News Bulletins

Current events - Past events - News bulletins

These News Bulletins have previously been circulated to CDAS members

July/August 2010

CDAS conference

Bookings are coming in for our conference ‘Community Development - Now More than Ever’. Speakers include:

• Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning ‘Empowering communities to respond to the challenges facing public services’
• Julia Slay, Acting Head of Co-production, New Economics Foundation ‘When and how communities can help to deliver outcomes’
• Nick Beddow, Chief Executive, Community Development Exchange ‘What would happen if we had no Community Development?’
• Alan Barr, Advisor, Scottish Community Development Centre ‘Community Development – a shared responsibility’             

The conference is on Tuesday, 21 September 2010 at Hampden Stadium, Glasgow G42 9AY, from 10.30am (registration 9.45am) to 4pm. The notice is available here. The cost is £40 for community organisations and £60 for other organisations. To make a reservation, please go to this link  (or use the form).

The conference is organised in association with the Community Development Exchange, the Scottish Community Development Centre, Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Network.

Independent Budget Review

The Scottish Government has published the finding of the Independent Budget Review, chaired by Crawford Beveridge, which argues that “Scotland needs to decide what form and shape of public services it desires and can afford” and addresses the questions “What do we want the state to do? What level of taxes are we willing to bear for the provision of our public services? How much should we change the mix between the state, the individual, the third/voluntary sector, and the private sector?”

The section that most clearly raises challenges and opportunities for community development is the final one that looks at ‘Shaping the Future’. It argues that “to avoid year-on-year cuts of a random nature – ‘salami slicing’ – the developing response needs to be set in a more strategic, longer-term framework and direction of travel.” It ‘points towards’ “themes and developments which are relevant to any such consideration including ... :

• planning for future challenges, such as demographic and environmental change
• sustaining the individual in the community
• enabling self-help and close support
• the concept of self-directed support and personal choice
• realising the potential of preventive measures and early intervention in reducing later demand
• early years prioritisation
• integrated service provision focused on the individual
• shaping organisational boundaries to help, not hinder, service delivery
• employee engagement – skilling, developing and motivating the workforce
• realising the resource represented by increasing numbers of older, active and available members of society
• underpinning and realising the vital role of the voluntary/third sector
• engaging the contribution of the private sector in service delivery and choice.”

The panel also concludes that there is a need to move towards a more outcomes-based approach to public service management and to improve the quality, availability and application of evaluation, monitoring and reporting data in relation to outcomes across the public sector in order to ensure that resources are applied to full benefit.

Difficult Choices for Difficult Times

One response to the situation comes from Renfrewshire Council, which has issued a public consultation ‘Difficult Choices for Difficult Times’. It spells out possible areas for savings, including “Reduce spending on sports development, community learning...” “Reduce grants to community and voluntary sector bodies”, “Introduce charges for some cultural and learning opportunities” and “Transfer some facilities into a trust or community ownership”, but also many others affecting other areas of service.

Big Lottery Investing in Communities

The Big Lottery - Investing in Communities programme has been relaunched. There are three investment areas:

• Growing Community Assets aims to help communities have more control and influence over their own future through ownership of assets
• Life Transitions aims to support projects that help people at key times of change, helping them to make their lives better for the future
• Supporting 21st Century Life aims to support projects that build stronger families and stronger communities.

Consultation on National Lottery share-out

The UK Government has launched a consultation on the draft Order to enact a change to the shares going to the National Lottery good causes of arts, sport, heritage and charitable expenditure, health, education and the environment.  The consultation is open until August 21. The proposals to bar the Lottery from funding projects ‘linked to the public sector’ have been attacked (Herald report) as being likely to threaten many community-based programmes, such as clubs, sports coaching and other programmes linked to primary and secondary schools.

Consultation on Continuing Professional Development  for CLD

The CLD Standards Council for Scotland is inviting comments on a draft strategy statement that sets out the baseline requirements for meeting the aspirations of an informed and capable workforce in CLD for Scotland.

Third Sector Skills Partnership

Bernadette Monaghan has been appointed as Project Director for the newly established Third Sector Skills Partnership, to support and promote the development of skills within the third sector. She will be responsible for driving forward the development and implementation of a proposed Third Sector Skills Framework workplan. The role is supported by funding from the Scottish Government.

CPD forum

The Linked Work and Training Trust invites people to join its Continuing Professional Development Network:  IMPACT. This is a virtual network for anyone with an interest in the concept of Continuing Professional Development, which gives access to a range of resources and materials.

Help assess the skills needs of the lifelong learning sector

As the Sector Skills Council for the lifelong learning sector, Lifelong Learning UK is undertaking its annual Sector Skills Assessment to identify future skills priorities for the UK and for each nation within it. The findings include skills shortages and skills gaps, along with recommendations for addressing these issues.
Employers in career guidance, community learning and development, further education, higher education, libraries, archives and information services, and work based learning are invited to complete the online survey. 

Human Rights Commission survey of third sector

As noted last month, the Scottish Human Rights Commission is building a database of all organisations in Scotland which are working to help or support vulnerable people in all sectors and in all parts of the country. A direct link to this survey is now available . The Commission is particularly anxious to reach smaller community, neighbourhood and support organisations.

Equally Well Review 2010

A report has been produced by the Ministerial Task Force that created Equally Well, the Scottish policy for tackling health inequalities, on its implementation, alongside the government’s other social policy frameworks.

It recommends that “Resources should shift towards early intervention services”. “Early intervention ... requires specific action in the early years, as well as sustaining the full range of preventative services that offer the opportunity for early intervention at different life stages. Examples of such preventative services include family support, education and learning support, helping the most vulnerable people to maximise their income, employability services, drugs and alcohol services, community policing and services targeted at vulnerable groups such as looked after children and offenders.”

It also recommends that “Community Planning Partnerships should fully involve the third sector in the planning and delivery of the transformational change in service delivery, which is necessary to make progress towards early intervention and the other principles of the three social policy frameworks. This involvement should reflect the crucial role of the third sector in supporting the most vulnerable people and communities, and in delivering the integrated working necessary to maximise the impact of early intervention approaches”.

Wider planning for an ageing population

The Scottish Government, in partnership with COSLA and the NHS, established the Reshaping Care programme to consider how services need to change to help older people to maintain their independence and wellbeing. The Government is now consulting on the report produced by the Wider Planning for an Ageing Population working group. The consultation aims to gather views from housing and service providers, older people and others with an interest in housing and ageing population issues. Closing date for responses is 29 September.

Carers and Young Carers Strategy

Caring Together: the Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Scotland 2010-15 sets out 10 key actions to improve support to carers over the next five years. The focus is on improved identification of carers, assessment, information and advice, health and well-being, carer support, participation and partnership. The strategy is accompanied by a compendium of good practice and carers and young carers’ stories.

Creative Scotland

Creative Scotland- the new body to support and develop Scotland's creative and cultural excellence became a reality on 1 July. Creative Scotland is a Non-Departmental Public Body. Its role is to:

1. Identify, support and develop quality and excellence in the arts and culture.
2. Promote understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the arts and culture.
3. Encourage as many people as possible to access and participate in the arts and culture.
4. Realise the value and benefits of the arts and culture.
5. Encourage and support creative endeavours that contribute to an understanding of Scotland's national culture.
6. Promote and support commercial activity focused on the application of creative skills.

Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances

The Independent Review into Poverty and Life Chances, led by Frank Field MP, has been launched. Over the coming months the Review team will be consulting with a range of lobby groups, poverty experts, delivery organisations, charities, and parents and children. They are looking for submission on views and evidence - the deadline for submissions is Friday, 1 October 2010.

Planning mentoring scheme for rural community groups

Planning Aid for Scotland has launched a new mentoring scheme to provide planning advice and guidance to community led development projects across rural Scotland. They expect to help community groups take advantage of their local resources in areas such as a renewable energy scheme, community hall, allotments, or affordable housing by offering free planning advice and training to rural community groups.  The programme is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Supporting Voluntary Action.

New quality standard for groups using volunteers

The Volunteer Friendly Award is described as a ‘simple, user-friendly quality standard’ which is being used to support, recognise and reward groups who are good at involving volunteers. It is designed for small organisations which may not be ready to undertake the national standard ‘Investing in Volunteers’. The standard has been developed by Volunteer Centre Dundee, which has been funded to spread it more widely across Scotland.

SURF Awards

The 2010 SURF Awards for Best Practice in Community Regeneration have recently opened for applications. In 2010, there are four categories of entry – ‘People’, ‘Place’, ‘Partnership’, and ‘Health & Employment’. One winning and one highly commended project from each category will be presented with award certificates by Alex Neil MSP, Minister for Housing and Communities, at a celebratory dinner event in Glasgow in December. The closing date for entries is 12pm on Monday 20th September. Details of application here, or contact Derek Rankine on 0141 585 6879 or derek@scotregen.co.uk.

Expert panel on community development

The Community Development Foundation has set up an Expert Panel on community development and is gathering information about the community sector, and what role community development should play in the future.

They believe that community development is extremely important and that it should be protected. They are expecting to see big changes in coming years, as public services are delivered in different ways, and power is decentralised to give more control to communities.  The new government’s manifesto speaks of “an army of community organisers”. But what does this mean for community development?

The panel is seeking stories and experiences from communities and  people working in community development.

Simple pleasures, easily found

Scottish Natural Heritage has launched a new campaign called 'Simple Pleasures, Easily Found' to change the way people think about the outdoors. It aims to increase the number of people exploring green spaces close to home - from urban walkways to parks, allotments, gardens and even window boxes. The campaign highlights a range of 'simple pleasures' - like making a daisy chain, watching the sunset or blowing a dandelion clock - that people can enjoy without the need for excessive planning, special equipment or spending money.

Green Banana

Green Banana is a recently established social enterprise in Midlothian, specialising in film production and new media training. The services they offer are tailored to community development projects – they believe that film is an ideal method for recording this sort of work and particularly for showing potential funders what an organisation does and the difference being made. They also offer a training service in how to make film in-house for staff at organisations where a high-end film production is not suitable. Work with freelancers across Scotland allows a service to be offered in a range of areas. Profits go to fund youth project work. For information contact Rosie Wildwood rosie.greenbanana@hotmail.com, 0131 663 3432.

Online resources

New database for comparing social returns The Social Return on Investment (SROI) Project, which is being run for the Scottish Government  by so­cial enterprise firm Forth Sector, has launched the SROI database of indicators and prox­ies. This is an important new resource. Based on the past experience of SROI work, it asks you to enter a type of outcome. You are then presented with a list of specific outcomes, indicators and proxies which you might wish to use or adapt in evaluating your own work. In particular it is intended to help organisations to find comparable values for the impact of their work. It aims to help to make SROI more cred­ible as it will be clear where financial proxies have come from and how reliable they are. It should also make SROI cheaper as less time is needed to research potential proxies.

'Hyperlocal' websites The Guardian reports, with examples, on how residents are increasingly setting up “DIY neighbourhood websites that make reporting local problems to the council easier and more public”.

Mainstreaming Regeneration Activity The Scottish Centre for Regeneration has made available the presentations from its event looking at how working in a non ring-fenced funding environment allows local authorities and their community planning partners to use resources more creatively.

Employability website This website has been designed as a practical guide for anyone who is involved in employability. It provides a range of information, insights and practical examples which will be useful for: fundersof employability services; project/service managers from employability, regeneration, health and other related services; and practitionersand frontline workers involved in an array of different services. The website is one element of the Employability Learning Network, which is facilitated by The Scottish Government.

Economic Evidence progress report  The Economic Evidence Working Group, led by NHS Health Scotland, has been exploring economic evidence for community-led health organisations and how people can be supported to gather and use this type of evidence. In April 2010 the Working Group hosted a roundtable discussion with community and voluntary organisations to identify questions that still need to be answered. A report from this discussion is available from Community Food and Health Scotland.

Information and resources on Urban Agriculture City Harvest is an online resource evidencing how urban agriculture is beneficial for the environment, economy, education, health and communities.

Publications

Future Jobs, Future Communities This report from SCVO is aimed at demonstrating the community benefit generated through the delivery of the Future Jobs Fund by the Third Sector Consortium in Scotland.

Becoming a charity in Scotland OSCR has produced a leaflet ‘Becoming a Charity in Scotland’ which provides a simple introduction and helpful advice to organisations and individuals thinking about starting a charity in Scotland. 

Real Influence Matters This research report for the London Empowerment Partnership has been recommended (full report; summary).  It takes a qualitative look at people's feelings of influence and researched how our value base informs our feelings and how we approach issues in different ways.  It is challenging for anyone who is seeking to involve people.   Key findings include:

• most people are interested in reactive influence, solving particular problems, and may not be satisfied with their experiences in this regard
• many mechanisms used by local authorities are proactive, so looking to address wider issues. Those people who do seek to have a proactive influence, are often attempting to address issues which are outside the scope of local institutions
• this results in an 'influence gap'
• people cite the biggest factors to not getting involved are lack of information and not having been approached to take part.

Local greenspace The findings of the sustainable places and greenspace module of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey have been published (summary;  full report).  Two-thirds (66%) of people in Scotland live within a five minute walk of their local greenspace. However, only 53% of people in the most deprived areas do so. Being very satisfied with the quality of your local greenspace is associated with better self-assessed health, higher life satisfaction, greater social trust and a higher sense of community cohesion.

The future is local  A new report from the Sustainable Development Commission argues that enabling communities to lead local renewal projects with a neighbourhood-wide approach is the most cost-effective way to ensure villages, towns and cities are fit for the future and create the conditions for people to thrive. 'The Future is Local: Empowering communities to improve their neighbourhoods' finds that failing to upgrade local infrastructure will have a negative effect on all areas of life in the UK, hampering our ability to deal with climate change, future housing and transport needs, ill health and unemployment.

Using the outdoor environment for physical activity This Health Scotland research report is for organisations involved in encouraging use of the outdoor environment for physical activity, promoting mental health and wellbeing and social/learning purposes. It provides information and examples of activities and initiatives in Scotland which been evaluated and have an evidence base and highlights other successful activities from other countries. Activities are arranged in 3 settings: community, workplace and school.

Events

Festival debate  Wednesday 18 August, 1.30pm - 2.30pm. Committee Room 3, Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh. Free event but places must be booked.

Planning Aid Scotland is hosting an event at the Scottish Parliament's Festival of Politics to debate: "Have We Succeeded in Putting the 'Folk' Back into Planning?” Patrick Geddes is seen as one of the pioneers of planning. But how much has planning developed from the principles he set out in the 19th century? Has reform delivered a planning system fit for the 21st century? Karen Anderson, Chair, Architecture and Design Scotland; Archie Thomson, Renton Community Development Trust; Peter Allan, PPCA Ltd; and Johann Lamont MSP debate how changes in planning impact on individuals and local communities. Chaired by Lesley Riddoch.

Special Places - Special Relationships Thursday 2nd September, registration from 10.00 am, Roxburghe Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh Normal rate: £45, BEFS members: £20

This year for the first time the Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS) is hosting a day-long congress for its members and wider stakeholders in the built environment sector. The theme for the day will be “Special Places-Special Relationships”. They will be exploring the relationship between people and place; how do people interact with place? What makes places special – and also what makes places work in terms of supporting people in their daily life? They will hear the Government’s aspirations for people and place and showcase projects or initiatives which have involved a high degree of community involvement. Bookings

Mind the Gap: International Conference on Youth Work and Youth Studies University of Strathclyde, Glasgow 7th - 9th September 2010.

This sixth international conference crosses disciplinary boundaries to examine research, theories and practices that contribute to youth work and to our understandings of young people in the 21st century. The conference title, Mind the Gap, relates to many aspects of the theme of connecting research, theory and practice. 

 Evaluation Summer School Stirling Management Centre, 14-15 September Two days £300, daily rate £170.

The Evaluation Summer School is for those with a keen interest in evaluation. Delegates may work in local authorities, NHS Boards, the community and voluntary sector as well as research and higher education, and government. The event is not geared towards for those requiring basic training in evaluation skills.  Delegates will be expected to have some knowledge of evaluation practice. Information and bookings.

Tackling poverty in our communities  Thursday 30 September, Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

This one day conference aims to examine how housing association and housing co-operative staff and management boards can make stronger links with their local authority and third sector partners to work towards the common goal of eliminating poverty and social exclusion in Scotland. To book visit www.sfha.co.uk or call 0141 332 8113

Learning Link Scotland National Event 30th September, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Costs from £25 to £55.

Learning Link Scotland's Annual Conference- Creative Times will provide a space for participants across the sectors to network and catch up with the latest developments in adult learning and CLD. Keynote input from Dr Carol Craig, as well as the Scottish Government on the refresh of its Adult Literacies strategy and recent progress on professional development awards in adult learning. To book contact 0131 553 7992 or agoonesekera@learninglinkscotland.org.uk

Children in Scotland Annual Conference 4-5 November, Stirling Management Centre.
This year’s conference will examine how smarter thinking and reprioritisation of resources are essential in improving the lives of Scotland’s children and young people right across childhood, from pre-birth provision to increasing numbers of young people going on to further and higher education and becoming lifelong learners. How can we work together more effectively in getting it right and improving childhood for every child and young person? Details and booking online

June 2010

Community Development: Now More than Ever

Bookings are now open for our conference ‘Community Development - Now More than Ever: Empowering communities to respond to the challenges facing public services’. This will take place on Tuesday, 21 September 2010 at Hampden Stadium, Glasgow G42 9AY, from 10.30am (registration 9.45am) to 4pm. A notice is available here. The cost is £40 for community organisations and £60 for other organisations. To make a reservation, please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QWWNHM8  or use the form

Speakers will include senior Scottish speakers, to be confirmed, plus Julia Stay, Acting Head of Co-production, New Economics Foundation on ‘When and how communities can help to deliver outcomes’ and Nick Beddow, Chief Executive, Community Development Exchange on ‘What would happen if we had no Community Development?’

There will also be opportunities to exchange experience, showcase good practice, tools and resources and explore how to work together and support each other.
The conference should appeal to a wide range of people, across the community, voluntary, public and private sectors, who are directly involved in strengthening communities or who want to understand how their contribution to outcomes could be made more effective.

The conference is organised in association with the Community Development Exchange, the Scottish Community Development Centre, Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Network.

Finance Secretary offers spending guidance

Scottish Government Ministers have written to leaders across the public sector to reiterate the need to deliver the maximum impact and value for public spending in the face of reduced expenditure. They say “we must all act to protect public services by giving top priority to making changes that will save money – including: ...

    * Scrutinising the way we provide services to the public and asking ourselves where changes can improve outcomes for citizens at a reduced cost - for example, through better use of technology or through emphasis on early intervention to reduce the need for late, high cost crisis action”

Code of Ethics agreed

Following their consultation, the CLD Standards Council for Scotland have published the new Code of Ethics for Community Learning and Development. A report on the consultation process and the issues raised (by myself and Howard Sercombe) is also available.

Communities Team at Learning and Teaching Scotland 

The Communities team at Learning and Teaching Scotland has now been established to lead policy implementation and practice development across Community Learning and Development in Scotland (CLD). The core strands of the work this field carries out are: community-based lifelong learning, with a particular focus on adult literacy and numeracy and ESOL, youth work, and community capacity building. All these areas are delivered in a variety of settings by a wide range of providers including local authorities, colleges and third sector organisations.  The role of the Communities team is to work with all these sectors to enable individuals and communities to achieve positive change in their lives.
The Communities team, led by Anne Gibson, will be building on much of the work previously carried out by Learning Connections.  Anne has been leading the Schools and Youth Work Bridging the Gap initiative at LTS, which has now become part of the remit of the Communities team.
The team will continue to build the capacity of CLD practitioners to engage in Curriculum for Excellence and within LTS bring a CLD perspective to the wide range of work programmes including early years, health and well-being, outdoor learning, 16 + learning choices and citizenship.

Scottish Government Learning Communities team

At the same time [pay attention here, there might be a test on this] a new policy team has been formed in the Scottish Government within the Further and Adult Education Division of the Lifelong Learning Directorate. Headed by Peter Beaumont, the new Learning Communities team is responsible for policies in community learning and development (CLD), adult literacy and numeracy (ALN), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and college learning, teaching and qualifications. The policy team will work closely with the new LTS Communities team and with the Standards Council for CLD.

Inspections suspended

HMIE has suspended its inspections this year between August and December in order to free staff to support authorities with the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence. This suspension includes inspections of Community Learning and Development. CLD inspectors will be part of multidisciplinary teams looking at experiences and outcomes within the Curriculum.

Five criteria for social enterprise

Senscot has posted ‘five criteria defining a social enterprise’ on its website.

Cross Party Group on Volunteering and the Voluntary Sector

A new Cross Party Group on volunteering and the voluntary sector has been set up in the Scottish Parliament . Johann Lamont MSP was elected as convener with Robert Brown MSP taking on the role of vice-convener.  The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations was nominated to act as secretary and Crossreach will be the treasurer.  Suggestions of possible work strands for the new group included examining what impact the Compact process has had on voluntary organisations across Scotland, as well as looking at developing a national volunteering strategy. Anyone interested in being involved in the group should contact enquiries@scvo.org.uk.

Human Rights Commission maps third sector

The Scottish Human Rights Commission are compiling a new database of organisations which help, campaign for, or support vulnerable people in all parts of the country.  If you can help by telling them about your organisation or require more information please email: c.whitfield@hull.ac.uk

SCDC makes its status clear

Following snide remarks in the Scotsman about money being spent on ‘Quangoes’ that should go to the third sector, naming the Scottish Community Development Centre as an example, Director Fiona Garven has written clarifying the position. From 1 July, 2009 the SCDC has been an independent charity registered in Scotland and operates as a social enterprise. SCDC receives no government funding towards its governance or operational costs. It realises its organisational objective to build strong, equitable and sustainable communities through grants from various charitable sources and through competitive procurement processes for contract work. It provides training and consultancy support to organisations and partnerships in all aspects of community development, and argues “We are part of the Third Sector solution referred to in the article”.

Council of Europe Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process

The Council of Europe has adopted a new agreement to provide a framework for dialogue between civil society and member state governments. The Code of Good Practice was adopted on 21 October 2009 by the Ministers at the Council of Europe, following regional consultation conferences across Europe throughout 2008 and 2009. In a display of pre-World Cup co-operation, England’s NCVO provided one of the co-drafters along with national partners in Sweden and Slovenia.

UK Minister praises adult education

The new English Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Conservative MP John Hayes told the Guardian “Adult education is arguably all the more important in the current economic climate”. Taking evening classes improved adults' physical and mental health, encouraged them back into work and helped build tight communities, the minister said. "[The classes] aren't just about utility in its narrowest sense," he said. "There are a lot of studies that show the beneficial effect adult education has on health and social interactions."

Online Resources

Learning and Teaching Scotland updates You can subscribe to e-updates on the subscription page on the LTS website.

WALT Challenge Fund wiki The WALT Challenge fund wiki website disseminates some of the interim findings and resources developed by the Working and Learning Together (WALT) Challenge fund projects. The purpose of the Challenge Fund is to support CLD partnerships to address national challenges through developing and modeling local solutions. There are 18 projects throughout Scotland spread across five key themes:

• Community Capacity Building
• Equalities
• Workforce Development
• Outcome-focussed practice
• Performance Information.

New DTAS website Development Trusts Association Scotland has launched its new website.

What Makes a Good Report for Funders Scotland Funders' Forum has issued a brief practical checklist that seeks to make reporting more effective and less burdensome for all parties. To download, click here.

Community Food and Health (Scotland) e-bulletin CFHS now has a monthly news e-bulletin which can be viewed here.  To subscribe to the e-bulletin, visit here.

Tweet tweet You can now follow the CLD Standards Council on Twitter

Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities: A Learning Point SURF and SCR have jointly produced a Learning Point paper on Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities - the ongoing challenge.  The report draws out a set of learning outcomes from a workshop on the topic. The focal point of the event was the recognition that sustaining area-based approaches to regeneration and anti-poverty activity remains an important priority.

 Early Interventions Open Forum   A  recent SURF Open Forum event asked, 'How can we make more effective early interventions in vulnerable communities to deliver long-term regeneration?'  The event featured input from representatives of three relevant Scottish Government policy frameworks - Achieving Our Potential, Equally Well, and the Early Years Framework - and the former Deputy Director of Lothian and Borders Police, Tom Wood. Speaker presentations and a 'further reading' bibliography are available for download .

Councillors' guide to blogging A guide to blogging for elected members has been published by the Improvement Service. The guide explains what blogging is and why councillors should consider writing a blog. It contains practical advice and tips, comments from councillors who already use blogs and links to useful resources.

The previous Elected Members Briefing Notes on Corporate Parenting and Single Outcome Agreements can also be downloaded.

Publications

‘Improving Participation’ The Scottish Health Council has published a report ‘Improving Participation’ which describes twenty projects across Scotland that have involved patients, carers and communities. These projects were supported by grants from the Scottish Health Council and include examples of engagement with equalities groups, seldom-heard communities and existing networks. 

'Capable Communities - public service reform: the next chapter' In this report the think tank IPPR and PriceWaterhouseCoopers  look at the role citizens and communities can play in directly producing services. The results of a January 2010 survey of public views of ‘who should do what’ are presented, along with an agenda for a research project.

That project will examine the potential of greater community participation in the production of public goods, such as safer communities, healthier people and better schools, as well as exploring how the barriers to greater co-production can be overcome. It will suggest ways to redesign the way services are delivered and set out new models for citizen and community participation which will unlock the realistic potential for the ‘co-production’ of services. It will consider which services hold out the greatest potential for such transformation.

The report argues that co-production should not be seen as a panacea for all services, but simply as an effective tool for some. Across different service areas there is varying potential for mobilizing the resources of communities and individuals to improve outcomes. The challenge is identifying which areas have the most potential.

Problems that are chronic and require attention over the long term, that are complex and involve a number of causes, and that do not have a ‘one size fits all’ solution, will be those that can be best tackled through empowering citizens and communities to play more of a role

'Civic Streets: The Big Society in Action' This report from Demos (Executive Summary) is part of the Progressive Conservatism Project, a Demos initiative which explores how radical conservative philosophy, politics and policy can serve progressive goals. It looks at two estates, Balsall Heath and Castle Vale, “which have engaged in an extraordinary renewal that has involved residents, the third sector and business. The stories of these estates are not without disappointments but they are crucial to understand what success communities can achieve on their own, what help may be needed and where there are barriers to real empowerment and change. In learning from the achievements of these estates government can develop the policy tools to make the ‘Big Society’ a reality for deprived areas across the UK”.

Heritage infrastructure creates strong communities  Another Demos report, “Resilient Places: Character and community in everyday heritage” states that an "urban right to roam" would help people connect to the built environment and help create strong communities. The report outlines the ways in which the heritage infrastructure of urban areas played a vital role in shaping the way people thought about their communities. They also highlight the potential for this infrastructure - such as disused railway lines and historic canal routes - to revitalise the urban renaissance that has been badly hit by the recession.

Report co-author, Samuel Jones said: "The history of big societies is etched into the landscapes of Britain. Urban infrastructure, such as canals and old railway lines, is the foundation of strong, vibrant communities. But ordinary people won't be able to really be part of this society without the access and freedom to make the communities their own." The report recommends: strengthening planning policies to recognise the community value heritage infrastructure provides and encouraging temporary uses of heritage networks to minimise the risk associated with grand restoration projects.

Charities in Financial Difficulties This policy document from OSCR sets out what they will and will not do when charities are faced with financial difficulties. 

Events

Scottish charity media seminar
Thursday 1 July 2010, 2.00pm to 4.00pm, The Melting Pot, 4th Floor, Thorn House, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PR

What are the biggest challenges you face getting your stories into the media?  At this free seminar, in Edinburgh on Thursday 1 July 2010, ngo media will help you tackle the barriers that prevent your organisation achieving maximum impact through the press and broadcast media.

This event is exclusively for Scottish charities. Places are strictly limited, please sign up here. For further information, contact Jennifer Campbell jennifer@ngomedia.org.uk or 0131 243 2659. 

National Intergenerational Networking Conference
Wednesday 15th September

An all day fun-packed event for Intergenerational Practitioners. Keynote Speaker is Matt Kaplan, Associate Professor, Intergenerational Programs and Ageing, Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA. - no cost for the day. To register your interest in attending  please contact Lyndsay Johnstone or telephone 01224 523834. 

Realising Potential – Next steps for social enterprise in Scotland
Thursday 2 September 2010, 9.30am to 4.15pm (registration from 9.00am), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Organised by CEiS, in partnership with RBS, The Big Lottery, Scottish Government, Kibble, The Wise Group, HIE and Lanarkshire Enterprise Services, this year’s Scottish social enterprise annual conference will bring together social enterprise leaders, practitioners, supporters and policy makers to establish a vision for social enterprise in our communities.

To book your place, please go to the online registration page here for early bird rates of £99 for a social enterprise delegate and £139 for non social enterprises. To view the draft programme here and, for updates, go to www.ceis.org.uk.  If you have any questions please contact CEiS Events on 0141 425 2923 or e-mail eventmanagement@ceis.org.uk.

Scottish Third Sector Research Conference - call for papers
Friday 3 December, Old College, University of Edinburgh

A call for papers has been issued in advance of the Scottish Third Sector Research Conference 2010.  For full details visit SCVO's Evidence Library.

May 2010

CDAS meeting discusses community empowerment

At the last CDAS Members’ Meeting Angus Hardie of Local People Leading led a discussion on the progress of community empowerment in Scotland. Here is a note of the discussion, which covered such topics as how significant it is for communities to acquire assets, who should employ community workers and what the role of community development  is in the current financial climate.

‘Community Development – now more than ever’ – Advance Notice

In the next few years our public services, and activities that are supported by them, will be under severe pressure. Is more active engagement by communities vital to delivering outcomes that improve the quality of our lives? People argue that it is, from a wide range of perspectives. But how can it be made into a reality? What has to be done to help communities play an effective role, and where is that support to come from?  CDAS proposes to hold a conference to look at:

• the scale of the challenge
• how communities can help to deliver or ‘co-produce’ outcomes
• how community development is needed more than ever
• who is involved and how different sectors can be brought together and supported. 

There will also be opportunities to exchange experience, showcase good practice, tools and resources and explore how to work together and support each other.

The conference will be supported by the Community Development Exchange (CDX), Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre. It is also hoped that it will provide an opportunity for the Scottish Community Development Network (for individuals working in the field) to revive its activities.

The provisional date is 21 September in Glasgow. Please look out for confirmation, or to request further details when booking opens, please contact peter@pdtaylor.com

The ‘Big Society’ – and some reactions

The new UK Coalition Government’s Programme for Government says that:

“When you take Conservative plans to strengthen families and encourage social responsibility, and add to them the Liberal Democrat passion for protecting our civil liberties and stopping the relentless incursion of the state into the lives of individuals, you create a Big Society matched by big citizens. This offers the potential to completely recast the relationship between people and the state: citizens empowered; individual opportunity extended; communities coming together to make lives better.”

The main commitments which relate to communities are in a section headed “SOCIAL ACTION”, which is worth reproducing in full. Although generally reported as relating to matters that are devolved in Scotland, several of the items seem to us to have significant UK wide implications:

“The Government believes that the innovation and enthusiasm of civil society is essential in tackling the social, economic and political challenges that the UK faces today.

• We will take action to support and encourage social responsibility, volunteering and philanthropy, and make it easier for people to come together to improve their communities and help one another.
• We will support the creation and expansion of mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises, and enable these groups to have much greater involvement in the running of public services.
• We will give public sector workers a new right to form employee-owned co-operatives and bid to take over the services they deliver. This will empower millions of public sector workers to become their own boss and help them to deliver better services.
• We will train a new generation of community organisers and support the creation of neighbourhood groups across the UK, especially in the most deprived areas.
• We will take a range of measures to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy.
• We will introduce National Citizen Service. The initial flagship project will provide a programme for 16 year olds to give them a chance to develop the skills needed to be active and responsible citizens, mix with people from different backgrounds, and start getting involved in their communities.
• We will use funds from dormant bank accounts to establish a ‘Big Society Bank’, which will provide new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies.
• We will take a range of measures to encourage volunteering and involvement in social action, including launching a national day to celebrate and encourage social action, and make regular community service an element of civil service staff appraisals”.

A statement on the ‘Big Society programme’ was also launched at Downing Street. Greener Leith, which somewhat mysteriously was the only Scottish organisation present, has provided an interesting and entertaining account of the event. It comments “if we're to see a new civic revival then we'll need an investment in old school community development, adult education and a real commitment to making more local government information accessible and understandable. Without this, it will be hard to sustain that army of 'community organisers’” .

There have been mixed reactions to these announcements. For example Senscot’s Bulletin commented “Wow! All the indications are that the new coalition at Westminster is serious about its Big Society programme to empower and mobilise communities. It’s a major task but if they stick with it, this approach has the potential to radically change the relationship between the citizen and the state in England to invigorate democracy.”

A more measured reaction has been provided by Gabriel Chanan, formerly of the Community Development Foundation, and his colleague Colin Miller. They have produced a pamphlet ‘The Big Society: How it Could Work. A Positive Idea at Risk from Caricature’.

It argues that “Communities cannot take over public services … this massive oversimplification would rapidly lead to failure”. But “Communities can complement and coproduce public services … The underlying principle for these is not the state offloading public services but state and people working together to ensure maximum value either from a public service or from a voluntary service initiated by a community group.” It also argues that “What is needed to make the big society work is not simply more community workers or organisers but a wave of ‘super’ community development workers with the status and training to be able to mobilise and coordinate a myriad of contributions to citizen empowerment from other voluntary and statutory front-line workers... This means that the role is not simply about supporting neighbourhood groups, though this is at the heart of it. It is also about managing the interface between those groups and the public services, guiding both to greater efficiency and effectiveness”.

Government axes jobs in third sector

Meanwhile, hundreds of voluntary organisations in Scotland have lost out on the chance to employ young people in short-term posts after the Future Jobs Fund became one of the first victims of the new government's public spending cuts. Read more

Position Statement on community capacity building

The Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland network has brought its Position Statement on community capacity building up to date, and this is now available for discussion and use. It aims to contribute to a shared understanding of, and increased focus on, community capacity building and its contributions to related agendas, in particular community empowerment, community engagement and Community Planning, and to the achievement of national and local outcomes.

More accessible standards

A ‘refreshed’, more accessible and user-friendly version of the National Standards for Community Engagement is now available.

Action Plan for Education for Sustainable Development

The Scottish Government has launched Learning for Change: Scotland's Action Plan for the Second Half of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It recognises that more work is needed in the Community Learning and Development   field. Over the next five years the focus will be on four key areas within CLD:

• building community capacity to help the move towards sustainable living
• developing stronger links between Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and youth work
• improving communication and networks between ESD and CLD
• working to upskill the CLD workforce.

To help drive progress, the Scottish Government will set up a short-life working group with key partners from the CLD sector.

Further information on the actions that the Scottish Government and partners will undertake to help build links between ESD and the field of community learning and development is available online.

Council assets under pressure

In 2009, Development Trusts Association Scotland received funding from the Scottish Government to deliver the Promoting Asset Transfer programme. The principal purpose of the programme is to increase levels of awareness and interest within local authorities in asset transfer as a means of increasing community ownership of assets. The most recent survey of council assets reported that more than a quarter were in poor physical condition and almost the same numbers were no longer fit for purpose. With the squeeze on public finances this situation can only get worse. One element of the DTAS programme is a review of current local authority policy and practice in relation to asset transfer across Scotland. The report ‘Public Asset Transfer Empowering Communities: Policy and practice across Scotland’ contains the main  findings of the review and aims to highlight examples of where local  authorities have successfully transferred assets to community groups and provide  illustrations of some of the key issues that can arise.

Call for mainstreaming examples

The Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty Learning Network and the Improvement Service are keen to identify examples of mainstreaming activity. They would also like to hear from you if you haven't attempted to mainstream any activity yet - what challenges are you facing? If you would like to get involved please contact Heather Smith, Learning Network Coordinator, 0141 271 3735 / 0131 244 0487 or heather.smith@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Consultation on a Low Carbon Economy

The discussion paper ‘Towards a Low Carbon Economy’ sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to move towards a low carbon economy in Scotland, as part of the Government Economic Strategy.  It identifies the key dimensions of a transition strategy towards a low carbon economy, describes the approach and timeframe to develop the strategy and seeks to engage key stakeholders in the strategy process. Comments are sought by 22 June, to contribute to publication of Low Carbon Strategy by September.

Growing Spaces summit

Ways of increasing the amount of land available for allotments in Scotland have been discussed at the first Growing Spaces summit. The summit was set up as part of the Scottish Government's commitment to provide more support for 'grow your own' initiatives as part of The National Food and Drink Policy. Experts also looked at how communities could be helped to develop the skills needed to successfully work their own plots.

The Big Lunch

The Big Lunch which will be happening on Sunday 18th July this year. The Big Lunch is an Eden Project initiative which aims to build and strengthen communities by encouraging people to have lunch with their neighbours on a Sunday in July.  Last year, there were over 8,000 events and 730,000 people took to the streets. Postcode analysis shows that Big Lunches took place in every kind of community from the most challenged to the most secure. Information for those wanting to start a Big Lunch.

World Education Forum in Palestine

The World Education Forum this year will take place in Palestine on October 28 – 31. The organisers have sent out an appeal to participate in or support then event, and some introductory information.  There will be a meeting for organisations and individuals interested in a Scottish response to this call on Thursday 10th June at 5.30 pm at Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh University, Holyrood Road, EH8 8AQ,  hosted by Concept Community Education Journal. For further information contact Eurig Scandrett escandrett@qmu.ac.uk.

Online resources

Planning Aid Scotland has launched its new website

The Common Good in Scottish local authorities holds a substantial range of public assets of land, property, such as schools, public buildings, parks, art work and much more. The "Common Good Awareness Project" website sets out to:

• Present some ideas of how people can get involved
• Point to the rich wealth of research and work in Common Good and encourage more.
• Highlight the campaigns, the groups and the people working to protect the Common Good
• Create a Common Good map of Scotland.

Engage for Education is a new website for teachers, young people, parents, school staff and others across the wider education community. Participants will have the opportunity to influence government policy by providing feedback on the key issues facing Scottish education.

Ordnance Survey data The Ordnance Survey (OS) has launched a service,  OS OpenData, offering free and unrestricted access to most of its map data.

Investing In Communities case studies The Big Lottery Fund’s Investing in Communities programme has supported a wide range and variety of projects all over Scotland.  All these projects have their own story to tell about the impact their project has made to the people and communities they work with. Some of these stories can be found in the Album of Impact which can be downloaded from the Big Lottery Fund’s website here.

Rural Community Empowerment Presentations are available from the ESRC/Scottish Government Public Policy Seminar on Rural Community Empowerment held on March 25 in Perth.

Involving People in Care The Care Commission’s Involving People Group offers a report of issues from its annual development day

Publications

Making the case for community development The Community Development Foundation CDF has produced a free guidance paper to assist people in demonstrating the contribution of community development   work in achieving public sector objectives.  It aims to help people to keep community development alive, by proving its impact in a language that will resonate with those in charge of local authority decision making. It looks at what chief executives will be concerned with and how to relate to this. Details are from the English system, which, as the paper notes, are now likely to change anyway. But “we anticipate that the focus on the core themes of [public] satisfaction, inspection and value for money will remain largely the same.”

Impact of Community Engagement within Regeneration A Scottish Government  report provides a brief overview of what is known about the impact of community engagement and empowerment activity within the context of regeneration.

• Much of the evidence is based on qualitative case study research and the views and experiences of those involved in regeneration programmes, rather than a more comprehensive look at the experiences and motivations of those not involved.
• There is a need for higher quality evidence to more effectively determine the impact of community engagement, from both qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Organisations need to be clearer and more explicit about what they hope to achieve through community engagement activity.
• The process of engaging the community is vital in determining the outcomes that will be achieved.

Achieving Outcomes through Collaborative Gain The first in a series of briefing papers to come out of the Improvement Service/Scottish Centre for Regeneration project, 'Embedding an outcomes approach in community regeneration and tackling poverty', has been published. It discusses what is meant by an ‘outcomes approach’ and how the concept of ‘collaborative gain’ can help shape the way that partnerships approach the task of delivering enhanced outcomes within communities.

Devolving Accountability for Performance and Assessment to Local Areas Localis  is an  independent non partisan think-tank dedicated  to  issues  related to  local  government  and  localism. Its report ‘For Good Measure’ looks at the advantages of creating stronger accountability for improving performance to local areas and replacing central inspection with peer support and self evaluation. It foresees that:

• the performance of local government would increase
• the cost of bureaucracy and compliance decrease
• tools for a new wave of citizen-led participation would have been given to local residents.

Integrating New Migrants The Runnymede Trust has produced a report on ‘What Works with Integrating New Migrants?’  and the European Commission has produced a new edition of a Handbook on Integration for policy-makers and practitioners.

New thoughts on community development   As well as the pamphlet on the ‘Big Society, quoted above, Gabriel Chanan and his colleague offer a range of papers, including

• one offering practical standards for community development  that are easier to understand and use than the National Occupational Standards
• another on ‘Mobilising the Hidden Economy of the Third Sector’ which argues that people who hope that the third sector will find ever more economical ways to enable communities to cope while public service cuts make life harder are mistakenly looking at the third sector as if it was a unified block. People urge all groups to model themselves on social enterprises, under the illusion that smaller groups are ‘grant dependent’ and social enterprises are more economical. It is the mass of small community groups which are in fact by far the most economical part of the sector. Community development can boost these but needs to be done in a more thorough, well planned way than it often is.

A glass half-full This publication on how an asset approach can improve community health  and well-being was commissioned by the Improvement and Development Agency’s  Healthy Communities Programme in England, which aims to help local  government improve the health of local communities.

Scottish Attitudes to Antisocial Behaviour A report has been published from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, funded by the Scottish Government, on the influences on adults' attitudes to antisocial behaviour (ASB) and to community involvement in tackling ASB, and on views about young people in general and in relation to ASB.

2008-09 Citizenship Survey Topic Reports from this English survey of the public have been published on Empowered Communities and on Volunteering and Charitable Giving.

Journal of Youth Work Issue 4 of A Journal of Youth Work, looking at research and positive practices in work with young people is now available to download.

Resilience in Scottish Charities This research report from OSCR recommends that it should:

Consider how it can meet the needs of micro-organisations with a gross annual income of less than £2,000.

Provide guidance and/or training:

• for small charities with annual income of less than £25,000 on how to complete their full annual reporting requirements
• on how the use of the Trustees Annual Report could provide a valuable benchmarking and planning tool
• on issues around the effective recruitment and retention of trustees as well as induction and training for those new to a governance role
• on how to streamline the reorganisation process particularly [where people are wanting to] reorganise the assets into one larger over-arching organisation
• on how to deal with an internal dispute within a charity.

New GoWell findings New findings from the Glasgow Community Health and Wellbeing Research and Learning Programme (GoWell) have recently been published. The report outlines findings in relation to residential, social and community, and health and human capital outcomes from the second cross sectional survey (comparing results with 2006).

The Benefits of Youth Work Unite, the Community and Youth Workers Union has published a report that sets out why youth work is so important (researched by the National Youth Agency and supported by Lifelong Learning UK).  It shows how youth work makes a real and cost effective impact on young peoples' lives: supporting their learning and helping them to be healthier, keep safe, and make a positive contribution to society.

Progress of Community Health Partnerships A study commissioned by the Scottish Government to consider the early progress of Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) is now available. The main findings include:

• The structure and development of CHPs have been and are constantly evolving to respond to local changes and need.
• The levels of interaction with the Health Board, the local authority and the Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs), the voluntary sector, the public, secondary care and with independent contractors, especially GPs vary considerably across CHPs
• CHPs have made significant progress towards Shifting the Balance of Care. In terms of health improvement and reducing health inequalities, while there are good examples of activities undertaken, the study found that there is still much work to be done

Events

Development Trusts Association Scotland Annual Conference
13 - 14 June, MacDonald Highland Conference Centre, Aviemore 

The 2010 DTAS annual conference is titled Resilient Communities - Time For Action and will focus on the challenges facing local communities in the current economic climate and how these can be addressed. more

Better Community Engagement: Supporting Sustainable Practice
Tuesday, 15th June, 10.00am – 4.00pm (registration from 09.15am) Teacher Building   14 St Enoch Square, Glasgow (free)

Following the launch of the Community Empowerment Action Plan the Scottish Government has funded a programme of demonstration projects to improve practice in community engagement across Scotland. This National Conference aims to share the themes, experience and lessons coming from the Better Community Engagement Programme and explore the concept of sustainable community engagement and how we achieve it.

To book, complete the booking form here and return to:  Gina Thomson, Linked Work and Training Trust, Suite 14, Willow House, Newhouse Business Park, Grangemouth FK3 8LL. Fax 01324 483444 or telephone 01324 489666 or e-mail gthomson@lwtt.org.uk.

 Emergencies Resilience Seminar
Wednesday, 16 June, Dewars Centre, Perth (free)

Has your organisation been involved in tackling the problems caused by severe winter weather or flooding? Did you offer support in dealing with swine flu? This free seminar will discuss how the voluntary sector can help to develop community resilience.

To register an interest, please e-mail scords@scotland.gsi.gov.uk  or phone Gemma Bain on 01738 602154

Rural Diversity Uncorked - a national, virtual event
Wednesday, 16 June

The Scottish Rural Equality Network (SREN) are turning their annual conference into an exciting and innovative free event. It will be 'Eventcast' from Inverness, with local groups linking in from venues across the country. The event’s central ‘hub’ and speakers will be in Inverness, but everything will be filmed and broadcast live across rural Scotland using specifically designed internet technology. SREN will link up with three or four areas who will broadcast their own local case studies, and there will be an opportunity for all groups taking part to break off into their own local discussions. To formally register your interest, please click here.

Vision Not Division: Valuing the role of non-formal learning in 21st century education
Friday 18th June, 9.30am - 4.45pm Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh (£45)

This conference forms part of a UK wide programme promoting the holistic approach to education and valuing the role of non-formal learning in 21st century education. (Further information about the Vision Not Division initiative can be found here.)

Delegates will develop their understanding of the Scottish Government's Curriculum for Excellence and hear practical examples of how youth workers, teachers and young people have benefitted from collaborative approaches. The event will include keynote speeches and workshops in a range of topics including Bridging the Gap, SCQF/EQF, practical examples of Scottish and European collaborative approaches to learning and non-formal learning in Belgium and Estonia.

To book, visit the Youth Scotland website and register using the online registration form.

Intergenerational Learning Spring Seminar Series

The aim of these seminars around Scotland is to:

• Disseminate information about intergenerational learning
• Provide information about setting up an intergenerational project with learning as a central theme
• Enable learning through case studies and round table discussions
• Provide information on evaluating Intergenerational Learning Projects

The remaining dates are:-
Glasgow, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Strathclyde  – Monday 7 June – 4pm-6pm
Ayrshire – Tuesday 8 June – 4pm-6pm
Edinburgh – Wednesday 9 June – 4pm-6pm

For further details and to book contact Janice Burr on jburr@qmu.ac.uk  or 0131 474 0000

Archive of past bulletins

Please keep sending me items for circulation to other CDAS members

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