SCDN Aberdeenshire Regional Event

Wednesday 21st June 2017

Bennachie Leisure Centre, Insch

Workshops

Participants were split into three workshops and asked to consider:

  • What is working well in their area?
  • What isn’t working so well?
  • How could a SCDN Regional Network support the ongoing work?

Workshop 1 – Susan Campbell

What’s working well?

  • Great projects – Community Wind Turbine – UDNY Community Trust
  • Drug and Alcohol Forums – strong peer support network
  • Men’s Shed – social isolation and mental health
  • Rural Partnership Federation
  • Aberdeen Voluntary Action – TSI
  • Grampian Opportunities – adults with disabilities – sign positing, support, training and employment opportunities
  • CD link with economic development
  • Asset owning within communities
  • NESU Credit Union
  • Community Food Initiative
  • Syrian Refugee Programme – support, housing, employment
  • Home Start – volunteers for families under five
  • Strong partnership working – one contact then share information
  • North Alliance
  • Gordon Rural Action
  • Aberdeenshire Signposting Project

What’s not working so well?

  • Transport – cost high, rail/bus networks not good, services in rural areas poor
  • Broadband issues – phones
  • Services closing in rural areas – heart gone from communities and not attractive for people to move in
  • New developments – no sense of community
  • Consultations on community plans not auctioned re input from local areas
  • Community views not taken on board
  • Pharmacy consultations – community engagement disregarded
  • DAD – Decide, Action, Defend
  • All services affected - post offices, shops, banks, schools
  • Scottish Government Policies – implementing these is slow and not matching community expectations
  • How do we involve those without a voice – marginalised people and groups
  • Aberdeenshire is one of the lowest funded areas per head of population
  • Big areas, different issues in each
  • Bringing people together across a wide geographical area – have to go to the people
  • Need for a support group for volunteer directors – dealing with tough issues
  • Difficult to recruit volunteers in general
  • Communities are expected to do more as services are squeezed
  • Communities want services, but don’t want to take on the roles
  • Fear of being on boards/working with children re all of the legislation and liabilities – puts people off
  • Childcare in rural areas – volunteers needing the support of childcare organisations who are struggling for funding

SCDN Regional Network

  • Interested, but need to explore the challenges – time, travel, when meetings are held etc.
  • Look at online forums
  • Sharing work, events and projects alongside meetings
  • Rotate meetings to different locations
  • Help to breakdown duplication of work
  • Linking with other SCDN networks and also looking at existing Aberdeenshire networks

Workshop 2 – Fiona Ballantyne

What’s working well?

  • Diverse and welcoming community
  • Pockets of deprivation but affluence/deprivation side by side
  • Services? Isolation – buses – feeling of belonging
  • Aberdeenshire Citizens Panel – Questionnaire- Stigma/prejudice reducing, substance misuse survey
  • Wind farms –money?
  • Remote communities but people get on and do and look out for one and other- good levels of joining in in small communities
  • Still expectation in some areas/towns ‘Council will do it’ or village mentality – ‘Council won’t so we’ll do it ourselves
  • Community Action Plans – Sparking community groups to deliver solutions either alone or in partnership with other agencies
  • ‘I’ versus ‘We’ (individual or collective)
  • Role of CD in conflict/contested projects – community tensions being managed
  • Advice and support to community organisations to develop projects – difference between statutory agencies support/skills to make decisions compared to communities
  • Long term succession planning, political cycles, funding
  • Small projects still need to think long term – sustainability
  • Support rural partnerships – pitfalls versus benefits
  • Asset transfers – Lease versus ownership, asset versus liability
  • Good practice example – Maud
  • DTAS/Scottish Government/Big Funders having conversations that don’t match up
  • ‘Scotland for All’ – social media – good practice examples
  • SCDN link to CDAS link to Government - evidence base? Supporting communities share excellence
  • HIE, Big Lottery and DTAS case studies
  • Success seeding success, people can see what’s achievable
  • Different levels of support required – individual capacity support to community level support
  • Legislation gives power but may limit challenge and now thinking
  • Wayne to share research

SCDN Regional Network

  • Support to raise profile e.g. rural partnerships/federation
  • Where does everyone fit in? Who is out there delivering/helping support?
  • Case studies – day in the life of, tweets, social media
  • SCDN regional information and mailing
  • Leader – funding, raising profile, sharing info, increase social networking, impact/influence
  • Rural Wisdom Project – Networking opportunities for rural development workers – sharing good practice

Workshop 3 – Elaine McKenna

Group members introduced themselves and shared what they were involved in along with identifying what would be helpful going forward.

The group included representatives from voluntary, community, public sector, the university, paid and unpaid.

This was the first event/conference for Aberdeen andeveryone hoped this could be followed up.

People who had received the SCDN bulletin said they found this useful and appreciated the information in the bulletin. Keen to develop links and connections, network and become more co-ordinated, sharing information, examples of good practice and case studies.

Challenges

geographical area -rural v urban - demographics older people- nature of area and definitions means can't access funding streams in respect of poverty (SIMD) Therefore there is a wealth of community activity which is voluntary. There is a diverse voluntary/third sector but has to work in even more creative ways due to access to funding as described above.

While there is a substantial amount of volunteering which keeps projects services going. People were keen to look at role of volunteering more closely. How to keep volunteers, managing expectations, roles and responsibilities, access to training, expenses.

Opportunities

Discussion opened up potential of ideas for groups, projects to work together collaboration in respect of creating spaces, community gardens e.g. Men’s Shed, Women affected by Domestic Violence. Considering further collaboration in use of community facilities.

More collaboration with public sector on community action

More information about what's available across localities e.g. health and social care partnership keen to develop directory of resources it was suggested this could be done in collaboration with voluntary community sector -possibly joint funding to produce this together. Cited examples of how this has been done in other parts of country. Group keen to consider similar.

Local Authority Public sector already considering devolving funding to voluntary/community sector and the Community Empowerment Act will focus on this even more.

Example of Community initiative which has become, for the first time, community led with more volunteers and community activists involved. People were keen to consider more opportunities to discuss community developments like this.

The group welcomed links with the university who were undertaking research on some initiatives along with other areas of work which could support a network going forward.

Group were keen to share practice, ideas and case studies.

Make connections and network

Summary

The discussion was positive with lots of ideas emerging which could form the agenda for developing network going forward.

The group hope that the attendee list will be circulated so people can connect and begin to take their ideas forward. There is a wealth of experience and lots of good work taking place and everyone was keen to stay connected.

The group agreed that they would the feedback from the event along with attendees list so people could begin to make links and connections and decide how to develop the network. There are the beginnings of an agenda and action points to take forward and share across Aberdeenshire and more widely.

Feedback Session and moving forward

Each group fedback from their workshop and to sum up participants were asked how they would like to take things forward. One participant asked that we begin the planning process today while we were all together:

  • Make the meetings topic focused with ideas coming from the group e.g. Community Asset Transfer
  • Group members can offer workshops
  • Networking is an important aspect of meetings too
  • Offer opportunities to share positive practice – bumping space/speed networking
  • Identify key partners to come together
  • Follow up on online forum idea and lining with other SCDN networks
  • Increase community activist involvement
  • Members of the network will need to take out membership of SCDN

Everyone agreed to share their email address with the group. It was agreed that Susan will circulate the notes from the day alongside the attendance list. Anyone interested in joining a planning group to take this forward will contact Susan.

Feedback comments

  • Very informative, very useful. Thank you.
  • Useful and encouraging re way forward.
  • Very valuable forum. Thanks for coming North!
  • Thanks. I’d be interested in gaining a consensus about an agreed Aberdeenshire approach to growing/creating community activist.
  • Lots of ideas for the future – interested in Asset Transfer.
  • Perhaps a need to incorporate some more thinking and examples of the importance of ‘economic sustainability’ as a fundamental criteria for successful and viable community development projects.
  • Workshop very useful – informal style, contacts.
  • Good to meet other organisations working in the area. There are lots of network groups.
  • It was a good event.

Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed

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