Tag: engagement

Together We Help: report highlights community support during the pandemic

When Scotland first went into lockdown in March 2020, a wave of uncertainty and fear was felt throughout society as people were told to stay at home, to save lives.

But as schools, shops and offices closed, communities did not.

Local people and grassroots groups were quick to come up with innovative ways to help during the crisis. Social action accelerated and became a central feature of Scotland’s response to the lockdown and ongoing challenges of coronavirus.

In July 2020 Social Action Inquiry partners commissioned The Collective to lead on a short-term piece of research to capture the stories and lessons learned from communities coming together to help.

From food drop offs to phone calls to isolated neighbours, volunteering and wellbeing support, the research brings to life the ways people developed creative approaches to make a difference.

The final research report Together We Help is now available and shines a light on the power of communities to mobilise and initiate social action in response to the issues that matter to them.

Eighteen community researchers gathered insights from 367 people involved in social action in their local areas, asking what inspired them to be involved and what lessons can be learned to build a fairer Scotland.

The research suggested that the stigma associated with accessing support such as food banks in times of need may have reduced as demand for these vital services increased dramatically throughout lockdown in 2020.

Community researchers also found that offering support and participating in local responses to the coronavirus crisis was both a ‘blessing and a curse’ as while it helped people to feel more connected to their community it also increased awareness and feelings of frustration at the growing levels of inequality on their doorstep.

The findings from the Together We Help research will help inform the Social Action Inquiry.

This independent inquiry will look at how communities take action and will try to contribute to a Scotland where social action is valued and is able to make change happen in communities.

Read the final report online here

Young Women Lead at Holyrood

A project which aims to boost women’s involvement in politics have their work recognised this week in the Scottish Parliament.

Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP led a debate in Parliament on Thursday welcoming the publication of the 2019-20 Young Women Lead Report.

The report investigates the obstacles facing BAME women transitioning from school to the workplace. A subject chosen due to a lack of Scotland-specific data on the issue. It looks at employment opportunities for women from ethnic minorities considering recruitment, retention and development policies and practices.

The Young Women Lead Committee is a leadership programme for young women aged 30 and under who live in Scotland and is delivered in partnership with the Scottish Parliament and YWCA Scotland – The Young Women’s Movement.

Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP said: “I am delighted to lead the debate today which will give us all an opportunity to better understand the barriers faced by young BAME women across the country.

“Throughout the last year, I have been continually impressed by the young women involved in this project. They have put together a vital piece of work despite the immense challenges presented by a global pandemic.

“The recommendations of this timely report should be taken on board to help create a fairer and better Scotland for all.”

The Young Women Lead programme was launched in 2017 and was created from a need to address the lack of representation of young women in politics. In 2019-20 the programme was revised with the intention to increase young BAME women’s political participation and to hear their voices and experiences.

The programme was created from a need to address the underrepresentation of young women in politics. Working with the Scottish Parliament, The Young Women’s Movement (YWCA Scotland) has designed the programme for 30 participants from a range of diverse communities to come together in the Parliament to run their own committee inquiry, focusing on a topic of their choice.

You can read the full report here.

‘Doing Politics Differently’: Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly publishes final report

Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly has published its report setting out a shared vision and 60 recommendations for the country’s future.

The vision and recommendations were agreed by an overwhelming consensus of members, and cover a wide range of areas including future Citizens’ Assemblies, incomes and poverty, tax and the economy, health and wellbeing, support for young people, sustainability and further powers for the Scottish Parliament.
 
Doing Politics Differently: The Report of the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland can be read online at www.citizensassembly.scot  
 
This report has been submitted to the Scottish Government and Parliament. It will be laid in Parliament for debate, with an action plan from the Scottish Government to follow.
 
To accompany the report, a short film on the Vision and Recommendations agreed by the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland, and featuring the voices of members is here: Our Vision and Recommendations – YouTube

And a second one that considers the deliberative process is here: Finding common ground through deliberation – YouTube
 
All of the materials including evidence from previous weekends, an interim report and range of supporting papers covering previous work and articles and videos about the impact of COVID-19 are available on the Assembly website

www.citizensassembly.scot 

together with recordings of plenary sessions.
 
 We will be promoting the report and other content on our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

 Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat

Have your say on short term lets

Short-term Lets Workshop tomorrow


The Scottish Government are holding a workshop with urban residents tomorrow (Thursday 1 October) from 4.30pm – 6.00pm, on the subject of short-term lets.
 
This is in connection with the detailed proposals published on 14 September, see: https://consult.gov.scot/housing-services-policy-unit/short-term-lets-licensing-scheme/
 
The Scottish Government are hosting the event using Webex, and still have a small number of spaces available.

They appreciate this is short notice, but if anybody in the community council network wishes to attend, they’d be grateful if you could respond to: shorttermlets@gov.scot and joining details will be sent to them.

For those unable to join, they are inviting written submissions to the consultation until 16 October.
 
Simon Holledge

Secretary, Edinburgh Assocation of Community Councils

Latest update from Citizens’ Assembly

The report from Weekend 5 of the Assembly has now been published, and you can see all the outputs including the livestream recordings on our Weekend 5 page. 

Convener Kate Wimpress has also published a blog where she reflects on the last weekend. 



We look forward to meeting again online on 3 and 4 October, and hope you can join us by watching the livestream on our homepage. 

Best wishes,

Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat

Citizens Assembly to reconvene next month

The Citizens Assembly will resume online following a break due to COVID disruption. We will reconvene on 5 September and will report to the Scottish Government and Parliament by the end of the year.

The Assembly’s remit will be unchanged.

You may recall that before the pause, members had made substantial progress in developing a shared vision for the future of Scotland, and had considered key challenges to building a sustainable country.

Members also examined Scotland’s finances and taxation, and discussed how decisions are taken for and about Scotland.

The Assembly will now complete its work across these areas, while also considering the impact of COVID-19.


The interim report, The Journey So Far, was published yesterday alongside a comprehensive set of articles and videos summarising the work.

 All information can be found at www.CitizensAssembly.scot and we will continue to update our Facebook, TwitterInstagram and YouTube channel social media channels.

Best wishes, 

Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat

Picture: Chris Watt

Community council to meet again via Zoom

Hi everyone,
This is to advise that our regular meeting of the West Pilton West Granton Community Council on 2 June at 7 pm will go ahead.
Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, however, and in line with CEC guidance, we will be holding the meeting remotely, via Zoom.
Contact Peter for registration details: – wpwgcommunitycouncil@outlook.com
As Zoom places a 45 minute limit, our meeting will be for essential business.  A draft agenda is below:
1. Welcome – Lana
*2. Proposal to provide funding to community newsletter – Willie
*3. Current position with chequebook – Peter
4. Living with Covid-19
    a. Police Report – Sarah
    b. Community Food Support – Willie/ Peter
5. AOB & DONM – Lana
Regards
Peter Faassen de Heer
Secretary, West Pilton West Granton Community Council

The Citizen Network: A Revitalised City is Possible

There is no better time for the citizens of Edinburgh to pitch in and contribute to a Manifesto for the City Creating Our Manifesto for the City ⋆ The Citizen Network

Calls for no return to unequal and unjust normalcy following Covid-19 have come from many quarters, some of them quite unexpected, and there’s no doubt that many of the persistent problems of city life will be reassessed by those who govern us, whether that be Westminster, Holyrood or Edinburgh City Chambers.

But let’s not fool ourselves, what’s promised by politicians now may never transpire. Real change will not happen without direct action by citizens; for Edinburgh, Citizen’s Manifesto is the first step.

 

The need for citizens to hold politicians to account is already evident from reports of ‘stakeholder’ discussions pertaining to post-pandemic Edinburgh.

Consider first what Council leader Adam McVey had to say about the city’s Summer festivals: “By working together we can make sure that when our festivals return, they do so with even more of a focus on our people, place and environment.” So far so good but one is tempted to question the ‘even more’ – there has been scant attention to people place and environment in festival planning in recent years.

[“Edinburgh festivals face calls for overhaul before they return in 2021”]

In the same Scotsman article note that the city’s residents are absent when our cherished heritage is flagged up as needing not just preservation but enhancement by the festivals. Clearly, this pipe-dream does not extend to those who live in this ‘remarkable backdrop’.

But it’s the reaction of Essential Edinburgh that confirms that not all stakeholders are thinking about anything other than business as usual post Covid-19.

Roddy Smith, the Chief Executive, says “We need to reactivate the city, promote it strongly and widely and seek over the next couple of years to return to our numbers pre the virus.”

The same message can be deduced from the report from the meeting last week of the new tourism ‘oversight group’ for Edinburgh.

The group includes Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), Edinburgh Airport, Festivals Edinburgh, Visit Scotland, Essential Edinburgh and the Chamber of Commerce – again not one resident has a seat at the table. Adam McVey reported that the group had reaffirmed the aims of Edinburgh’s new Tourism Strategy which was agreed pre-pandemic.

How can this be? Have we learned nothing these last few weeks?

So, the coronavirus will not miraculously change our world for the better. The citizens will have to insist on it, and the Manifesto for the City is an excellent starting place.

Let’s face it, change is difficult – most of us are stuck with at least one foot in the past and are in some way resigned to the way things are. To paraphrase a French philosopher, we are all ‘half accomplices’, demanding radical change while at the same time clinging to what we have become accustomed to.

But the city will change whether we like it or not, and citizens need to rise to the challenge and drive that change – now is the time to articulate our values and our aspirations; now is the time to really get beyond ourselves.

SEAN BRADLEY

Image credit: Astrid Jaekel