What we do

We work directly with community organisations, people who work in communities and with people who make policy.

We deliver large scale programmes across Scotland to help build the capacity of the community sector, support public agencies to work effectively with communities and to widen participation in local democracy.

We support and manage a series of networks, using our learning from these and working with communities and community practitioners to inform policy and legislation.

A major part of our work is providing research, training and consultancy services. All of our services are tailored to meet the individual needs of the organisations and partnerships we support. Find out more about our training.

We work closely with the European Community Development Network and the International Association of Community Development.

Our key work

Featured

Community Health Exchange (CHEX)

CHEX supports and promotes community development approaches to improving people's health.

PB Scotland

PB Scotland acts as a hub for sharing and learning about the work being done by participatory budgeting initiatives around Scotland.

Scottish Co-production Network

The Scottish Co-production Network is a way for people to share ideas and learning about co-production.

Health Issues in the Community

Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) is a training programme which looks at issues such as health, poverty, power and social justice in a different way.

Supporting Communities

Supporting Communities is a package of support for community organisations across Scotland to help build skills, confidence and capacity.

VOiCE

VOiCE is planning and recording software that assists individuals, organisations and partnerships to design and deliver effective community engagement.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is Power is a programme to support community-led action research across Scotland.

Learning, Evaluation and Planning

The LEAP framework is designed to support a partnership approach to achieving change and improvement in the quality of community life.

Communities Channel Scotland

The Communities Channel Scotland is a website which puts communities in the spotlight by connecting people and sharing ideas.

Building Stronger Community Organisations

This resource is designed to build the skills, confidence and knowledge of refugee-led organisations and refugee supporting organisations, although most of the materials will be useful to any community group.

Participation requests

Participation requests are one way that communities can ask to work with public bodies to make services better. SCDC works to raise awareness, and support the use, of participation requests, as well as to help strengthen and improve how they work.

Rebooting Resilience

This programme aims to explore what resilience looks like in our communities, how we can build on existing good practice and improve how communities and local agencies can work together to develop strong, resilient communities.

Climate statement

Our statement promoting community involvement in climate decision-making on as COP26 summit begins in Glasgow.

Supporting Communities Safely

These pages provide advice on how to virus proof the fantastic things communities are doing and reduce the risk of indirect spread of Covid-19.

National Standards for Community Engagement

The National Standards for Community Engagement are a way to build and sustain the relationships between public services and community groups.

Peer-led Practice Learning report

A report from Barnardo's Scotland & SCDC about peer-led evaluation and the impact that the Barnardo’s Nurture Service has had on the people involved.

Local Place Plans: Challenges and Opportunities

Using action research, we wanted to find out more about the implications of Local Place Plans were for the planning system and communities.

Strengthening Community Councils

Exploring how community councils can contribute to democratic renewal in Scotland.

Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act strengthens community voices in decisions about public services and makes it easier for them to own and manage land and buildings.

Our resources

Featured

Education Bill Provisions Response - SCDC response

SCDC submitted a written response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a new qualifications body and a new approach to inspection of Education in Scotland.

Getting it right - a Human Rights Bill for Scotland

SCDC submitted a written response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on a proposed Human Rights Bill for Scotland. We’ve summarised our key points, with a focus on the importance of participation and community capacity building within the context of human rights.

Engagement in Local Development Plans

Here are the key points from SCDC’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on ‘Effective community engagement in local development planning’ guidance in September 2023.

Community wealth building

Community wealth building is focused on growing the influence communities have on the economy and ensuring communities receive more of the benefits from the wealth they help to generate. The Scottish Government has adopted a community wealth building approach, and sees it as a key tool in supporting a just transition to net zero and reducing child poverty. This is a summary of SCDC’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on community wealth building which ran in 2023.

20-minute neighbourhoods

If you lived in a 20-minute neighbourhood you would be able meet all your day-to-day needs without having to travel more than 20 minutes by foot, bike or public transport. We’ve summarised the key points from our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on planning guidance it is developing in relation to 20-minute neighbourhoods and local living.

Participation Request Resource Pack

SCDC’s participation request resource pack contains a range of guides, tools and templates to help you understand the Participation Request process, the language and terms that are used, and the process involved.

National Standards for Community Engagement: the 7 principles in graphics

We’ve made these graphics to help show the 7 standards in a simple way and highlight the key elements.

Making your community events greener

Are you planning a community event and want to do your bit to make a climate impact? Even if your event isn’t focused on climate change, there’s still lots you can do. Here are some practical things to make your event greener, and some things to think about too.

National Standards for Community Engagement

The National Standards for Community Engagement are a way to build and sustain the relationships between public services and community groups.

Peer-led Practice Learning report

A report from Barnardo's Scotland & SCDC about peer-led evaluation and the impact that the Barnardo’s Nurture Service has had on the people involved.

Strengthening Community Councils

Exploring how community councils can contribute to democratic renewal in Scotland.

Community Participation Action Learning Report

This report aimed to develop learning, take actions, improve practice and reflect together on opportunities and challenges in the current context.

Communities matter to democracy

Our response to the recent Scottish Government’s Democracy Matters consultation welcomes the idea of people having more control over what happens in their communities.

Knowledge is Power

SCDC and the Poverty Alliance worked with ten community organisations to co-design a resource framework which could be used to support communities across Scotland to conduct their own inquiries into the issues affecting them.

Widening the Welcome

Exploring the local experiences of refugee resettlement and how examines how community development approaches could be used to further refugee integration in Scotland.

Action Research by, in and for Communities (ARC)

ARC is to help community and voluntary groups carry out research in and with their communities.

Community development and co-production

This paper outlines the common approaches that community development and co-production take.

Co-production: Making a difference together resource

Published in 2015, 'Co-production – how we make a difference together' is a suite of resources – videos, case studies and information to help spread understanding of co-production

Building Stronger Communities

Building Stronger Communities is a practical assessment and planning tool for community capacity building in Scotland.

Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act strengthens community voices in decisions about public services and makes it easier for them to own and manage land and buildings.

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April 15, 2019

Strengthening Community Councils

April 15, 2019/ Admin

Strengthening
Community Councils

Exploring how community councils can
contribute to democratic renewal in Scotland.

Andrew Paterson & Paul Nelis, SCDC
Oliver Escobar, What Works Scotland
April 2019

Imagine a democratic body that...

Acts as a bridge between citizens and public authorities.	Works at a local level, open to all citizen to attend meetings and take part in public deliberation.
Consists of people who volunteer, unpaid, to help address issues on behalf of their local community.	As with other democratic institutions, works more democratically when interest, awareness and voting turnout are higher
Enables people to engage in political decision making and current issues, without having party politics as a basis for contribution.	Has been found internationally to be sometimes more diverse than ‘higher-tier’ democratic institutions.
Is a way for people with little experience of politics to get involved.	Has, in some places, been leading the way using new ‘empowering’ legislation and democratic innovations.

The above is true for many, if not most, Community Councils in Scotland.

About this report

This report from SCDC and What Works Scotland explores how community councils can be even more relevant in Scotland’s evolving policy context, especially as public service reform continues through the Local Governance Review.

We’ve heard from more than 600 people involved in community councils to hear about the role they play in our democratic landscape - and what could change to improve how they represent local communities going forward.

Download the full report ⇩

Our recommendations...

CCs have the potential to be a vehicle for community empowerment and democratic renewal in Scotland and strengthening them should be considered amongst different options for improving local democracy within the Local Governance Review currently co-led by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Local Scottish Authorities.

Our findings make a strong call for reforming CCs through giving them enhanced power and increased resources while supporting them to involve and engage with their wider communities and to become more representative of diversity.

There is not necessarily a conflict or contradiction between the need for CCs to have more influence and the need for them to be more democratic and representative of diversity. If these dimensions are tackled simultaneously, they will reinforce one another

Support is needed for CCs to be more democratic and empowering. This includes training, capacity building, resources, networking and promotion. Councils should review their current support for CCs and, in collaboration with the Scottish Government, put in place resources to improve CCs' capacity to meet local needs and aspirations.

Where an appetite exists, development and support should be provided for local CC associations as a source of information and support for CCs and a regular point of contact for local authorities and other agencies.

Compensation schemes should be put in place to support community councillors with accessibility, travel, caring responsibilities, and even loss of earnings. Otherwise, the system is not genuinely open to young people, single parents, disabled people, carers, low paid workers and the self-employed, etc.

In order to make CCs more representative of diverse groups and perspectives, consideration should be given to new measures regarding CC membership, including increasing the size of CCs, widening the criteria for who can join and making use of alternative forms of democratic selection to complement elections.

The Scottish Government should conduct a marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness of CCs, demonstrating impact and increasing CC membership.

Reforms should be carefully designed to allow variance so that local needs can be met. CCs work in contrasting parts of Scotland, are at different stages and will require a flexible range of powers and support. This should vary between and within local authority areas.

Going forward

The report was launched in April 2019, and we heard lots of great ideas about the research and how we can take it forward.

Here some of the issues people talked about:

There was a big focus on representation in community planning and other decision-making structures.
The need was identified for people with particular skills to support community councils.
It is vital that community councils are valued.

You can read more reflections here.

Want to find out more?

➡ Download the full report

➡ Get in touch

Our work

We work directly with community organisations, people who work in communities and with people who make policy.

Acts as a bridge between citizens and public authorities.

Works at a local level, open to all citizen to attend meetings and take part in public deliberation.

Consists of people who volunteer, unpaid, to help address issues on behalf of their local community.

As with other democratic institutions, works more democratically when interest, awareness and voting turnout are higher

Enables people to engage in political decision making and current issues, without having party politics as a basis for contribution.

Has been found internationally to be sometimes more diverse than ‘higher-tier’ democratic institutions.

Is a way for people with little experience of politics to get involved.

Has, in some places, been leading the way using new ‘empowering’ legislation and democratic innovations.

About this report

This report from SCDC and What Works Scotland explores how community councils can be even more relevant in Scotland’s evolving policy context, especially as public service reform continues through the Local Governance Review.

We’ve heard from more than 600 people involved in community councils to hear about the role they play in our democratic landscape - and what could change to improve how they represent local communities going forward.

Our findings make a strong call for reforming CCs through giving them enhanced power and increased resources while supporting them to involve and engage with their wider communities and to become more representative of diversity.

There is not necessarily a conflict or contradiction between the need for CCs to have more influence and the need for them to be more democratic and representative of diversity. If these dimensions are tackled simultaneously, they will reinforce one another

Where an appetite exists, development and support should be provided for local CC associations as a source of information and support for CCs and a regular point of contact for local authorities and other agencies.

The Scottish Government should conduct a marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness of CCs, demonstrating impact and increasing CC membership.

Reforms should be carefully designed to allow variance so that local needs can be met. CCs work in contrasting parts of Scotland, are at different stages and will require a flexible range of powers and support. This should vary between and within local authority areas.

The report was launched in April 2019, and we heard lots of great ideas about the research and how we can take it forward.

Here some of the issues people talked about:

There was a big focus on representation in community planning and other decision-making structures.

The need was identified for people with particular skills to support community councils.

It is vital that community councils are valued.

You can read more reflections here.