity groups play in the lie o their cities,

towns and villages and want to strengthen that role.

4

Visiting good examples of environmental

improvements: Livingston


18/69

COMMUNITY PLANNING PARTNERSHIPS

For community empowerment there are significant gains to bemade by joined-up approaches across partners at Local Authoritylevel and more locally. Community Planning Partnerships CPPsare best placed to lead this. These high level partnerships providestrategic direction at Local Authority level and rom 9/ areresponsible or developing Single Outcome Agreements with theScottish Government. They are the places where the key serviceproviders in an area come together to plan priorities and discussservice delivery. Partnerships bring together the senior people romlocal authorities; health boards; police and fire services; enterprisebodies and the voluntary sector on a regular basis.

In relation to community empowerment there are two things thatCPPs can do:

Promote and support joined up approaches to community capacitybuilding as both the oundation o a sustainable approach tocommunity empowerment and engagement, and a means to helpcommunities work on their own issues. This might involve:

I Assessing community strengths and responding to priority gapsin community inrastructure;

I Ensuring access to the basic operating requirements ocommunity organisations, such as accessible places to meet andchildcare;

I Mapping community capacity building support, in terms o itsreach to the communities that need it most, as well as its capacityto support community groups through various stages o developmentrom ormation to managing assets i they choose to;

I Ensuring accessibility o community capacity building support,or example through appropriate inormation, and reerralarrangements across partners or groups seeking support.

Embedding community empowerment throughout processes or

Community Planning. This might involve:I Continuing to build upon current work to support community

engagement;

I Sel-evaluating current processes or Community Planning interms o their impact on community empowerment;

I As part o developing new initiatives and processes, think aboutthe part that communities themselves can play in deliveringoutcomes;

I Providing leadership to Community Planning partners in makingtheir individual processes empowering or communities.


15


19/69

EVALUATING

THE IMPACT OFCOMMUNITYEMPOWERMENT

How we measure that community empowerment ismaking a diference is not straightorward. This is

partly because community empowerment can take somany diferent orms. At one level, how to measureimpact must be decided on a case by case basis,depending on what activity is being taken orward bywhich kind o group or community. However, eventhat can be a challenging process, involving somecomplex debates and dicult decisions.

There are though a number o pieces o work underwayin Scotland which can help in this context. Perhapsmost importantly, Single Outcome Agreements havebeen developed and many o these SOAs include

indicators and measures that relate to communityengagement and community empowerment. Acrossthe UK other indicators o community strength havebeen developed and there are questions in theScottish Household survey which relate to peoplesability to influence decisions.

Audit Scotland are also developing their approach toBest Value II audits which will contain a specific ocuson how local government and their partners areengaging with communities.

The key thing then, is to bring coherence to thispicture and to help people to understand how best tomeasure the impact o community empowerment. TheScottish Government will work with COSLA and thethird sector to develop a piece o work that will deliverthat coherence.

It is also important the we reflect regularly ondevelopments at a National level and we will reviewprogress with this action plan with partners in a yearstime in April .

6


20/69

STAND TOGETHER


21/69

8

SPECIFIC

ACTIONS

For community empowerment to become a reality, weneed to do more than simply set out and understand

the key principles which underpin empowerment andthe roles o people involved. We need to invest inpractical actions which will help to build capacity todeliver empowerment. Each in their own diferentways, these actions will help to support the long termculture change that will be needed to see morecommunities becoming more empowered. They arenot designed simply as eye catching gimmicks, but aredesigned to address many o the serious issues thatafect a communitys ability to become more empowered.

As we are continuing on a journey, it is highly likely

that other actions may occur to people in time and wewill consider gaps and new ideas when we review theplan in a years time.

All o the actions set out in this part o the plan havebeen heavily influenced by the messages we heardthrough our dialogue process that took place romOctober to December . Given that nearly 8people gave o their time and energy to take part inthat process it was important to us to take account opeoples views.


22/69

WE KNOWWHAT NEEDS

DOING ON OUR ESTATES AND

NOW THE COUNCIL ARE

LISTENINGAND RESPONDING


23/69

HIGHLIGHTING EXISTING EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

A key message rom the dialogue was that we shouldnt invent new community empowerment schemes,structures or processes. The point was made oten that there was much or us to celebrate in Scotland.Many community activists said that they elt empowered through their involvement in existingcommunity groups.

There was a clear call though that Government should get better at highlighting and celebrating existingexamples o community empowerment. The purpose o this is to build enthusiasm or communityempowerment and to show what can be achieved by empowered communities. The impact o highlightingthese models will be to give more communities, and the people who support them, the confidence andambition to achieve more themselves.

We are delighted that twelve examples rom across Scotland agreed to be highlighted in this plan.We approached these groups on the basis that they show a range o models that people told us couldbe empowering. They involve communities owning assets, people playing a key role in influencingdecisions about spending public money; they show what can be achieved by particular types ocommunity organisation; community councils, registered tenant organisations and communitybased housing associations.

We also wanted to make sure that we included examples rom urban and rural Scotland, as the successeswe can celebrate exist right across the country in very diferent kinds o communities.

The examples that we highlight here ocus on telling peoples stories rom their own perspective. Theyare designed to generate enthusiasm or the community empowerment agenda and to show that we

want to get better at celebrating what communities themselves describe as success.

As we would expect, each example describes a community on a journey, some are arther along in theirjourney than others. Some have clear ambitions now to become even more empowered, whilst some arehappy at this point with the degree o empowerment they experience.

Later in the spring, we will publish a companion document to the Action Plan that will provide more detailon each o the examples. This will draw out the learning rom each example about how communities havebecome empowered.

We know that there are many, many more examples we could have approached, and as we go orward we

want to explore opportunities to highlight some other existing examples, or new examples as they emerge.

0


24/69

DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A MODEL SCHEME OF ESTABLISHMENT FORCOMMUNITY COUNCILS AND A CODE OF CONDUCT FOR COMMUNITY COUNCILLORS

The 9 Local Government Scotland Act defines the statutory purpose o Community Councils thus:In addition to any other purpose which a Community Council may pursue, the general purpose o aCommunity Council shall be to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the local authorities or its area,and to public authorities, the views o the community which it represents, in relation to matters orwhich those authorities are responsible, and to take such action in the interests o that community asappears to it to be expedient and practicable . The Scottish Government is aware o several communitycouncils who, either independently, or in discussion and agreement with their local authority, undertake awide range o other responsibilities.

The Model Scheme was developed by the Community Council Working Group CCWG with a view to

the finalised Scheme providing a minimum basis or local authorities to adopt, should they wish to doso. This will allow or parity and greater consistency between Schemes and thereore, the operation oCommunity Councils, throughout Scotland.

The Code o Conduct or Community Councillors produced by the CCWG is based largely on the Codeo Conduct or local authority councillors and relevant public bodies as provided or in the Act.The introduction o the Code will help to build trust in the working relationships between CommunityCouncils, other community organisations and Councils.

SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITIES TO OWN ASSETS

Communities owning their own land and buildings can have a huge impact on their empowerment.Asset ownership wont be the answer or all communities, depending on their circumstances and theirown wishes, but it can be very powerul.

Asset ownership can have key impacts. It can provide revenue or community organisations, making themmore sustainable in the long term. It can give local people a renewed sense o pride in their communities,a real sense o a stake in the uture o the places they live and work. For some community organisations,working towards asset ownership can be a antastic catalyst or the group growing and maturing.

O course many community organisations in Scotland already own assets our highlighted examplesinclude Gigha and Cordale Housing association who own significant amounts o land and buildings. Wealso have a long history o work that has supported asset ownership and development most notably in

rural Scotland. This includes the community right to buy legislation which has enabled communities toorm over properly constituted companies, or community bodies, register their community interestin land, and have a pre-emptive right to buy the land when it comes up or sale. Financial assistance andguidance has been provided over the years by the Scottish Land Fund, and Highlands and IslandsEnterprise Community Land Unit. There is also a strong tradition o community based housingassociations who, along with their housing stock, have played a major part in developing a range oother assets, rom managed workspaces to community acilities.

In recent years community asset ownership and development has also benefited greatly rom theexistence o BIG Lottery Scotlands Growing Community Assets programme. This has provided

m or community organisations to acquire and develop a wide range o assets.


21


25/69

So there is much to build on. However, taking on the ownership o assets is a complicated business.There are many pitalls that can get in the way o community asset ownership working. Indeed, there

may be occasions when a community seeking to own an asset may be the wrong way to develop thecommunity. There are also important questions o principle and practice that have to be careully consideredin relation to asset ownership, or example i an asset is to be transerred rom public sector ownershipinto community ownership there are important considerations like value or money and accountabilityto the public which have to be looked at careully. In any circumstance where a community takes on anasset the issue o identiying and securing ongoing revenue streams to develop and maintain the assetis critical; otherwise communities find themselves stuck with a liability rather than an asset.

We will invest resources in new work that will help to overcome some o these barriers to ensure thatcommunity asset ownership happens in a way that benefits communities.

Working with colleagues in the third and public sectors, we will:

I Highlight examples where assets have been successully transerred rom local authorities tocommunity groups;

I Highlight examples where local authorities have developed a strategic approach to community assetownership;

I Issue revised guidance to local authorities on disposing o assets at less than best consideration;

I Develop a toolkit that helps people to assess the risks and benefits o community asset ownership;

I Work with BIG Lottery Scotland, in the context o their consultation on their uture programme andMinisterial directions, to learn rom the Growing Community Assets programme and consider uturesupport or community asset ownership.

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL COUNCILLORS TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Elected members have a key role to play in setting strategic direction locally and promoting andsupporting community empowerment. Many councillors currently provide invaluable support to theirlocal community groups; helping them to have their voices heard and to overcome hurdles they ace ingetting things done.

There could be major benefits though in supporting councillors rom across the country to share theirexperiences, to learn rom each other and to be kept up to date with the latest developments in the theoryand practice o community empowerment and engagement.

Working with the Local Government Improvement Service, the Scottish Government will und a newtraining programme on community empowerment and engagement or elected members across thecountry. This will be a first or Scotland.

The course will ocus on the policy, theory and practice o community empowerment and engagement,and will provide a space or councillors to consider how they can use their community leadership role toensure that more communities become more empowered in Scotland.

2


26/69

TRAINING TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EMPOWERMENT

There are still people who are charged with working with communities who wont have a very clear ideaabout what community empowerment means or indeed what community engagement is. Others willlack the skills necessary or supporting community groups adequately.

People having the right skills and knowledge to efectively engage with and empower local people is key.

We will invest at National level to develop learning materials that will be o use in the real world andthat will help to improve practice. This will build on the skills and competencies set out in BetterCommunity Engagement a ramework or learning. We will develop these materials by working inpartnership with people who are engaging with communities on the ground.

Community activists also benefit rom learning at a national level. We will learn the lessons rom theprevious Community Voices Network, which was evaluated in , to develop appropriate ways toincrease local peoples learning. We believe that activists sharing their own experience o empowermentis a powerul way o spreading the message o the benefits it can bring and the diferent approaches toachieving it. We will work with partners to develop the detail o this work over the coming months.

INVESTMENT TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING

In the Scottish Government published an online resource guide to support community capacitybuilding practice. This was ollowed by StrengtheningScotlandsCommunities, a programme osupport to, and dialogue with, partners working to build community capacity across Scotland. TheScottish Government is currently unding the development o comprehensive practice guidance or

community capacity building. This will be published and disseminated in 9.

The Scottish Government is also currently unding a range o local partners to model solutions tonational challenges in relation to efective community capacity building, by developing efective localapproaches rom which lessons can be shared across Scotland.

PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PILOT:

During our dialogue, many people said that local people having more direct influence over publicspending in their area, could be empowering.

The Scottish Government and COSLA will establish, by autumn 9, a participatory budgeting pilotexercise ocused on tackling Anti-Social behaviour an issue we know many communities care deeplyabout across three Community Planning Partnership areas as part o the community empowermentagenda. Participatory budgeting should enable local community and neighbourhood groups to influencelocal action by helping to direct how small action unds are spent to develop solutions to local antisocialbehaviour problems. This pilot exercise will be supported by COSLA and the Scottish Governmentthrough the provision o training, guidance and match-unding.


23

BuildingCommunity Capacity: resources or community learning anddevelopment practice Scottish Government: .

Strengthening ScotlandsCommunities:community capacity buildingpractice developmentprogramme Scottish Government: 8.


27/69

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME DIRECT INVESTMENT ACCESSIBLE BYCOMMUNITY GROUPS

Since May , the Scottish Government has shown its commitment to empowering communities byboth putting in place a range o new unding programmes, or example the Climate Challenge Fundwhich is absolutely about supporting community led solutions, and continuing and increasing someexisting unding streams, or example the Wider Role und, that community groups have access to.We set out here that Community Empowerment Programme that covers a range o policy areas anddiferent kinds o community groups.

Taken together these unding streams total approximately 8m o Scottish Government andEuropean unding over the three year period 8/, a significant amount o potential directinvestment in the work that communities want to do themselves.

4

This total includes money rom the European Union in the Scottish Rural Development Programme which is matched by the

Scottish Government.

Opening Celebration of the Backlands Project


28/69


WIDER ROLE FUND 36mTo enable registered social landlords to play a ull part in the economic, physical and socialregeneration o their communities.

CLIMATE CHALLENGE FUND 27.4mTo enable communities to come orward with their own solutions to make a significant reduction incarbon emissions. There is an emphasis on capacity building within communities to acilitate climate

change action, and this is supported through a network o Non Government Organisations and voluntarysector organisations in an alliance to ensure that community involvement is at the heart o this work.The Fund projects can involve a range o actions, and should be delivered in the context o the widerenvironmental, social or economic dimensions.

RENEWABLES 21.5mTo enable communities to maximise benefits rom local renewables developments through grants

scheme and advisory network o local development ocers administered by intermediaries.

Funding available or technical/easibility studies up to K as well as capital up to K or projects.

SCOTTISH RURAL DEVELOPMENTPROGRAMME; LEADER; RURAL

PRIORITIESAPPROXIMATELY 29M FOR LEADER AND 15M FOR COMMUNITIES IN RDCS

To enable community groups to contribute to agreed rural development priorities

LEADER is aimed at local development projects driven by community groups and having a wide communitybenefit through decisions taken by local partnership groups to deliver their local development strategy.

Rural Development Contracts RDCs Regional Priorities is a competitive process under whichcommunity applications will be judged on their ability to deliver national and regional outcomes.Recommendations are made on a regional basis but decisions are finalised centrally.

25


29/69

INCREASE 3 7.5m

THE COMMUNITY CHEST &VOLUNTEERING SCOTLAND GRANTS 3m

To build the capacity o small community groups. A small grant scheme run by the Voluntary Action Fund.

RACE, RELIGION, AND REFUGEEINTEGRATION FUND 5.6m

To improve the lives o minority ethnic and aith communities in Scotland, including reugees and asylumseekers as well as migrant workers and Gypsies/Travellers.

FORESTRY FOR PEOPLE CHALLENGEFUND 1.5m

To help groups realise the potential contribution o local woodlands to the health, learning andstrengthening o communities.

6

A grant scheme run or Scottish Government by delivery bodies WRAP and Community RecyclingNetwork or Scotland. Supports innovative community-sector waste-related projects aligned with thereduce, re-use, recycle ethos. Separate strands support Enterprise and Prevention projects, with anadditional strands supporting capacity-building in the sector and a small-scale


30/69


SCOTTISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

(WOMENS FUND FOR SCOTLAND) 600KScottish Community Foundation awards grants o between and k to strengthen Scotland'scommunities. It awards grants to disadvantaged and marginalised groups in Scotland and has run a Women'sFund designed to promote gender equality and to tackle sexual discrimination since . WomensFund or Scotland provide grants o up to k through an open application process to organisations.

BUILDING FOR SPORT PROGRAMME APPROXIMATELY 22m (SPECIFICALLY ALLOCATED TO COMMUNITY FACILITIES STRAND)

Within this programme there is a strand which includes the provision or upgrading o any acilitiesused or sport in the general community. Applications or such awards need to align with the strategicplan o a local authority or o a governing body.

27

SPORTSMATCH APPROXIMATELY 1.2m

Supports grass roots sport projects that encourage participation at community level, especially youthgroups. It aims to match commercial business sponsorship on a or basis and has three primaryobjectives: to encourage businesses to sponsor community sports, to oster lasting partnerships betweenbusiness and community sport, to urther develop and improve community access to sport through qualitybusiness sponsorships.

SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT GRANTS APPROXIMATELY 1.2m

Better public understandingof STEM (Science TechnologyEngineeringMathematics) subjects/sciencepolicy.


31/69

COMMUNITY

EMPOWERMENT,HIGHLANDS ANDISLANDSENTERPRISEGRANT APPROXIMATELY 12m

Focused on community groups, social enterprises, orother community anchor organisations.

Activities include:

Capacity building, asset-based community developmentpredominantly acquisition and management o land,buildings and renewable energy production,developing social enterprises, community accountmanagement as an extension to the Initiative at theEdge programme, development based on the Gaeliclanguage and the distinctive arts and cultural heritageo the Highland and Islands Enterprise HIE area.

HIE also unds more generic development in the SocialEnterprise, Community Land, Community RenewableEnergy, Arts and Culture, and Gaelic based sectors.

8


32/69

NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND VOICE

During our dialogue process, while everyone saw potential benefits in communities being moreempowered, there was a strong view that many communities simply wanted better opportunitiesto be heard by public sector bodies when they are planning and delivering services.

This part o the plan thereore reflects the continuing importance o community engagement, as parto a spectrum o working with communities. We will continue to promote the National Standards orcommunity engagement as good practice. The Standards have been recommended by Audit Scotlandas good practice and have been the subject o a recent positive evaluation o their impact.http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/regeneration/engage/standards

We are also investing k over two years or the development and promotion o the VOiCEcommunity engagement database. VOiCE is underpinned by the National Standards and can supportorganisations to:

I plan community engagement and service user participation

I conduct it efectively

I monitor and record the process

I evaluate the outcomes.

It can be used to support a range o participation rom overall area regeneration to specific concerns ousers o particular services. It is designed to be relevant both or individual services and or integrated,cross disciplinary community planning. VOiCE enables all users to have a common system or

analysing, planning, monitoring, evaluating and recording that provides common definition o termsand understanding o diferent types and purposes o engagement. It will carry the records o allengagements conducted in an area and enable analysis o patterns and outcomes o engagement.

We have asked the Scottish Community Development Centre to conduct a dissemination anddevelopment programme or VOiCE running through to March . This enables every communityplanning partnership to make use o days training and consultancy support rom SCDC. Thisprogramme o support will be inormed by the lessons o VOiCE development sites with which SCDCis working to build up knowledge o how most efectively to use the tool. As we get the learning, we willplace it on this site.


29


33/69

CASE STUDIES:

TRANSFORMING A SMALL TOWN COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERING IN ALNESS


34/69

The Initiative has certainly had its challenges and sometimes wemeet

delays and rustrations, but we keep ocused on our shopping list o

priorities that people in the town put orward.Were all local volunteers

and its this involvementwhich has helped to create civic pride and a

sense o community ownership o both the issues we are tackling and o

our achievements.

Councillor Carolyn Wilson, Chair, Alness Initiative

Alness, a small town in Easter Ross, miles north o Inverness, is no ordinary place. It has a history reachingback nearly eight centuries, but it is the last years that have witnessed the most dramatic change.

The arrival o the Invergordon aluminium smelter in the early 9s brought with it new councilhomes and , construction workers. Oil projects in the Cromarty Firth added to a boom-town eel inAlness. The towns population grew rapidly rom , to 8, in just a ew years. Another decade laterand the smelter was gone, along with 9 permanent jobs. Alness was devastated; unemployment roseto % overnight. Many shops and local businesses closed; the town developed a bad reputation.

The community here has always been resilient and orward thinking. Since those dark days, a passionate,enthusiastic and dedicated group o local volunteers have worked together to transorm Alness into ahighly desirable place, where people are rightly proud o their achievements.

With support rom Highland Council, Ross and Cromarty Enterprise and many other unders, Alnessnow boasts a strong network o community organisations. Prominent among them is the AlnessInitiative, set up by a group o local business people in 99 and now the main umbrella organisation orthe town. It brought together the local Community Councils, the towns Community Association andbusiness leaders; together they have set up and run a wide variety o regeneration projects in the town.

Prominent amongst these have been a complete transormation o the High Street, not least through theAlness Environmental Groups ocus on hanging baskets and flower tubs, and the purchase andrenovation o a shop by Alness Community Association, to create a Heritage Centre. Local people runamily learning projects, art programmes and a monthly newspaper. They have developed new acilitiessuch as play parks, run holiday play schemes and lunch clubs or the elderly and sponsored cycle pathsand a sculpture trail.

CASE STUDIES: ALNESS | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

Alness in Bloom a regular national prize winner

31


35/69

In , the Alness Initiative won the British UrbanRegeneration Award or community organisations

with no ull-time workers, a tribute to the strength ovolunteering in the town. The judges comments speakor themselves...

The Panel saw this project as

outstanding in manyways and was

particularly impressed by the

significant input rom local

volunteers. Their passion,

enthusiasm and dedication todelivering high quality services and

opportunities or all people in the

area has transormed Alness.

British Urban Regeneration Association 2007

Two particular projects demonstrate the breadth othe Initiatives activities in the town. Working closelywith local residents associations and supported by

Highland Council, the West Alness Save ProjectWASP was set up to provide an energy advisor totackle uel poverty by reducing electricity use. Morethan , was provided by Scottish and SouthernEnergy to support the project.

The Alness Heritage Group has spent many yearsdeveloping a local Heritage Centre, now successullyup and running. A Heritage Lottery grant, a loan romCharity Bank and income raised by volunteers all helpedto get this initiative of the ground. The Centre operateson an entirely voluntary basis, providing an exhibitionspace, conerence venue, archive room and shop.

Alness has come a long way in the last orty years.It shows how local communities, aced with adversity,can turn their towns and villages round through thedevelopment o a strong network o co-ordinatedinitiatives, run by volunteers.

The newly-renovated Alness Heritage Centre

2


36/69

CASE STUDIES:

PARTNERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT IN BUCHAN


37/69

Our Partnership is all about empowering local people to do things or

themselves and or their communities.

Norma Thompson, Chair of Management Committee, Buchan Development Partnership

The Buchan Development Partnership is an independent, community-led Local Rural Partnership,tackling economic, social and environmental issues in the Buchan area o Aberdeenshire.

Since it began lie in , the Partnership has flourished. With three staf, a board o communitydirectors and member organisations, it ofers support to a wide range o initiatives across thisrelatively remote rural area. Remote it may be, but behind the times it certainly is not.

One o the Partnerships priorities is to encourage the growth o social enterprises in Buchan. These

not-or-profit, community-based companies are growing in popularity there are already more thanone thousand o them in Scotland. Amongst Buchans members, a Dial-a-Bus company, an IT ande-learning training company BITES and Maud Village Trust are all up and running as highlysuccessul social enterprises.

Maud Village Trust shows how a well-organised, community-led initiative can help bring a strugglingvillage back to lie. Maud was once home to Europes busiest livestock auctions, but when closureloomed, local people began the search or alternative uses or the redundant mart site. Eight years on,the mart has now been replaced by a bright new medical centre, gym, community resource centre,oces, a supported housing development and a garden, all reflecting the communitys priorities.Funding support has come rom Awards or All, the Direct Grants Programme, Forward Scotland,Aberdeenshire Council, Communities Scotland, the Scottish Government through Future Builders andShell Small Grants.

We eel weve put the heart back into Maud. It has been hard work and

taken a long time, but all our eforts are now paying of. Buchan

Development Partnershipwaswith us every step o theway helping us

organise the initial community consultations and then secure the

2.5mwe needed tomake it all happen.

Pat Buckman, Secretary, Maud Village Trust

Maud Village Trust Old Market Community Resource Centre

4


38/69

CASE STUDIES: BUCHAN | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

35

The Partnership has been involved in CommunityPlanning since , working with Aberdeenshires

Community Planning Partnership and on the groundwith many local groups. It makes much use oPlanning or Real, to encourage everyone in acommunity to contribute to decision-making. The useo simple models to look at diferent options is a bigchange rom the usual powerpoint presentations andexpensive exhibitions, encouraging people tocontribute to the development process, not justcomment on the final proposals.

In our experience, public meetings

only provide a platorm or thestrongest voices; Planning or Real

is a very hands-on process that

actively encourages everyone to

contribute. We help local groups set

these sessions up, but never lead

them we like to be on tap, but not

on top.

Dawn Brody, Development Officer,Buchan Development Partnership

Funding is always an issue or support organisations,but the Buchan Partnership has been well supportedby Government and European unding programmes,annual grants rom Aberdeenshire Council and smalleramounts rom Shell, the latter or administering a smallgrants scheme or local communities. Nevertheless,work is now underway to ensure the organisationsuture by placing an increasing emphasis on earned

income and less reliance on grants.

As it moves into its second decade, financialsel-suciency and a continuing ocus onempowering the rural communities o north eastAberdeenshire are firmly on its agenda.

Pat Buckman Secretary, Maud Village Trust


39/69

CASE STUDIES:

A SELF-EMPOWERING COMMUNITY IN RENTON


40/69

We are not here to build good quality homes or people to enjoy their

poverty in.

Archie Thomson, MBE, Chairperson Cordale Housing Association

Cordale Housing Association is at the heart o a year programme o community-led investmentwhich has turned a once notorious urban village in the Leven Valley into one o the most popular placesto live in West Dunbartonshire.

Culturally rich but financially poor, Renton was once home to a thriving bleaching and dying industry,as well as supplying many workers or the Glasgow shipyards. Subsequent economic and social declineled to the village centre being described as the most depressing place in Scotland. No longer. Renton isnow a place with an inspiring story to tell about the realities o community empowerment.

This is no ordinary regeneration project. Led by local people rom its beginnings in the early 99s,Cordale Housing Association has, with Government investment, built or modernised more than homes in Renton, some o them transerred rom the Council ollowing an almost unanimous tenantsballot. Alongside its new homes or rent and sale, developments which include recently completedExtra Care apartments, it has spawned a Community Development Trust, a Social Enterprise Centre,an Integrated Healthy Living Centre and a Youth Centre.

The village supermarket, chemist and post oce were all built by Cordale; the housing association hasbeen centrally involved in delivering the Central Renton Regeneration Strategy, aimed at transormingthe commercial and social heart o the village.

Joyce Findlay is perhaps typical o many Cordale tenants. She moved into the village nine years ago; asingle parent at a very low ebb, looking or a place to live. The Carmen Social Enterprise Centreencouraged her to take a One Plus assertiveness course now she is a receptionist in RentonsIntegrated Healthy Living Centre, her home has been modernised and her uture looks secure.

Back Street, where I live, was previously the most unpopular street in

Renton. I used to be scared towalk through the village, but I wouldnt

live anywhere else now. I love the community spirit here; Ive never elt

like an outsider.

Joyce Findlay, Cordale Housing Association tenant

A recent perormance evaluation suggested that, with its local partners, Cordale helped create more than local jobs between and . Its Employment Ladder initiative provides skills and opportunitiesin the association or school leavers who might otherwise struggle in the jobs market. Now it isintending to put together an innovative Public Community Partnership to build a new primary school.

CASE STUDIES: RENTON | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

37


41/69

We dont just talk about local economic development, social enterprise

and business development we do it and have been very successul.I believe that Cordale is an example or other housing associations

in Scotland.

Stephen Gibson, Director, Cordale Housing Association

These outcomes are certainly impressive, but are not in themselves unique in Scotland. There are otherhousing associations with a track record o supporting local economic and social investment initiatives.The real story behind the acts and figures here is about how a down-at-heel community has genuinelyempowered itsel.

Wherever you go in Renton these days, you find people with a real pride that the transormation o theplace has been achieved by their own community. There is a sense o togetherness which was not presenta ew years ago. Whilst Cordale has successully grown the local asset base through its developmentprogramme, it is local people who have proved to be the real assets.

Leadership has been important. Although many people have made important contributions, thetransormation o Renton owes much to the imagination, drive and determination o a small number oindividuals, particularly Archie Thomson, who was born and bred in the village, chairs Cordales Boardand helps a group o teenagers run the local youth centre. Importantly, community leadership is nowfirmly embedded in the local culture, not least amongst young people, most o whom have a strongcommitment to staying in Renton.

Ma Centre is a large youth building, ormerly owned by the Council but now firmly in the hands oRenton Community Development Trust and particularly the many young people who use it.

Eight teenagers run the centre. Its open every day. Louise is the oldest.

She gets paid and the rest o us are volunteers. We take bookings or all

the activities, staf the ca and keep an eye on everything. Archie sorts

out any problems, but we dont get many.

Macca (15), Renton Youth Group

Empowered young people are the uture o any community. In Renton, the succession strategy is alreadyin place.

Renton Youth Group members January 2009

8


42/69

CASE STUDIES:

SOWING SEEDS FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT INDUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY


43/69

Tenants and residents associations TARAs can play an important role in empowering localcommunities, particularly where they are well-organised, inclusive and determined to find practical

solutions to local problems. In Dumries and Galloway, o them are spread across this large, mainlyrural part o the country. Some o them are very active, with an impressive track record o empoweringtheir communities. They are supported by Dumries and Galloway Housing Partnerships CommunityInvolvement team.

The Housing Partnership is the second largest housing association in Scotland, with , homes. Itwas set up in to take on the local authoritys housing stock, ollowing a successul tenants ballot.

Drye TARA in Lockerbie has been one o its most successul community initiatives. Chaired by an8 year old or the past two years, a core group o committed residents has ocused on play provision.With support rom the Housing Partnership, they decided on a practical, hands-on approach to meetinga specific local community need. As a result they have now become an influential body across the whole

town.

When the Council made a decision to dismantle the original play

equipment in King Edward Park five years ago, the local community

began work to get it reinstated.We consulted everyone here, we visited

the Alness Initiative in theHighlands, to see how theyd done it, we

raised all the 40,000 required and we helped design it. But the best

thing is that the kids really do look ater it. They have a real sense o

ownership.Ronald Richie, Dryfe Tenants and Residents Association, Lockerbie

Dryfe TARA members with DGHPs Community

Involvement Manager (lower right)

0


44/69

CASE STUDIES: DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

41

Despite the TARAs obvious success and the high level o commitment rom six-eight local residents,spreading the community empowerment message still poses a significant challenge.

There are 2,000 households in Lockerbie and we have just 30members

on ourmailing list most people still think we only represent

Partnership tenants.We havent been included in community planning

consultations and werent even consulted on planning proposals or a

40 home development in our core area, so there is still plenty o work to

be done!

Angela Brydson, Dryfe Tenants and Residents Association, Lockerbie

The Housing Partnership has always placed tenants at the heart o its governance arrangements; seveno the associations fiteen board members are tenants, including the chair. Four District ManagementCommittees are exclusively tenant-run; they are used mainly as a sounding board by the association,but also make decisions on distributing a , a year Community Pride Fund which supports a widerange o community-led initiatives, including the Drye project.

The Housing Partnership is currently leading two o the largest housing regeneration programmes inScotland in Stranraer and Dumries. With unding support rom the Scottish Government, it has leaseda redundant actory in Stranraer, provided more than construction training places and created 8local jobs in the industry, many o them or its own tenants.

But it is still early days. Less than % o the Partnerships turnover is currently invested in Wider Actioninitiatives; community empowerment is an aspiration, but not yet a corporate priority.

We do not have a clear strategy or community empowerment yet; our

ocus has been on involvement and participation, particularly with our

tenants. Governance and investment have dominated our first five

years as a new association. Now we are a more stable and mature

organisation, community empowerment will be a key priority or the

next five years.Zoe Forster, Chief Executive, Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership


45/69

CASE STUDIES:

A COMMUNITY STAKE IN NEIGHBOURHOOD INVESTMENT:COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUMS IN DUNDEE


46/69

Communities stand up and fight or their areas now, because they can

see things being donewhen theydo. Theyhave a voice... its empowering.

Alice Bovill, North West Community Regeneration Forum

Dundees five Community Regeneration Forums began lie in , ollowing the winding up o theSocial Inclusion Partnerships. From the start they were charged with placing communities at the hearto regeneration. Sponsored by the Dundee Partnership, and supported by regeneration staf rom theCity Council, they have brought together active residents living in the more deprived neighbourhoodso the City. All five Forums have resident chairs.

Forum members are elected locally in an open democratic process. Everyone stands down at the yearend and in practice a quarter o each orum regularly comprises new elected members. This helps to

both maintain continuity and keep the Forums regularly rereshed.

The election process means thatmost people know who the Forum

chairs are, can approach them or help and, i necessary, hold them to

account. This is very positive and quite a change rom the way things

used to be done here.

Wilma Duncan, Central Community Regeneration Forum

The Forums are there to take an overview o regeneration in their patches and ensure that local

communities are engaged in the process. They report to the Dundee Partnership Building StrongerCommunities group, with their unding decided by the City Council. They have received between

, and , each year or projects which meet both City-wide community planning targetsand more local priorities. They also oversee a small grants und or local groups and projects.

In practice, as long as projects reflect local priorities and are in line

with the broad aims o the Community Plan, theywill normally be

approved by the City Council, unless there are dicult technical and

legal issues involved but this would be an exception.

Stuart Fairweather, Communities Officer, Dundee City Council

The last our years has seen unding made available or around 8 local projects o all shapes and sizes,although the current emphasis is on physical change. Work with young people has been a particularpriority, as has investment in local open spaces and the street environment. Policing too has been asuccess story, with the Forums initially unding a new dedicated community policing team. TaysidePolice have now taken over the long term unding o these posts and have provided guarantees that theywill remain ocused on the five neighbourhoods.

CASE STUDIES: DUNDEE | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

43


47/69

With ring-encing o the Fairer Scotland Fund comingto an end in March , many o the Forum chairs are

concerned about their uture.

Having access to unding has been

very important it has enabled us to

find practical solutions to

community priorities; we certainly

wouldnt want to lose our seat around

the decision-making table.

Murray Webster, Central Community Regeneration Forum

The five orums meet quarterly at The Gathering avaluable opportunity to share news, ideas, lessons andgood practice. Members have visited communityregeneration projects elsewhere in Scotland, to sharetheir experiences and learn rom others.

Being a Forum member has certainly been empoweringor the individuals involved. How ar this has led tobroader community empowerment in the fiveneighbourhoods remains an open question. Each Forumis responsible or ensuring its wider community isinormed, consulted or engaged. Individual chairsmake themselves as widely known as possible,circulate newsletters with eedback orms and doorknock when new projects are being considered.

Many ormerly rustrated and disillusioned residentsare now working together to transorm theirneighbourhoods and help make Dundee a better placeto live. It has been a big step orward or the City andone that Forum members are keen to stick with.

A typical North East Dundee Community

Regeneration Forum meeting

4


48/69

CASE STUDIES:

COMMUNITY PLANNING IN THE EAST AYRSHIRE COALFIELD AREA


49/69

The south o East Ayrshire has a rich mining history, but in common with all o Scotlands ormercoalfields, the demise o the industry has let a legacy o unemployment and isolation. Although some

open-cast mining remains, local jobs are scarce. The villages and small towns o the Coalfield Area havetheir own identities and needs but all are linked by their mining past.

Local people are understandably keen to maintain interest in the areas coal mining heritage, particularlyamong younger people. During , 8 primary schools came together to stage productions o ThePrice o Coal a ull-length concert telling the story o coal mining in the area. There was enormouscommunity support or the productions, with unding coming rom the Community Planning Partnershipand the Cumnock and Doon Valley Minerals Trust. Many children were prompted to research theirmining heritage.

These productions were the brainchild o the Coalfield Communities Federation, a community-ledorganisation, set up ten years ago to give local people a bigger voice in planning their uture.

The closure o the pits was a devastating blow. The last one closed

here in 1989, more than 30 years ater 17 miners were killed in an

explosion at Kames Colliery inMuirkirk. The Federation has brought

people together and ound some practical solutions to community

problems. It has not been an easy road, but its been hugely successul;

we now have a lot o respect.

Ian Smith, Chairperson, Coalfield Communities Federation

The Coalfield Communities Federation counts community councils, communities o interest andindividuals among its membership. It has sponsored a wide range o community initiatives, includingCoalfield Community Transport, a nationally recognised community transport scheme, a communitynewspaper, a school arts programme and environmental improvements in some villages.

In a Peoples Jury, unded and supported by East Ayrshire Coalfield Area Social InclusionPartnership, looked at how the coalfield communities could play a more active role. Inrequent,inaccessible and expensive public transport emerged as a major issue.

Two years later, Coalfield Community Transport was born.

Set up as a not-or-profit charity, wholly owned by theFederation, the aim was to have a network o yellow busesoperating across the Coalfield Area, reducing the isolation omany groups and individuals by providing access to cheapand convenient transport. With nine vehicles now in thefleet, it has been a considerable success. It has now beenextended to include a Wheels to Work initiative, makingscooters available to unemployed people without transportto their work or education.

The Price of Coal production at Cumnock Academy 2007

6


50/69

CASE STUDIES: EAST AYRSHIRE | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

47

We have a whole generation o older

people who have been trapped intheir homes withmany never having

been to Ayr, just 16miles away. Our

young people also have problems

getting about. Even now, we still have

young people who have never been

outside the Coalfield area. But the

minibuses have changed all that.

Ian Smith, Chairperson, Coalfield Communities Federation

The Federation is an integral part o East AyrshireCommunity Planning Partnership, with a representativeon its Board, unding or its operation and some o itsprojects; and support rom the Councils CommunityPlanning and Partnership Unit. The Federation playsa key role in the planning and delivery o theLocal Community Planning Forum, covering theCoalfield Area.

The communities in the south o EastAyrshire havealwaysbeen very active.

However, the CoalfieldCommunities

Federation has brought communities

together and allowed them to develop

a shared understanding o the issues

and priorities or the Coalfield Area

as a whole and or East Ayrshire in

general. The Federation also ensuresthat the community is ully engaged

in our Community Planning process.

Councillor Douglas Reid, Chair of East Ayrshire CommunityPlanning Partnership

The Federation is now working towards expandingits activities, increasing its staf and broadening itsunding base. It is particularly keen to initiate some

much-needed, large scale environmental projects inits core communities.

Community Transport in action January 2009


51/69

CASE STUDIES:

COMMUNITY COUNCILS TAKE THE LEAD IN EAST LOTHIAN


52/69

East Lothian is an example o good practice or community councils in

Scotland. Politically and culturally, they have always been seen here as

an essential part o the way the local authority goes about its business.

Lilian Pryde, Community Council Liaison Officer, East Lothian Council

East Lothians Community Councils cover a mix o busy market towns and more peaceul rural villages.The best o them are run by a ull complement o elected local residents; they work hard to be inclusive;they give equal weight to setting their own local agendas or change and reacting to external proposals.They initiate their own local projects and the volunteers who run them are oten regarded as championso their local communities.

The relationship between East Lothian Council and this extensive network o community councils ispositive; significant resources have been provided, whilst the track record o election rather thanappointment gives community councillors a democratic legitimacy which is not always ound elsewhere.Community councils have done much to empower local people in East Lothian, giving them a voice anddelivering real change.

Community councils look ater their own patches, but also come together to look at strategic issues inEast Lothian, meeting once a month and co-ordinating responses to cross-boundary development andservice delivery proposals.

Many o the Community Councils have been particularly proactive in their own areas. DunpenderCommunity Council has drawn up its own community plan, which it reviews every year, and has

recently extended the John Muir Way ootpath. Haddington Community Council has established aPathways Network, helped reurbish the Corn Exchange building and developed a visitor centre. Bothplace a strong emphasis on local publicity and inormation and have been a major driving orce orchange in their communities.

CASE STUDIES: EAST LOTHIAN | COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ACTION PLAN

East Lothian Community Council representatives January 2009

49


53/69

Everywhere you look inHaddington

you can see something that theCommunity Council has done.

Jan Wilson, MBE, Chair, Haddington Community Council

In Garvald and Morham, the Community Council wasaced with people moving out o the area because opoor telecommunication reception. They were unableto get broadband, but instead o campaigning, they setup their own highly successul broadband company in. It was unded jointly through the East LothiansLocal Priorities Scheme and the Tyne Esk Leader PlusEuropean programme.

East Lothian Council has provided most o the undsor these and many other initiatives. It currentlyinvests , a year to help community councilsrun their operations and meet local communitypriorities. In addition to a basic administration grant,a unique Local Priorities Scheme currently distributesaround , a year to them on a per capita basis,whilst a competitive Capital Improvement Grantprogramme used , o public money to attract

more than 8, o matched unding in /8.

The close ties with the local authority are seen as bothempowering and mutually beneficial. The CommunityCouncils here decide their own local priorities, but thelocal authority manages their budgets and expectsthem to use Council departments to help them delivermost o their projects. This eases any potential strainon volunteers, but also serves to protect the localauthoritys interests. It is, however, an arrangementthat seems to work well or both sides.

I eel the relationship between our

Community Council and the local

authority works well I wouldnt

have it any other way.

Judith Priest, Chair, Dunpender Community Council

In East Lothian, Community Councils are making areal diference giving ordinary olk a degree o

control over what happens in their towns and villages.

0


54/69

CASE STUDIES:

COMMUNITY BUY-OUT ON THE ISLE OF GIGHA


55/69

Community ownership o the island has been a great success. It is so

second nature to people here now, they sometimes have to be reminded

that it has actually happened.

Susan Allan, Chair, Gigha Heritage Trust

Gigha sits between the Kintyre peninsular and Islay in south west Scotland. Its , acres support acommunity

scotland plan

Documents