Members Meeting, 15 January

This meeting consisted mainly of a discussion on the issues and developments which are affecting the progress of community development work in Scotland, and on which CDAS should focus its attention. A short note is available summarising an interesting discussion, which ranged widely over some growing challenges to resourcing community development and debates over whether influencing partners and engaging in decision making or acquiring ‘independent’ resources for communities were competing priorities.

CDAS Action Plan

CDAS has submitted its Action Plan for the two coming years to the Scottish Government, based on the draft previously circulated to members. Establishing channels of communication with key decision makers, strategy development, research and other new initiatives to promote community development will require joint action with CDAS member organisations to be capable of delivery within the resources available.

Community development and empowerment

The Community Development Foundation has produced a short policy statement on why community development is an essential component of empowerment policy. It is based on general principles (not on specific English developments) and as such could be a useful contribution to debate in Scotland.

Recognising and Valuing Achievement

The event ‘Worth Doing: Recognising and Valuing Achievement’, which took place last October , was intended to share developing practice and promote discussion on the role of recognition of achievement in community learning and development. Click here to access a summary report of the event and links to speeches etc.

Youth Work and Curriculum for Excellence

YouthLink Scotland has recently held discussions with the Scottish Government around the potential of the youth work sector to be more involved in delivering alternative curriculum choices, under the Curriculum for Excellence – Learning Choices Theme.

The government’s public consultation on 16+ Learning Choices closes on 20th February. YouthLink Scotland has prepared a summary of the consultation document . It has also set up an open meeting for members to receive a presentation from the Scottish Government Team who are dealing with the Consultation. Contact Ashley Cochrane at YouthLink Scotland, 0131 313 2488 [ e-mail].

Improving Scottish Education 2005-2008

The Improving Scottish Education 2005-2008 report includes an assessment of the impact of community learning and development (CLD) on young people and adult learners. This is found to have grown since the report on the previous three years. The report suggests that adult learning and youth work are generally strong – there is a degree of responsiveness to the needs of adult learners and a good quality of youth work and the relationships with young people.  In addition, improvements have been made in community capacity building [i.e. not ‘generally strong’. Ed.]. The report indicates that building leadership capacity within the sector will be a priority in the years ahead.
Learning Connections will be considering as a matter of priority where any actions in support of these key lessons can be best placed. Meanwhile Rory Mcleod, Head of the Interim Standards Council for CLD invites people to contact him at Learning Connections (0141 271 3777, Rory.MacLeod@scotland.gsi.gov.uk) and discuss how we may take this forward.

Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice

The Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice gathers and shares best practice, provides information and support, and develops new opportunities for intergenerational working in communities. The Centre is supported by the Scottish Government and works with public, private and voluntary organisations, as well as individuals and families.
Local Intergenerational Networks are in process of being established in 17 areas of the country. These local networks will allow members to share information, create new project partnerships, strengthen community links and access support. The Centre currently has modest funding to establish networks in Argyll and Bute; Dumfries & Galloway; Fife; Stirling; Falkirk and Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Perth, and is looking for partner organisations to help with this.
Contact: Brian McKechnie, phone: 0141 548 2492 [ e-mail ]

‘Community Allowance’ pilot

CDAS recently supported the call, led by the CREATE consortium, for the implementation of the Community Allowance, allowing community organisations to be able to pay people to do work that strengthens their neighbourhood without it affecting any of their benefits. This was mentioned as a possibility in the Welfare Reform White Paper. The DWP has now agreed that CREATE can pilot Community Allowance within the existing Employment and Support Allowance system. It says, “If pilots show that Community Allowance improves the Employment and Support Allowance customers’ chances of moving into work and off benefit, we will consider introducing it on a larger scale.” However the consortium is still pursuing a Right to Bid application that would allow a wider pilot for people in receipt of any benefit.

Financial learning case studies

The Scottish Government’s Learning Connections and Financial Inclusion teams recently funded the development of 14 case studies of adult financial learning projects across Scotland. The projects took place in a variety of settings, including: community learning and development; prisons; workplaces; credit unions; and citizens’ advice bureaux.

All change at SCDC

As we have previously noted, the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) is about to become a Scottish organisation with its own governing body and legal structure.  It will become a Scottish Company Limited by Guarantee in Spring 2009. A new staffing structure has already been put into place. Fiona Garven is the new Director, and there are three Heads of Programmes – Janet Muir, who has a remit for community-led health and networking; David Allan who has a remit for capacity building and resource development and Jane Dailly who has a remit for planning and research into practice development.  The two founding directors of the original SCDC – Stuart Hashagen and Alan Barr – will remain as part-time Special Advisors.

CLD Standards Council

The new Standards Council for Community Learning and Development in Scotland has announced that more than 50 people from across the full spectrum of activity in CLD have been confirmed as members of its Executive Committee and its three Sub-committees. The first meeting of this group will take place in early March. Details of the membership of each committee are on the Standards Council website .

Connecting people with the natural heritage

Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Community Development Centre are launching a new initiative to investigate connecting people with the natural heritage. The ‘Learning through Doing’ project will involve working with voluntary and community sector organisations in a series of action research projects.
SNH/SCDC would also be keen to hear from community or voluntary organisations that would like to take forward action research to help plan or make the case for   activities, especially those which aim to:

• involve black and minority ethnic communities or excluded young people in the natural heritage;
• engage excluded and disadvantaged groups in activities at nature reserves; and
• involve people in learning about and improving the natural heritage in deprived areas of Scotland.

If you are interested in finding out more about the project, and how your organisation could get involved, please contact Scott Ferguson on 0141 951 0825 or scott.ferguson@snh.gov.uk.

Publications:

Community ownership and management of assets

‘Community ownership and management of assets’ by Mike Aiken, Ben Cairns and Stephen Thake, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and is available as a free download. The study reviewed existing evidence to explore the scale of community ownership in the UK, the benefits and outcomes that arise from it, and differing international approaches. Evidence was examined from a wide variety of sources in the four UK countries.

• The suggested benefits include financial sustainability for community organisations, support for better public services and an empowered community.
• Some ‘assets’ can be liabilities and ownership may distract from the original mission of the organisation. Smaller organisations may face barriers to acquisition.
• Community control of assets is conceived differently in Europe, the USA and elsewhere. For example, in Sweden the focus is on use rather than ownership of assets.
• The authors conclude that the evidence base should be improved by an inquiry into the importance of assets for rebuilding society.

Making the most of evaluation

SQW Consulting have published a relatively short ‘Viewpoint’ paper, which considers the lessons from policy evaluations and the importance of making more of them to improve public sector resource allocation and use. It considers:

• The motivation for evaluation
• Understanding what evaluations do
• Evaluation challenges
• Getting more out of evaluation.

Culture Delivers

This Scottish Government report provides advice to Local Authorities, Community Planning Partnerships and other interests on how the arts, culture and creativity can help deliver a wide range of local and national priorities.

Faith, Cohesion and Community Development

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) has published the final evaluation report on the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund that it ran in England. . It shows how local faith-based and interfaith organisations are active in local community life, often working in deprived areas with excluded and disadvantaged members of these communities. It shows that they can contribute substantially to community cohesion, civil renewal and grass roots community development. Free download here, or purchase details here.

Creating Spaces: Community development approaches to building stronger communities

Another CDF report shows how community projects have tackled social exclusion and violent extremism. It is based on a study examining how community development approaches and methods were used to soothe tensions and bring communities together.  Free download here.

Community development in local authorities

Another CDF report examines how community development teams are structured in English local authorities. It looks at different structural models and the key factors that help community development, and therefore the voice of the community, to have an impact. Free download here.
Citizenship Survey

The Department of Communities and Local Government has published the results of a Citizenship Survey undertaken in England, April – September 2008. Headline figures include:

• 82 per cent of people see their community as cohesive, an increase from 80 per cent in 2005.
• 76 per cent of people feel that they strongly belong to their neighbourhood with 81 per cent of people satisfied with their local area as a place to live
• Older people were more likely to be satisfied with their local area than younger people (88 per cent of people aged 75 years and over).

The survey is less positive on people feeling their voices are being heard at a local level. Fewer than 40 per cent of respondents felt able to influence decisions in their local area.