News Archive

March 2008

CDAS Seminar

There was a full turnout for the CDAS Seminar on ‘Making the Connections: how community development helps to deliver national and local outcomes’ on 18 March. A summary of the discussions will be circulated soon.

Standards Council for Community Learning and Development

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has given full support to the progress report presented to her on behalf of the Interim Standards Council. This means that a Standards Council for the Community Learning and Development sector can be established formally.

The current interim Council will be asked to sit for an extended 6 month period and work up a model that establishes the Standards Council. Further information, including analysis from the events held across Scotland, is available on the Learning Connections website.

Funding crisis for Community Health Initiatives

A survey of the CHEX and Voluntary Health Scotland networks in late February received responses from 60 organisations from across Scotland, varying in size from small local volunteer-led organisations to country-wide national health charities.  Only sixteen of these 60 knew that they were continuing beyond the end of March, and half of these would be reducing their services. Further details are available here.

National Regeneration Convention

The National Regeneration Convention 2008 will be held in Glasgow between 15 and 17 September. The conference theme for 2008 is ‘Building Successful Communities’. The Convention is sponsored by the RTPI, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the 4 UK Governments. The focus is on neighbourhood renewal and community regeneration and the wider connections to these issues. The aim of the Convention is to share learning across the UK, encouraging networking amongst professionals and with communities.
The Scottish Centre for Regeneration are looking for help with:

• Speaker ideas
• Ideas for workshops or offers to run one
• Ideas for visits – innovative projects
• Exhibition stands

Please contact Anna Stansfield if you have any ideas.

Funding for rural communities

Communities across rural Scotland will share £57.7 million to grow local economies, improve rural facilities and conserve the environment.  The funding, under the LEADER programme, is the first tranche of money to be released under the £1.6 billion Scotland Rural Development Programme, designed to empower communities at the grass-roots level. The £57.7 million, a joint allocation by the Scottish Government and European Union, will be matched at a local level by public and private funds - potentially doubling the figure. More details.

New ring-fenced funding for community development

This Bulletin doesn’t try to cover all the many funding programmes that appear, but we couldn’t help noticing that amongst all the discussion about the merging of former ring-fenced funding to local government that is taking place, more form filling opportunities continue to spring up for people involved in community development.
The European LEADER programme is one big example. Other recent ones (of which no criticism is implied) include

CashBack for Communities - a £3m grant scheme administered by YouthLink, using assets seized from criminals by the Scottish Government to fund a wide range of youth projects. Each local authority area in Scotland has been allocated a portion. See http://www.youthlink.co.uk/home  for application forms and guidance notes.

Race, Religion and Refugee Integration Funding The New Race, Religion and Refugee Integration funding stream is a Scottish Government programme designed to improve the lives of minority ethnic and faith communities in Scotland, including refugee, asylum, migrant workers and Gypsies/Travellers. The Voluntary Action Fund (VAF) will manage the grants. Details of how to make an application can be found at http://www.scotlandagainstracism.com or  www.voluntaryactionfund.org.uk.

Connecting Generations Grants The Scottish Community Foundation and the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practiceare providing funding for projects that demonstrate good practice and innovation in intergenerational activities. Grants of £1,000 to £5,000 are available to charities and not-for-profit community groups. Local authorities, schools and other statutory organisations are also eligible, but priority will be given to community-based projects. Information at http://www.scotcip.org.uk./community_grants.html

How To Guide: Joined Up Working

The Scottish Centre for Regeneration has launched a new Joined-up Working How to Guide.  It features up-to-date case studies, resources and links to information from across Scotland and beyond. 

SURF sums up regeneration messages

Following its recent Annual Conference, the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF) has  published a report which summarises the discussions on Regeneration 1992-2022.  Amongst the main messages are these:

Progress: While appreciation of the factors involved and the value of partnership approaches have increased over the last fifteen years, so have the gaps in economic and societal inequalities.

Priorities and Empowerment: The refocusing of Scottish Government priorities within a clarified framework of responsibility is helpful, however, progress on ‘double devolution’ and genuine community empowerment is essential for sustainable community regeneration. This will require more leadership, creativity and resources.

Potential: Partnership approaches to integrating economic and social regeneration remain key to successful and sustainable regeneration efforts. The Scottish regeneration policy and practice context is well placed to deliver on this in comparison to other areas of the UK

Purpose: There is considerable potential in determining the positive 'health and wellbeing' of the whole population as the point of community regeneration, not just a factor in that process. This could be helpful in defining and describing what ‘real’ regeneration is (as distinct from purely economic and property development activity).

Learning for Democracy

Jim Crowther, Ian Martin and Mae Shaw of the University of Edinburgh have asked us to draw to members’ attention two recent documents. ‘The Edinburgh Papers: Reclaiming Social Purpose in Community Education’ is the result of a symposium of higher education training providers held at the University of Edinburgh in November 2007. The wall chart ‘Learning for Democracy: Ten Propositions and Ten Proposals’ is the outcome of extensive discussions and consultations which have taken place since they circulated their original ‘Open Letter: Whatever Happened to Learning for Democracy?’ in late 2006.   

Civil Society Almanac

The English National Council for Voluntary Organisations has produced the UK Civil Society Almanac 2008. This statistics based report includes for the first time an attempt “to identify the number, scope and value of the groups, societies and organisations that comprise civil society” as opposed to a previous focus on ‘general charities’ (from the summary we have seen it appears efforts have been made to include Scotland). However, it is still true that “faith groups, other excepted charities, sports clubs and informal community groups … lack comprehensive, easily available sources of information to allow a proper investigation of their financial state and therefore their circumstances and needs”. An Executive Summary is available free. You can also find out more by visiting www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/almanac

Research on role of community organisations

The Institute for Voluntary Action Research has produced two research reports for the national umbrella association ‘bassac’, concerning third sector organisations and their links to public authorities in disadvantaged communities in the UK.

1. 'Exploring the advocacy role of community anchor organisations’ This points to conceptual and  practical difficulties in the idea of ‘community anchors’ exercising advocacy on behalf of other community  organisations and the wider community.

2. ' Servants of the Community or Agents of Government?' A study on the role of community-based organisations and their contribution to public services delivery and civil renewal.

Impact of Electoral Reform

The Electoral Reform Society Scotland is investigating whether changes to the electoral system for local government in Scotland have made a positive or negative difference to how organisations relate to Councils, or to the lives of the people they work with. They would be interested in views from any CDAS member. Please contact Kate Robinson 0141 227 3973 kate.robinson@electoral-reform.org.uk

International Conference

What’s Working in Community Development?  is an international conference on community development.  It takes place at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada from June 23rd – June 25th, 2008.  The full conference programme can be downloaded from www.horizonscda.ca/upcoming . A new joint publication on asset based community development by the International Association for Community Development and the Carnegie UK Trust will be formally launched at the conference. 

Empowerment plans in England

Communities minister Hazel Blears has said that an empowerment white paper will appear this summer (report). It is expected to be published in June. The white paper will centre on four themes:

• improving deprived areas through regeneration, work and enterprise
• encouraging active citizenship and reviving local democracy
• improving public services through more user involvement and greater local scrutiny
• strengthening local accountability by making civic institutions more responsive and representative .

Ms Blears said citizens from Penrith to Penzance were ready for ‘a little less social engineering and a lot more social enterprise’. ‘Change goes deeper and lasts longer when people can take control of it rather than having it imposed on them.’

February 2008

Information from last members’ meeting

The CDAS members’ meeting on 8 February had a very informative briefing and discussion about the Concordat between COSLA and the Scottish Government and the development of Single Outcome Agreements. A summary of this discussion will be provided later.

These are some of the other developments that we discussed:- 

At the end of 2007 Communities Scotland organised a series of events to discuss the wide range of issues to do with community empowerment, and contributed to an event organised by CDAS and SCDC.  This dialogue was held to ensure that they listened to the concerns and hopes of different communities, and individuals within the community, when making proposals on making community empowerment a reality.  The feedback from the discussions shows that a very wide range of views were expressed at these events, recognising that this is a complex subject.  The feedback from these discussions is now available.

For further information and to be kept in touch with future developments, please contact communityengagement@communitiesscotland.gsi.gov.uk .

The Scottish Community Development Network (SCDN) had published its ‘jargon buster’  “Clarity for a Change - Key Terms and Ideas in Community Development”, with assistance from Learning Connections. Further details at http://www.scdn.org.uk/jargon.html 

The Care Commission is proceeding to implement its new system for self evaluation by service provides, which requires them to show evidence of client and carer involvement.

Better Government for Older People reported that the ‘Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice’ (http://www.scotcip.org.uk/) is now in operation.  Roadshows and a small grants programme are under way.

Learning Connections reported that:

• Follow up guidance on Community Learning and Development (‘WALT 2’) was under discussion with COSLA
• The Scottish budget proposed a small addition to their budget after 2008/09 to allow for additional Continuing Professional Development  work etc.
• The Standards Council for Community Learning and Development would be in place by 1 April as part of Skills Development Scotland
• It was anticipated that, of the current Learning Connections functions, a CLD policy development team and a literacies team would in future probably be located in the Scottish Government’s Lifelong Learning Directorate, whilst a Practice Development Team would probably be located in Skills Development Scotland
• The events held around Scotland on outcomes focused practice had been useful. The ‘Strengthening Scotland’s Communities’ events were also proving to be so. Learning points would be communicated to CDAS at a later date.

CDAS and SURF are hoping to offer members an opportunity to contribute to the Scottish Government consultation “Towards a Flourishing Scotland” on the next stages of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing. There is a definite desire to focus on the role of community development in this area.

Proposals for framework for tackling poverty

The Scottish Government has issued a discussion paper on tackling poverty, inequality and deprivation in Scotland. This confirms government targets to increase the overall income and the proportion of income earned by the three lowest income deciles as a group by 2017; and to narrow the gap in participation between Scotland's best and worst performing regions by 2017. These targets are expected to affect both national and local government actions through the Single Outcome Agreements.

The paper is open for comments by 2 May 2008. One significant feature of the process will be a series of public meetings at which those affected by poverty themselves will be encouraged to give their views. These will build upon the experience of CDAS member the Poverty Alliance in organising such involvement.

Fairer Scotland Fund

The Fairer Scotland Fund is the latest offspring of the dynasty that gave us the Urban Programme, the Social Inclusion Partnership Fund and most recently the Community Regeneration Fund. Worth an average of £145 million per year over 2008-11, it replaces seven previous funding streams: Community Regeneration Fund, Community Voices Fund, Working for Families, Workforce Plus, More Choices More Chances, Financial Inclusion, and Changing Children's Services.

This provides Community Planning Partnerships with one main fund for projects that tackle poverty and deprivation. It is expected to focus particularly on those that help to improve employability, skills and self-confidence, to get at the root causes of poverty.

Allocation of the fund to local authority areas is mostly (75 per cent) based upon neighbourhood measures of deprivation.  The rest of the allocation is based on measures of overall income deprivation in each local authority area.
Although the fund will be ‘ring-fenced’ for the first two years, previous detailed monitoring systems such as the Regeneration Outcome Agreements will no longer apply. The outcomes to be pursued will be agreed as part of the overall local Single Outcome Agreement. Therefore, there will be no automatic obligation to spend a set proportion of the fund in the most disadvantaged areas, as has always been the case for the main preceding funds. No particular preference for community-led approaches appears to have been expressed.

(A Scottish Government PowerPoint presentation on the Fund can be accessed from this page)

Position Statement on Community Empowerment

Local People Leading have produced a Position Statement on Community Empowerment because it believes that the community sector should establish its own position on this issue. The statement is intended as a contribution to this process and was written with the contributions of a working group of individuals reflecting a range of community sector organisations and interests.   

Reviews of policy developments

The International Association of Community Development (IACD) has prepared two useful briefings, on policy developments in the UK and in the EU,

The National Forum on Older Volunteering in Scotland

EHRC reviews community engagement practice

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has commissioned a review of good practice in community engagement in Scotland (and more widely). It is interested in both good practice in community engagement generally, and in good practice in the promotion of equality in community engagement (recognising that these overlap). It is happy to receive information in any form (including written reports, verbal information, e-mail etc.) and it would be helpful if this could be provided as soon as possible, and by 7th March 2008 at the latest. Contact Sheila Reid: 01592 873900
sheila.reid@rhassoc.co.uk 

Is poverty in the UK a denial of people's human rights?

Being poor in the United Kingdom can mean being subjected to discrimination on the grounds of poverty. Both poverty and discrimination are contrary to the spirit and the terms of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

In this report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Damian Killeen argues that the refusal of successive governments to incorporate the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into UK law has compounded common social attitudes that denigrate people who experience poverty and that undermine popular support for policies to eradicate poverty.

Community development approaches to tackling discrimination

The Community Development Exchange and the Community Development Foundation have published case studies which provide a useful insight into the benefits of using community development approaches in promoting and support groups that are tackling discrimination. They are drawn from a range of studies across the UK with some from Glasgow. 

Guidance on engagement in health

The Department of Health in England has published guidance, ‘Dialogue of Equals’, which “offers a framework for effective community engagement, particularly with communities and groups who are seldom heard or who are described by some as being ‘hard to reach’”.

Relay meeting of CD organisations and practitioners in the UK

The first stage of an experiment on how to exchange and disseminate knowledge and practice in the field of Training and Learning for Community Development took place in Brussels from 21-23 January 2008. There was an exchange between CD organisations and practitioners on the skills needed by professional community workers and “social developers” to carry out Community and Social development.

The Community Development Foundation is hosting the next international relay meeting in the UK on March 12 or 13 2008. It is hoping to involve people from all four UK nations. For further information contact Sue Webb at CDF: sue.webb@cdf.org.uk  0207 833 1772

January 2008

Capacity Building

Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland have set up a website on which you can read their position statement and action plan on community capacity building, and a number of related presentations.

A Guide that reviews the value of various frameworks, tools and other material that may be helpful for practitioners in building community capacity has been prepared by the Scottish Community Development Centre and published by Learning Connections. It is available here.

Community-Led Health

The discussion document  ‘Better Health: Better Care’ issued by the Scottish Government last autumn led several organisations, including CDAS, to submit comments suggesting that little recognition had been given to the role of community-led approaches. Perhaps as a result, the Action Plan that has now been produced contains the following statement:

“The Scottish Government is committed to improving the capacity of the third sector to reduce health inequalities. We are continuing to implement the recommendations of the 2006 report of the community-led task group, by supporting commissioners and funders on the one hand and community-led services on the other, to work better together in achieving shared outcomes. Throughout the national discussion we heard from people working in, or benefiting from, third sector organisations and initiatives, who were concerned about their ability to provide or receive these services over the longer term. We will therefore establish a national review of the way in which NHS Scotland supports these organisations to explore ways in which we can enhance the sustainability of programmes that demonstrate a clear benefit for patients and their carers.”

Local Healthcare Bill

The Scottish Government is consulting on its proposals “to encourage greater public and patient involvement in the planning and delivery of local NHS services in Scotland” by direct elections to NHS Boards. Responses are invited by 1 April 2008. In CDAS’ comments on ‘Better Health: Better Care’ we said “we strongly support action to increase involvement. Direct elections to NHS Boards must be a complement and not an alternative to this. Indeed any such elected representatives will themselves need support and perhaps training to assist them in supporting the involvement of the communities that they represent.” 

Do members think that anything should be added to this statement, and are they planning to make any response to the consultation themselves?

JRF Neighbourhood Programme presentations

CDAS Chair Stewart Murdoch spoke last October at a Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum Open Forum on “Lessons learned from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Neighbourhood Programme – implications on the way forward in Scotland”. His presentation and the one by John Low, JRF’s Neighbourhood Programme Co-ordinator, are now available on the SURF website.

Get Your Voice Heard! Report

The Centre for Human Ecology has published the report of an action research project looking at whether Black and Minority Ethnic people in North Edinburgh and Leith can get their voices heard. It looked at the community planning process in Edinburgh. It concludes that one practical place for action was in transforming the ways community councils work. But it also wants all public institutions to take seriously the potential for projects like this to foster genuine learning and dialogue that breaks down barriers. 

NIACE lifelong learning enquiry

NIACE, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales) has established an independent commission of inquiry into the future for lifelong learning, due to report in Spring 2009. “Experts from government, business, academia, trade unions, public service, providers and the voluntary and community sector, as well as learners, will come together in a process to identify a broad consensus for the future direction of adult learning policy in the UK” [sic].

The closing date for evidence is 12th February 2008. In particular, the Commission invites evidence on the following areas:

• What does the evidence tell us about the impact of lifelong learning on happiness and well-being
  
• Where are the gaps in evidence in relation to this theme?
  
• What key messages for theInquiry we should extract?
  
• In particular, what do we know about the impact of lifelong learning on mental health, satisfaction with life, and one's ability to shape one's own destiny?

Further information is available from www.lifelonglearninginquiry.org.uk

Working with Hard to Reach Young People: A Practical Guide

The Scottish Government has produced practical guidelines for professionals who seek to improve their engagement with hard to reach young people with a view to reducing offending. ‘Reaching out to young people, and making them feel part of the community, rather than the enemy within, is the most welcoming invitation you can make’, they argue.

Lessons from EQUAL initiative

As the European Union funded EQUAL initiative, which focussed on employability and developing new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work or looking for a job, draws to a close in Scotland, participants met to draw lessons together.  One of their three main themes was ‘Service User Involvement and Empowerment’.  

• The most important lesson for policy was that training in the evaluation of service user involvement and empowerment should be developed for those involved in developing policy and services at any level.  ...  Service User Involvement should be accepted as a critical and positive friend to those developing and planning services. ...

• The most important lesson for practice was that service user involvement should be developed in a context of a safe and supportive environment for service users to become involved and empowered when it suits their needs; and with adequate resources, time and support exists for staff to support and develop user involvement. A much wider range of techniques to involve users should be drawn on than simple consultation. They include information sharing, participation in newsletter production, group planning sessions and involvement in peer research.

Scottish government - Who does what

Local People Leading has circulated useful charts which may be of interest to some members. They show how responsibilities will be allocated in future within the Housing and Regeneration Division of the Scottish Government, following the demise of Communities Scotland, and within the Third Sector Division.

Learning in Regeneration Skills Pack

A series of workshops are being run (by the Linked Work and Training Trust on behalf of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration) to help people in the Community Learning and Development Sector make better use of the Learning in Regeneration Skills Pack and link it with other CLD tools and resources. Anyone working with communities is welcome to attend. Workshops are being run in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Dumfries and Galloway, and are free, but places are restricted. Further information is available from Gina Thomson gthomson@lwtt.org.uk

Intergenerational Road Shows

The Scottish Intergenerational Network is staging road shows throughout Scotland during February and March to help people find out more about intergenerational practice. Events will include discussion forums, information on funding opportunities and free introductory materials. Email brian.mckechnie@strath.ac.uk  or call 0141 548 2492 for more information.

Working Our Way Out of Poverty?

A series of seminars on ‘Recent Developments in the Fight Against Poverty in Scotland’ has been organised by the Poverty Alliance across Scotland between January and March 2008. These will focus on the role of employment in tackling poverty. Also highlighted will be some of the opportunities to contribute to the development of anti-poverty campaigns over the coming years. The seminars are free and open to all.  To view the flyer, a list of dates and venues and how to register, please click here. 

Becoming World-Wise

In the unlikely event that you are not attending the CDAS seminar on 18 March, people working in community learning and development might be interested in a one day training for trainers event run by the World-wise Project, the World Development Movement's active global citizenship programme for adults. The event, in Edinburgh, will offer an opportunity to increase knowledge and understanding of global issues and to develop skills in delivering training in active global citizenship. Places are free, but limited. Please email Catherine Moeran, World-wise Project Development Officer, at worldwise@wdmscotland.org.uk . Please include a statement (less than 200 words) to explain why you are interested in undertaking this training, and how you might be able to apply the World-Wise course in your work.

November/December 2007

Next CDAS event

We are planning an event in the new year aimed at interesting a wider range of people in the importance of community development, with the title ‘Making the connections: How community development helps to deliver national and local outcomes’. You might wish to note that this is likely to be held on 18 March, in Perth, but please check for further notices to confirm this.

‘New Powers for Communities?’ seminar

The seminar on 1 November was attended by around 80 people from a wide variety of organisations and generated a lot of constructive discussion. A report containing the presentations and reports from the workshops is avaialble in the 'Events' section.

Information from last members’ meeting

The CDAS members’ meeting on 30 November held a lively discussion about the implications of the work of the Interim Standards Council for Community Learning and Development. A summary of this is available here.

These are some of the other developments that were discussed:- 

CDAS activities A CDAS delegation recently met with Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport and had a positive discussion about the role of community development. It was hoped that the basis for a continuing relationship had been established.

Work on the ‘What Community Development Does’ pamphlet had begun. A ‘sounding board’ meeting had been attended by staff from several member organisations and a pro forma requesting practice examples had been circulated.

COSLA and the Scottish Government will be working together on anti-poverty issues. COSLA is establishing a subgroup on the government’s ‘empowering communities’ and Community Councils proposals

SURF’’s annual conference will be on 31 January; more work on football and regeneration is planned; work to promote the ‘Growing Community Assets’ fund in urban areas will be undertaken.

 Better Government for Older People has established with partners a virtual ‘Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice’ Roadshows will be held around Scotland to March 2008.

An update was given on SCDC’s new programmes of work including:

• ‘Strengthening Scotland's Communities’ programme  on community capacity building
• ‘VOiCE’ – Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement
• ‘Healthy Communities – Meeting the Shared Challenge’: capacity building for community-led health

SCDN has almost completed its ‘Jargon Buster’ (with Learning Connections support). It will be promoted through the SCDC national capacity building support programme.

The Concordat and Single Outcome Agreements

As our forthcoming events programme shows, we believe that the Concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/923/0054147.pdf ), the Single Outcome Agreements that this establishes, and how this is all actually put into practice in local outcome agreements, may be of great importance for the future of community development work. Many of the resources that support it will be allocated at local level in accordance with how they help to achieve the agreed outcomes. Community development is an essential step to achieving many ‘quality of life’ outcomes, but this is not spelled out in the framework.

The most directly relevant amongst the 15 National Outcomes is:

11. We have strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others.

The 45 national indicators and targets all appear to refer to end outcomes for people’s welfare, or to the delivery of public services. The only one that refers specifically to either the community or voluntary sectors is:

Indicator 13: Increase the social economy turnover.

It is interesting to compare the consultative draft of the ‘National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships’ for England. These include:

• NI 1 % of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area
• NI 2 % of people who feel that they belong to their neighbourhood
• NI 3 Civic participation in the local area
• NI 4 % of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
• NI 5 Overall / general satisfaction with local area
• NI 6 Participation in regular volunteering
• NI 7 Environment for a thriving third sector

National Institute of Adult Continuing Education enquiry

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) has agreed to establish and support a commission in order to identify best practice in the UK and internationally across each of the key arenas in which adult learning makes a significant contribution. It will identify the values, principles and practical steps needed to give life to life-long and life-wide learning for all communities of the UK. The initial call for evidence has now closed. However evidence on any area relevant to the work of the Inquiry can be submitted at any stage (please indicate that it is not linked to a particular call). Further information about the Commission of Inquiry is available from www.niace.org.uk/lifelonglearninginquiry

IACD conference

The 2008 Conference of the International Association for Community Development will be held in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada from June 23rd to 25th. The theme is ‘What’s Working in Community Development?’ Anyone interested submitting an abstract or presentation outline, must submit it by December 31st.  The call for presentations is available at:  http://www.horizonscda.ca/PDF%20Files/AbstractsLo.pdf

 National Poverty Campaign 2008

The Poverty Alliance is helping to establish a Scottish Coordinating group to shape and implement the 2008 campaign in Scotland. Please contact Rachel Jury at rachel.jury@povertyalliance.org.

 People and Participation.net

A new website, People and Participation.net, ‘provides practical information for those working to involve people’. Supported by the Department of Communities and Local Government, the Ministry of Justice and the Sustainable Development Commission (but not exclusively English in content), its contents include:

• An interactive tool which helps those seeking to engage with the public to select participatory methods
• A methods database
• A selection of case studies
• News and events information from the UK and beyond
• A library of written and web-based resources from around the world

Lip service to the missing link?

Ministers have been accused of paying lip service to community development while denying the sector the investment it needs to transform the lives of disadvantaged people. Amanda Inverarity, chief executive of CDX, described community development as the missing link in government regeneration and economic development policy. Full story at:

http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news/article/government-accused-of-half-hearted-approach-to-community-development

Engagement with young people

 The Scottish Centre for Regeneration website has added new resources on effective engagement with young people. 

English Framework for Participation

 The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in England has published a consultation on ‘Principles of representation: A framework for effective Third Sector representation in Local Strategic Partnerships’. A summary, courtesy of Local People Leading, is at: http://www.localpeopleleading.co.uk/showart.php?articleid=6726&typeid=2

 Firm Foundations?

The Scottish Government’s Discussion paper on the future direction of housing policy in Scotland, Firm Foundations is open for consultation until January. We would be interested in hearing whether CDAS members think that it has implications for community development that deserve a response. Local People Leading comments that “Community owned Housing Associations which diversify can be our most effective Anchor Organisations for empowering communities. The Government’s green paper fails to assert the importance of community ownership and the Glasgow community housing sector forum (GWSF) have produced a response www.localpeopleleading.co.uk/downloads/firmfoundations.pdf “

‘Getting Your Message Across’

The Tenants Information Service has produced a pack called ‘Getting Your Message Across’. It contains sections headed Reaching Everyone, Press Releases, Publicity Stunts, Using Television and more. The pack is in an easy-to-use format with worksheets to help planning.

CLD workforce in the voluntary sector

Lifelong Learning UK is preparing to conduct some research to build upon previous work into the profile and scale of the CLD workforce in Scotland.  It is primarily hoping to expand the participation of the voluntary sector in this research. Anyone with insights to offer might contact Kevin Welsh kevinwelsh@lluk.org

Perspectives on health improvement

 Health Scotland has published four essays designed to provide independent perspectives on health improvement:  http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/2247.aspx

‘Grassroots grants’

 CDAS chair and Community Development Foundation Trustee Stewart Murdoch thinks members may be interested in hearing about the £130m ‘Grassroots Grants’ scheme, which the Cabinet Office has chosen CDF to implement south of the border.  It is divided into two parts: a small grants fund for community organisations; and an endowments programme to enable local foundations to generate additional donations from the private sector. Stewart comments “it is very frustrating not to have an equivalent fund administered by an organisation which understands Community Development in Scotland”.

October 2007

Website

The CDAS website www.communitydevelopmentalliancescotland.org  has now been updated. As well as news and events and past Bulletins, it gives access to a range of recent documents on community development in Scotland. Suggestions for more things to include are welcome. Please put a link to it on your own site, if possible. Members may also wish to check whether they want to add to or alter the brief descriptions of their organisation’s activities on the ‘Members’ page, which were mostly contributed some years ago.

The public sector landscape (cont.)

We will not detail the considerable changes to the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise networks that have been announced. But it is interesting to note that whilst Scottish Enterprise and its network are to lose many of the functions that might bring them into contact with communities – in training and regeneration – Highlands and Islands Enterprise is to retain its long-standing “strengthening communities” remit. HIE Chair Willy Roe said "HIE's aim is to increase engagement to at least 500 business and community leaders under the new arrangements. Its proposals include the use of panels and web-based approaches to achieve region-wide participation in development issues; working with local authorities to transform the impact of community planning ...”

Skills strategy

Scotland’s new skills strategy - Skills for Scotland - was launched in September. The comments on “transition and progression” perhaps show a recognition of the community learning and development dimension: “For some of the hardest-to-reach individuals, greater support is needed to help them in their initial engagement in learning and in the community and economy, through developing skills in literacy, numeracy, problem solving and communication, to enable their involvement as active, effective contributors to their communities and to the wider economy and society.”

Capacity building for community health

SCDC has set out its new programme of work to provide capacity building for all involved in community-led health improvement.  In the current financial year, there will be consultations and the creation of regional forums in each of the 12 areas in which the programme will be delivered. Following conferences in each area in spring/summer 2008, from August onward a wide range of development support will be provided in each area. In parallel with this process, work will be done to produce:

• an outcome framework for community-led health
• a logic model of the theory of change that underpins the community-led approach
• a guide to evaluation.

National CLD Activity survey

Learning Connections has sent out the materials for the annual National Community Learning and Development (CLD) Activity Survey 2007 to CLD Lead Officers throughout Scotland.  The reporting week for this year’s survey is 5 to11 November. A key aim for the Activity Survey this year is to extend the range and number of non-local authority partners taking part, so that it can give a more complete picture of the scale of CLD activity across all sectors. For further information contact  colin.ross@scotland.gsi.gov.uk   0141 305 4163

Community health funding crisis

New Start magazine featured warnings from CHEX that “hundreds of community health initiatives face closure in Scotland because of a funding crisis”.

National Empowerment Partnership for England

The Community Development Foundation has facilitated the development of a partnership of eleven organisations and agencies. (More information here). The National Empowerment Partnership is intended to:

• improve the quality of practice in community empowerment through exchange of information and good practice
• quality assure processes which aim to achieve empowered communities and citizens
• centrally gather information and evidence about community empowerment.

“The Key to Inclusion”

A report on “the state and potential of empowerment approaches to inclusion work in the English regions” has been produced following a  national research project ‘L-POWER’, funded by The Big Lottery Fund, the European Social Fund and others. The report will be used by the Third Sector European Network and the European Anti Poverty Network to continue lobbying for a resourced stakeholder role for excluded communities in Social Inclusion policy and programmes.

Humour in community activism

The latest issue of Community Development Journal contains an article about ‘humour in community activism’ (read abstract). The article “describes how activists use humour to enliven popular education, and to create liminal atmospheres conducive to non-violent conversion”.

If members have any good jokes that have arisen from community development work we will be happy to print them

September 2007

 Events

First of all, a reminder of our seminar on ‘New Powers for Communities?’ on 1 November. Please let me know if there is anyone else to whom details should be circulated.

The previous week, CDAS is supporting a Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF) Open Forum on the lessons for Scotland from the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation “Changing Neighbourhoods” programme. This studied the impact of 'light touch' community development support in communities. The event will take place on the morning of Thursday 25th October in central Glasgow. Details will be available shortly from SURF at www.scotregen.co.uk.

A summary report of the study is available here.

 Better Health, Better Care

CDAS hopes to submit comments on “Better Health, Better Care: A Discussion Document”, launched last month by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon MSP. This document “raises a series of questions about the actions the Scottish Executive (sic) need to take over the next few years in order to improve our patient’s experience of care, further enhance the support we provide for people with long term conditions and tackle health inequalities across Scotland”.  Comments “will be taken into account when producing the final action plan for health and wellbeing due to be published in December 2007”.

It would be particularly helpful if members who are working on their own responses could share their thoughts with us by emailing Peter Taylor at peter@pdtaylor.com or ringing 0141 586 7588.

The closing date for comments is 12 November 2007.

 Information from members’ meeting

The CDAS members’ meeting on 30 August held a very useful discussion about community-led health improvement. A summary of this is available.

These are some of the other developments that were discussed. 

On ‘empowered community status’ Communities Scotland outlined the discussions it expects to be holding (to which our 1 November event will contribute). A statement says: "The Scottish Government is committed to giving people more control over their lives and more choice in how their needs are met. As part of this Communities Scotland will be developing a community empowerment scheme in our most disadvantaged communities. Over the next few months, we will discuss with a wide range of people in different parts of Scotland how this will work in practice. Our starting point is to build on much of the important and exciting work taking place in many communities already.  For further information, please contact Nancy Woodhead at
communityengagement@communitiesscotland.gsi.gov.uk”. It is hoped that proposals can be put to Ministers early in the new year following this dialogue.

The Care Commission has approved a new framework for engaging people receiving care and carers. It wants its inspections to focus more on people who use services, and their carers. In particular it will require services to demonstrate more involvement of service users and carers in influencing improvements in services. It also wants to engage people in the delivery of the services themselves and in wider policy debates.

Better Government for Older People is developing a network on intergenerational working for anyone in Scotland with an interest in the topic. Meetings have attracted participants from a wide variety of sectors. BGOP argues that true intergenerational working is not about young people doing nice things for older people, or vice versa, but about true mutuality, whereby both young people and older people contribute to and gain benefits from the work. For further details please contact Pat Scrutton at:
Bgop.pscrutton@southlanarkshire.gov.uk.

The Scottish Community Development Centre has a challenging programme of new work including:

• Capacity building for all involved in community-led health improvement
• Development of a ‘logic model’ for that sector
• Development of an online tool linking LEAP and the National Standards for Community Engagement
• Events raising awareness of and promoting good practice in community capacity building
• Work on improving the process of outcome focused practice in Community Learning and Development

Further information is available from SCDC, Suite 305, Baltic Chambers, 50, Wellington Street, Glasgow G2 6HJ,  0141 248 1924,  info@scdc.org.uk

SURF reported that, in addition to the planning the event supported by CDAS:
 Its annual conference with the theme ‘A Generation of Regeneration’ has been postponed to 31 January 2008 (contrary to information in our previous Bulletin)

• It is working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to promote the ‘Growing Community Assets’ fund
• It has published a specially written article in which Adrian Colwell offers some personal observations and reflections on regeneration in the new Scottish policy climate.  

 Interim Standards Council

The work of the Interim Standards Council for Community Learning and Development is bound to raise issues of major significance for the practice of community development.  Members at our meeting expressed concern that any proposals should recognise the broad base of people involved in different settings and with different professional backgrounds. We hope to have a full discussion at a future meeting. Meanwhile Stewart Murdoch, Chair of CDAS is attending the Interim Council in a personal capacity. The Interim Council is supporting events in CLD partnership areas around Scotland to hear views and ideas from participants about their hopes and expectations of its work.

 A simpler public sector landscape?

In addition to the move for Learning Connections described in an earlier Bulletin, the Social Economy Unit (SEU) of Communities Scotland is being integrated into the Scottish Executive Third Sector Team in the Public Service Reform Directorate, which is part of the responsibilities of Director General for Economy.

In a Parliamentary answer in June Minister for Communities and Sport Stewart Maxwell MSP referred to “the need to deliver our housing and regeneration commitments through a simpler public sector landscape” and explained “It is important that decisions about changing the way Communities Scotland’s functions are delivered are taken on an informed basis. I am currently in discussions with officials about the role and functions of Communities Scotland and hope to reach firm conclusions in the next few months”.

Less directly relevant to community development but perhaps symptomatic of the trend is the recently announced merger of Careers Scotland and Learndirect Scotland.

 EHRC

I attended a roundtable discussion between people from a wide range of agencies and Morag Alexander, Commissioner for Scotland for the new UK Equality and Human Rights Commission. The major topic of discussion was EHRC’s responsibility to promote ‘good relations’ as well as combat discrimination, and what this might mean. Many of the points made seemed to suggest the relevance of community development approaches, for example:

• the desirability of not expecting people to respond to a preset agency agenda
• the emphasis on building relationships through contacts between people in communities.

A report of the discussion should be appearing shortly at http://ippr.typepad.com/equalities/ . The EHRC will soon be developing a full strategic plan, and we look forward to seeing what the implications are. 

 ‘Sus It Out’

The Sus It Out project provides community and voluntary organisations with an opportunity to make an assessment of how they already contribute to social, economic and environmental justice objectives and how they might contribute further to the development of a Greener Scotland. It is managed on behalf of the Future Scotland Partnership and funded by the Scottish Government’s Greener Scotland Directorate. Sus it Out’s Co-ordinator, Damian Killeen is keen to identify community groups who might be interested in experiencing a facilitated ‘Sus It Out’ session between September and December this year. Sessions last 90 minutes and the group is left with a ‘poster’ record of their discussions and of any issues they identify for future development. Contact damian.killeen@btinternet.com. More information on http://www.susitout.org.uk/

 Standards Advice Notes

Five new Advice Notes giving information on the use of the National Standards for Community Engagement have been made available by SCDC.  They are on the subjects of:

• Using the Standards in Rural Communities
• Making the Standards accessible for Young People
• Don't Treat Us All The Same
• Further notes on engaging with Equalities Groups
• Culture or Compliance: Monitoring the use of the National Standards for Community Engagement

http://www.scdc.org.uk/national-standards-community-engagement/support-materials/

 National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

NICE has been consulting on guidance for community engagement and community development methods and approaches to health improvement.  Although directly affecting England, there will implications for Scotland.

To download the Draft Guidance document, click here.  For general information on the project, please visit the website.

However, if you would like to comment, you will have to be quick: the closing date is 20 September 2007.

 Social Capital indicators

The Commission for Racial Equality has published a research report on Social Capital Indicators in the UK, comparing the potential here with indicators used in the USA.  It recommends that CRE should work towards the development of indicators of ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ social capital at individual and community level.

 Gordon Brown on participation

From speech to NCVO, 3 September 2007
(http://pm.gov.uk/output/Page13008.asp):

“The challenge of reviving local democracy can only be met if we build new forms of citizen involvement to encourage them in our local services and in new ways of holding people who run our services to account. So we will expand opportunities for deliberation, we will extend democratic participation in our local communities. I want to see a vibrant reformed local democracy, from neighbourhood level engagement, community calls to action, a renewed focus on the devolution of powers and responsibilities to local government, the accountability of our police, our healthcare services to their communities. In this way people can connect neighbourhood meetings, local ballots and elections and new forms of community action for decision making and the exercise of power over issues they care about in their daily lives.”

August 2007

 Members’ Meeting

Firstly, this is to confirm that the next members’ meeting will take place on 30 August at 2 p.m. in Perth and Kinross Council’s Pullar House, 35 Kinnoull Street, Perth. The focus will be on updating each other on current developments in community development policy and practice. In addition Kay Barton, Head of Health Improvement at the Scottish Executive, will join us to talk about and discuss progress in developing community-led approaches to health improvement.

As we intend in future, the administration of CDAS itself should not take up any of the agenda. However on this occasion it will be necessary to invite you to adopt a revised constitution, which has already been considered in detail by the Management Group. Details will follow.

 Communities Scotland targets

Minister for Communities and Sport, Stewart Maxwell, has set Communities Scotland ten targets to cover 2007/08. The targets are aligned to a number of the Scottish government’s strategic objectives. They are intended to give the agency operational certainty while Ministers consider the most effective future organisational structures.  

Of the ten, perhaps the most interesting to CDAS members will be:

“By March 2008, in consultation with partners including communities, we will develop proposals to implement empowered status communities, and will have invited around 6-9 communities to opt for empowered status”.

CDAS hopes to contribute to the debate on this proposal. It relates closely to a commitment in the SNP’s manifesto for the recent elections, which read:

“We particularly want to empower Scots living in areas of deprivation. We will pilot a community empowerment scheme giving deprived communities the ability to opt for empowered status, allowing local people to co-manage a proportion of public spending and services. We believe that this will deliver better outcomes and build community capacity and self-reliance, enabling people in disadvantaged communities to have more control of their own futures”.

Other Communities Scotland targets include these:

“We will work in partnership with Registered Tenant Organisations to formally establish nine Registered Tenant Organisation regional networks by March 2008 to provide effective participation structures for engagement between the tenants’ movement in Scotland and the Scottish government, and have involved the networks in national policy development during that period.”

“We will ensure that by March 2008 all 32 community planning partnerships have provided evidence in annual reports that they are making measurable progress in focusing mainstream services and budgets on the most deprived neighbourhoods to deliver locally agreed regeneration priorities. We will also ensure that we achieve 100% match funding of Community Regeneration Funding of £112 million”.

 Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland

CLDMS have prepared a position statement on community capacity building which they would like to draw to the attention of CDAS members. It aims to contribute to a shared understanding of, and increased focus on, Community Capacity Building and its contribution to wider agendas, in particular, Community Engagement and Community Planning. A copy is attached.

 Developments in England

The Treasury and Cabinet Office have issued the final report of their review of the third sector, which sets out a strategy to work with third sector organisations over the next ten years to promote social and economic regeneration. Announcements include new investment in community anchor organisations and community asset and enterprise development; enabling local independent foundations to develop community endowments for local grant making (building on experience in Northern Ireland); a new national third sector research centre; and a skills strategy.

Community anchor organisations “are large neighbourhood based organisations playing a vital role in generating wealth for communities and in supporting other community sector organisations. They are often social enterprises, able to generate income through trading and contracting, often through ownership or management of an asset base. They play a unique role, recognised within communities and by external agencies and able to act as an intermediate [sic] between these agencies and grassroots activity”. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/documents/review/ots_review.pdf

To accompany this ‘third sector review’, the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office has issued papers, including one by the Young Foundation on “Improving small scale grant funding for local voluntary and community organisations” . This looks at both domestic and international evidence and draws some lessons about the impact of community groups and ways of funding them. One of the key messages is the importance of support and developmental work alongside financial support. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/documents/discussion_papers/grant_plaincover.pdf

 Hong Kong Declaration

At the International Conference for Community Development’s conference in Hong Kong in June, a declaration on ‘Building democratic institutions and civil society in the
Asia-Pacific Region through community development’ was adopted. This builds upon the previous Budapest Declaration aimed at Europe. It promotes community development as “a way of promoting active civil society, sustaining peace based on justice, and creating democratic life by prioritising the decisions and actions of people, their communities, and their perspectives in the development of social, economic and environmental policy.”  http://www.iacdglobal.org/documents/conference/HKDeclaration.pdf  

 Participation Portal for Children and Young People

The Commission for Children and Young People has set up a portal that brings together information and resources on participation for those working with children and young people. For more information, go to www.sccyp.org.uk .

 A Charter for Rural Communities

The final report of the Carnegie Commission for Rural Communities was presented on 20th June.  Drawing on examples from across the UK, the actions that it proposes include:

    * A major expansion in community ownership of local assets
    * An enhanced role for parish and community councils
    * A Centre for Excellence supporting rural community development policy and practice on the ground
    * Encouragement and assistance for local communities to develop and manage their own services and to engage in community planning.

June 2007

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of briefings which I expect to send to the members of CDAS and which I hope they will use to exchange information about developments in community development policy and practice.

 Developing CDAS

My name is Peter Taylor, and I have been commissioned to provide a Policy and Development Service for CDAS over the coming year. My contact details are at the end of this Briefing. Please get in touch if you have ideas for CDAS and especially if you have things that you think other members should know about. I will also be trying to meet as many of you as possible.

The aim of CDAS continues to be to develop and influence policy, practice and training on community development. We hope it will become more effective as a forum for you to exchange information and ideas. In future a small Management Group will deal with routine business. Members’ meetings should be devoted to hearing from each other and external speakers about community development issues. There will also we hope be a number of events open to all interested organisations.

CDAS sent a representative to the group that is working to establish the new Community Learning and Development Standards Council, and no doubt this will be one of the topics for discussion.

CDAS has also joined the Partners in Regeneration Network, and we hope to have a two-way exchange of ideas with its members. 

 Future of Learning Connections

The Community Learning and Development, and Adult Literacy and Numeracy functions of Learning Connections, currently within Communities Scotland, are being integrated into the Directorate General for Education of the Scottish Government.  This will take effect immediately in terms of reporting on policy matters and from early August in relation to technical staff and budget transfers.

Lillias Noble, Head of Learning Connections has commented that “the formation of a new Directorate General for Education and Lifelong Learning is a great opportunity to bring together policy interests across the full spectrum of learning and to reinforce a commitment to a smarter Scotland for all.  This change will allow community-based learning and development to be part of a more joined-up and holistic approach to lifelong learning.  The current work on the Skills Strategy for Scotland, for example, will benefit from having these functions close to its heart during the development stages.

In particular, the integration of the national function concerned with community learning and development will support the guiding principle of education and learning being at the heart of the community – supporting communities and promoting both individual and community self-reliance”.

In the meantime existing contact details, funding commitments and the title ‘Learning Connections’ remain in place.

Whatever CDAS members may feel about the move in responsibility for CLD from a broadly ‘regeneration’ to a broadly ‘education’ setting, one aspect which may cause some concern is the fact that the existing Community Engagement team will continue as part of Communities Scotland.  As Liillias Noble says, “Clearly we will want to ensure that we continue to build on the strong links that have been made between work to promote community engagement in regeneration, and work to build community capacity through community learning and development”.

 Ministerial roles

A wide range of Ministers in the new Scottish Government appear to have responsibilities with important implications for community development. These are also divided between the Director-Generals on the Strategic Board with, we understand, responsibility for policy and for organisational issues being in some cases split. Perhaps members collectively can help to make sure that our understanding of the current set-up is accurate and we identify the key audiences for our messages.

Important responsibilities include:

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth. Responsibilities include public service reform and delivery, cities and community planning, voluntary sector and the social economy, community business

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning. Responsibilities include lifelong learning, school education, training and skills, social work

Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing. Responsibilities include health improvement, community care, social inclusion, equalities, anti-poverty measures, housing and regeneration. Reporting to her are:
Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and Stewart Maxwell, Minister for Communities & Sport

Kenny MacAskill, Cabinet Secretary for Justice. Responsibilities include community safety.

 Journal of Community Work and Development

The Board of this Scottish based journal has unfortunately decided that it should cease publication.

 Recognition of prior learning

SCDC have been awarded a grant from Learning Connections to investigate the level of interest in and procedure for the recognition of prior learning, in order to build on its work in delivering accredited LEAP Training.  Further information is available here and an expression of interest form can be downloaded.

 Local People Leading

The ‘Local People Leading campaign has been established by a consortium of national networking organisations: Development Trusts Association Scotland, Community Recycling for Network Scotland, Community Woodlands Association, Senscot. It is a campaign for organisations and individuals who support a strong and independent community sector, and promotes especially community ownership of assets and support for community anchor organisations. Information from:

Di Jennings, Campaign Co-ordinator,
54 Manor Place,
Edinburgh EH3 7EH
0131 220 2456
info@localpeopleleading.net

The website http://www.localpeopleleading.co.uk/ “aims to be a collection point for a growing body of writing about localism and the emerging community agenda, to provide a rigorous academic base for the principles that underpin the campaign”.

 Unclaimed assets consultation

The unclaimed assets fund represents over £2.5 billion of new money. The Treasury has earmarked it for priorities focusing on Youth Services in England, expected to come on stream in the next 18 months. The consequential £250 million diverted to Scotland will be for the Scottish Executive to prioritize. A consultation paper has been issued on the use of the fund. This also suggests that small locally based financial institutions (such as small building societies) be allowed to distribute local unclaimed assets which they hold to local community organizations in the communities in which their members belong

Comments on and questions about the purposes for which these funds may be distributed in Scotland should be sent by 9th August 2007 to:

Geoff Pearson, Third Sector Team
Scottish Executive
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh  EH6 6QQ
0131 244 5133
geoff.pearson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

 Dreams and Nightmares

On a slightly lighter note, people might like to think about the implications for community development of the bust-up between Glasgow City Council and Demos over their report ‘The Dreaming City: Glasgow 2020 and the power of mass imagination’.  David Wilcox gives a blow by blow account on his blog.

Basically we seem to have a conflict between mutually incomprehensible jargons. Demos boasted that they had “a risky and innovative project from the outset - the first attempt to imagine the future of a city through stories and storytelling anywhere in the world” and an "innovative public participation methodology”. The City felt that their existing regeneration programmes were being unfairly dismissed.

 
Please keep sending me items for circulation to other CDAS members

Peter Taylor

Policy & Development Consultant,
Community Development Alliance Scotland,
56, Turnberry Road
Glasgow G11 5AP
0141 586 7588
peter@pdtaylor.com