The next two EU Funds Masterclasses presented by Leslie Huckfield are being held  on behalf of Senscot, Social Firms Scotland, Development Trusts Association Scotland and Scottish Community Alliance:

•             1030 till 1300 on Wednesday 12 August 2015 at the Spectrum Centre, 1 Margaret St, Inverness. Use this link here to make your booking for the Inverness EU Funds Masterclass

•             1030 till 1300 on Friday 21 August 2015 at the Melting Pot, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh. Use this link here to make your booking for the Edinburgh EU Funds Masterclass

This week’s EU Funds Update features the ESF Programme’s 5 Social Inclusion Strategic Objectives, which for many readers will form the most accessible and relevant part of current EU Funding.  There is also a detailed summary of the four ERDF Strategic Packages which are most relevant to third sector organisations.

1)   STRATEGIC INTERVENTION LEADS

Scotland’s EU Structural Fund Programmes for 2014-2020 (ERDF and ESF) will be delivered through 14 different Strategic Intervention Lead Partners, each of which is issuing a detailed description of the focus on which their delivery of funds will be targeted, managed and co-financed.

As emphasised in previous EU Funds Updates, unless future applications fit within the descriptions of these Strategic Interventions, they are unlikely to be successful. Previous EU Funds Updates have provided latest information about these Strategic Interventions.

This EU Funds Update focuses especially on latest developments in the 5 Social Inclusion Strategic Objectives – probably the most important part of all these Programmes for Bulletin readers.

For further details about Strategic Leads and local delivery information the Scottish Government has published this list of contacts for Strategic Lead Partner Organisations, including Local Councils.

Please note that many of these may not yet be in a position to provide potential applicants with further information at this stage.

2) FIVE ESF STRATEGIC LEADS – PROMOTING SOCIAL INCLUSION, COMBATING POVERTY AND ANY DISCRIMINATION

This week, this Section includes important new information. Most titles highlighted in blue are links. Please click on these links for further information.

This “Thematic Objective” – with €89mn ESF – includes five Strategic Objectives set out below

Strategic Objective 21 – Financial Inclusion Programme, delivered through Big Lottery. Please click on the link for further details, including the bidding timetable in the five selected areas of Argyll and Bute, Dundee, Glasgow, Inverclyde and North Ayrshire.

Strategic Objective 22 – Enhanced Employability Pipelines. This is being delivered through Local Authorities. Please click on the link for further details, which includes some latest details and contacts for some local authority developments. This is the presentation which Leslie Huckfield made at the initial meeting of theEmployability Social Enterprise Network in Glasgow on Wednesday 05 August 2015.

Strategic Objective 23 – Disadvantaged Communities to develop long term solutions to increase active inclusion and reduce poverty. Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are currently working out how this community based Strategic Objective will be delivered and information will be made available as soon as possible. Once the application process starts, they will be looking for evidence that community based organisations and anchors have credible plans and the capacity to deliver. £12mn is available for Central Scotland and £8mn for Highlands and Islands. This is 100% funding so applicants won’t have to find match funding.

Strategic Objective 24 – Increase the Sustainability and Capacity of the Social Economy to deliver support to the most disadvantaged areas and groups.  Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are currently consulting on delivery, for which Senscot and Social Firms Scotland attended an important consultation in Glasgow on Wednesday 15 July 2015. Please see link below for further information. As they emerge, further details will be available in future EU Funds Updates.

Strategic Objective 25 – Support and Encourage Social Innovation and Solutions. Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are currently consulting on delivery, for which Senscot and Social Firms Scotland attended an important consultation in Glasgow. Please see link below for further information. For Social Innovation – a new concept for ESF – there will be funding for three Stages. Stage One will be for smaller applications to test and try out new approaches’. Stage Two will be for growing these. Stage Three will look for sustainability after this funding and an exit  strategy. 

There is new important information on these two Strategic Objectives 24 and 25 from Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The Strategic Intervention proposal (draft and not yet approved by the managing Authority) is being jointly developed by the Scottish Government Third Sector Unit and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and covers the whole of Scotland.

As usual, this information comes with the usual health warning that things may change in future.

Youth Employment Initiative. This is a separate ESF initiative with €46.30mn matched by an amount from mainstream ESF, for NEETS aged 16 to 29. YEI is administered through Scottish Funding Council and 12 local authorities to focus on employer recruitment. Please follow the link for further details.

National Third Sector Employability Programme. To be delivered through Skills Development Scotland, this €14mn ESF Programmes is for 3 years and will invite 3 year proposals.  Details are still awaited. Applications will need details of match funding.

3) FOUR ERDF STRATEGIC INTERVENTION LEADS

The following are ERDF Strategic Intervention Leads of interest to Bulletin readers. A similar posting about these Strategic Intervention Leads has appeared in previous EU Funds Updates.

Green Infrastructure – a total package of approximately £37.5mn be delivered by Scottish Natural Heritage. Please follow the title link for Interim SNH Guidance.

Low Carbon Travel and Transport  – ERDF to be delivered by Transport Scotland. Please follow the title link for Interim Note from Transport Scotland, which has £25mn ERDF for delivery of £62.5mn total project costs.

Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Programme – ERDF to be delivered by Zero Waste Scotland. Please follow the link for Interim Note from Zero Waste Scotland. 

Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme  – ERDF being delivered by Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Eligibility includes “Community groups, Registered Charities, Third Sector, Community Benefit Societies and Community Interest Companies”. This is the Initial Contact Form to be used for access to this Strategic Intervention. This presentation offers a good overview of the Low Carbon Strategic Intervention.

As more details of these become available, further information and guidance from other Strategic Leads will be posted in EU Funds Updates.

4) SCOTTISH RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (SRDP)

The SRDP will be delivered through a number of schemes, not all of which are directly farming related. This link provides details of Schemes of more interest to members.  A similar posting about these Schemes has appeared in previous EU Funds Updates.

5) DRAFT EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

To help potential applicants, Leslie Huckfield has designed a Draft Expression of Interest form, which includes issues potential applicants need to consider before the official bidding processes start.

If you would like to “try out” your ideas, please complete this form and send to Les at les@huckfield.com

Finally, thank you for your patience in reading through this. If any links in this EU Funds Update don’t work, please e mail les@huckfield.com for a direct link or file copy.

Author: Findlay Mair, Scotsman

A FORMER Cold War surveillance station on a remote Scots island is set to be transformed into a place where tourists can listen to the sound of whales singing.

Locals are also hoping to set up a dark skies space observatory at the old radio and radar installation which was set up at Aird Uig, Isle of Lewis, 60 years ago.

The site was part of Nato’s early warning system against Soviet submarines and aircraft, but the Ministry of Defence has no further use for the derelict buildings on the 84-acre clifftop site.

Today, locals at Gallan Head voted in favour of a community buy-out to purchase the station as a first step in their bid to transforming the site.

They hope to place a hydrophone in the sea to pick up the sound of whales. They also hope the revamped station will boost the local economy.

The community was asked: “Do you support the Gallan Head Community Trust’s aim to purchase the land known as MoD, Aird Uig?”

Only 29 people were eligible for the vote, which passed in a landslide vote of 21 to two, with a turnout of 79 per cent.

Martin Hayes, the chairman of the Gallan Head Community Trust, said that he was thrilled with the result.

He said: “We’re absolutely thrilled, the result is what we expected but we can now crack on and start preparing to change it.

“We’re trying to buy a small 84-acre piece of land from the MoD which is the most north-westerly point in the UK.

“Once we do that we’re going to need to tidy it up a bit because it’s a bit of a mess at the moment which is a shame since it’s such a nice scenic area of the country.

“It’s a fabulous place to watch basking sharks, whales and birds.

“It’s something that we’ve wanted to do for years but it’s only been in the last year that we’ve been told that the MoD were selling it.

“I think it’s something that will appeal to a lot of people – particularly those who love nature, the outdoors and RAF history.”

The station’s two long distance radars used to track enemy ships lurking around the Icelandic gap or rogue Eastern bloc warplanes intruding over the north of Scotland have been dismantled.

It also had a low frequency transmitter which sent covert messages to Royal Navy submarines shadowing suspect vessels in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is estimated that it will cost between £1 million to £2m to convert the site into an observatory centre.

Author: Scottish Government news

Eight island and mainland communities on Scotland’s dramatic west coastline have joined forces with Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) to develop a ground-breaking, community led, superfast broadband project.

Initially led by the Mull and Iona Community Trust, communities representing some of the hardest to reach broadband areas on Colonsay, Mull, Iona, Jura, Lismore, Islay, Luing and the peninsula of Craignish are working together to create community owned GigaPlus Argyll.

Following an open competitive procurement GigaPlus Argyll chose Lincoln based AB Internet Limited to work with the innovative community / private sector partnership.

With residents in many areas currently struggling with speeds below 2 Mbps, the project will deliver up to 50 Mbps, changing the way people live, work and learn across the GigaPlus Argyll area.

CBS has worked closely with and supported the community through the tender process and approved funding of £988k to support the roll-out of the community owned wireless network which will bring access to more than 1,400 homes and businesses.

The project will look to maximise coverage in these areas where the £410m Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband fibre project is unlikely to reach. CBS is a Scottish Government initiative, delivered across Scotland by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It supports people in the hardest to reach broadband areas to look at how community networks could help them get better connected.

Minister for Transport and Islands, Derek Mackay, said: “This is a pioneering project overcoming significant geographical, engineering and commercial challenges to bring superfast broadband to homes and businesses not only scattered across communities, but in this case, across islands.

“Every day we are building on the growing broadband infrastructure, reaching further into our rural and remote areas. Every forward step supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver first-rate connectivity in Scotland by 2020, ensuring we are a world class digital nation.”

GigaPlus Argyll Ltd (GPA) has procured and will manage the project which will be delivered in phases. It is likely that the south of Mull and Lismore will be connected first, followed by Luing and the northern end of Jura. From these key locations, the deployment will spread north-west across Mull, south through Colonsay, the Craignish Peninsula and parts of Jura, to the Loch Gruniart area to the west of Islay, and to Ulva and Iona with project completion expected in June 2016.

Moray Finch is Chairman of the newly formed GigaPlus Argyll and General Manager of the Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT). MICT is involved in delivering a wide range of community services and projects and is supporting the GigaPlus project.

He commented: “Connections in all of these areas are poor, many with speeds less than 2 Mbps, and the project will deliver transformational change to island residents and businesses. To go from the superslow lane to being able to offer affordable broadband to meet the needs of homeowners as well as uncontended commercial connections for businesses will open up huge opportunities for us.”

An economic impact assessment for the project highlights that access to better broadband could deliver at least £3.6m to the area from increased economic activity. There will be additional benefits during the construction, with the creation of 8 full-time jobs.

CBS Director Mark Tate, said: “Finding ways to bring robust high-speed broadband to our most remote and rural communities, where all communications are notoriously difficult, will have a transformational impact on the way people live, work and learn. It opens avenues in both social and economic terms.

“This project is truly ground-breaking in the way it brings together the community, the private sector and public sector advice, support and funding to deliver a robust and sustainable next generation solution. The service will be delivered over a community-owned infrastructure that will be operated by a commercial internet service provider on a fixed term contract/lease with local labour. We were delighted with the quality and number of bidders prepared to take on this challenge and look forward to working with AB Internet and GigaPlus Argyll as we move into delivery stage.”

Darren Round of AB Internet said: “We’re really excited about helping to change the lives of the locals. Regardless of how you look at it, from the technical platform to the commercial model, or the community involvement to the headline user speeds, this is a ground-breaking project.”

In addition to the delivery of the infrastructure, CBS will work with GigaPlus Argyll, the HIE digital team and community groups to support local people with events and advice to get the most out of their new connections.

Author: Jennifer Roberts and Oliver Escobar, ClimateXchange

To read an executive summary of this experiment into the work of citizen juries, click here

How do people feel about wind farms when they are given an opportunity to learn more about the topic and consider and discuss it as part of a group?

This unique research project, the most comprehensive of its kind and a world first, asked three groups of people (citizens’ juries) to come up with criteria for decision making about onshore wind farms in Scotland. Despite the diversity of views in the groups, all three juries managed to develop and agree a list of principles, showing that people from very different backgrounds and with varying perspectives can work together through difficult issues and come up with solutions.

Between October 2013 and February 2014 three groups of 15-20 people spent two Saturdays together listening to speakers before being asked to discuss, as a group, the question:

“There are strong views on wind farms in Scotland, with some people being strongly opposed, others being strongly in favour and a range of opinions in between. What should be the key principles for deciding about wind farm development, and why?”

Scottish Planning Policy emphasises the importance of public engagement, requiring that it should be early, meaningful and proportionate. However, to date, deliberative engagement has not been actively used to inform planning policy or decisions in Scotland. This project focussed on onshore wind farm development, and was designed to offer insight into key dynamics in citizen participation and public deliberation – rather than to inform decision-making.

The project report provides the policy and practice community with practical advice about organising and facilitating deliberative public engagement in support of decision-making. It explores how citizens’ knowledge and perspectives evolve during the process. It presents a picture of what the jurors decided matters most to them about wind farm development. It analyses whether three juries, addressing the same topic under similar conditions, generate different outcomes. And it explores the potential role of citizens’ juries in decision-making.

From the start of the juries, through hearing from expert witnesses, and discussing within the groups, we saw how the juries became a school in democracy. The participants enjoyed learning about the issue and really appreciated being asked their opinion in an atmosphere of respect for different views.

The project was overseen by a Stewarding Board comprising representatives from organisations with a range of opinions about wind farm development in Scotland. This Board discussed the jury task, project design, choice of jury locations and choice of ‘expert witnesses’.

The three jury locations where chosen to be of similar size and rural characteristics but with different exposure to wind farm developments:

•             One location close to an existing wind farm (Aberfeldy)

•             One with a wind farm proposed nearby (Helensburgh)

•             A third with no existing or proposed wind farms (Coldstream)

There were a total of 47 jurors: 15 in Coldstream, 14 in Helensburgh and 18 in Aberfeldy. Taken together, the three juries reflected the diverse views and demographics of the Scottish population – i.e. education, gender, age and income. This meant, for example, that the juries brought together three generations to discuss the topic.

To read an executive summary of this experiment into the work of citizen juries, click here

Author: Midlothian Advertiser

A member of an environmental group that planted wild flowers in a wildlife garden is outraged at the council for cutting the grass there. Doctor Gordon Spiers had contacted the council last year after they strimmed around the wildflower area at Newbyres Community Garden, after he and another member of Gorebridge and District Environmental Group (GADEG) had spent so much time creating a wildflower meadow in the garden.

So Dr Spiers called the council recently to ensure that this didn’t happen again. Lo and behold, a week later the same area was cut back to within two inches of the ground.

He said: “I couldn’t believe it. They just chopped the whole lot down. The whole thing is a wildlife garden. It’s just one part of it that we planted wildflowers on. I just can’t believe they would chop it all down. It’s meant to be a wildlife garden, so why chop it down? It’s not very wild now! It’s absolutely ridiculous. I phoned the council and lost my temper with them.”

Dr Spiers revealed how much work has been spent on making the wildflowers an important part of the wildlife garden. He said: “We have been working on the wildflower garden for the last two years. I managed to get my own funding, £2,200 from my old school George Watsons. We used it to buy plants and we have got a little bit of that money left.

“They haven’t strimmed any of the area that we have actually planted in. The wildflowers are coming up there now. It’s the rest of the area around the wildflowers that has been chopped down for no reason at all. It was overgrown, but then it should be, it’s a wildlife garden!”

The doctor told The Midlothian Advertiser that he can’t understand why the council would waste money cutting grass in an area which is supposed to be a wildlife garden. He said: “There is a children’s nursery opening nearby soon and the children could have used the wildlife garden for trails. I don’t quite see the point of this. It’s a waste of tax payers’ money. It doesn’t add up. It makes no sense whatsoever to chop it all.”

“At the last meeting of the Gorebridge and District Environmental Group, we discussed this issue at some length and we decided to send a letter to the council. GADEG started the garden. To open up that area to the local community. And we got the council to deem it as a wildlife garden. They actually planted trees there. The whole thing is quite preposterous. It annoys me as we put so much effort in and the council just takes it away. Does ‘biodiversity’ not mean anything to them?”

What would you do if the head of your organisation suddenly told you to change your working practice and ‘Think Yes’ in everything you do? Well, that is precisely what happened to Housing Officers working for Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) in Glasgow when their new Chief Executive piloted an approach to leadership that fundamentally altered relationships between staff, their managers and their tenant and resident customers. In this WWS blog Claire Bynner and Ken Gibb describe the experiences and impact of this leadership programme from the point of view of staff at GHA, who shared the story of Think Yes at a WWS Roundtable event at Glasgow University on 15th June.

When Hazel Young, Director of Policy and Service Development at the Wheatley Group (a Group Structure that includes GHA) described their leadership programme at GHA as ‘transformational’ we were initially sceptical. In the early 2000s GHA was by most standards, a poorly performing landlord. The context was a fraught relationship with key partners including the Scottish Government, the City council, the regulator and community-based housing associations. Several Chief Executives came and went quickly and the stalled second stage transfer programme was just the most high profile example of GHA struggling to make progress, other than its large-scale investment programme, which continued to push forward.

Hazel and the officers present at the WWS Roundtable were frank in their account of the organisation’s troubled past, citing lack of a clear purpose, low levels of tenant satisfaction, low staff morale and stalled regeneration. GHA’s troubled past was a good starting point for the discussion – failure being key to understanding the motivation for change. In this context and given the relatively top-down bureaucratic culture in GHA, it is hard to overstate the subsequent transformation.

In response to the question ‘How satisfied are you with the Glasgow Housing Association as your landlord?’ independent survey results show an increase of 23% in satisfaction between 2004 – 2014, from 67% up to 90%. Initially, this increase was probably caused by the massive increase in investment and wider improvement to the GHA housing stock. In 2010 those customers who were satisfied were approx. 80% and progress with customer satisfaction was starting to plateau. GHA’s Executive Team realised that increasing efficiency wasn’t going to get the step change that they needed to reach their goal of 90% satisfaction. Think Yes was born out of the need to do something that was very different to reach this externally-validated goal. Between 2011 – 2012 there was a large jump in those customers who describe themselves as ‘very satisfied’ from 24 – 40%, and dissatisfaction begins to drop (see graph below). By 2014 GHA reach their target of 90% satisfaction. At GHA they believe that step-change was caused by Think Yes.

The beginnings of Think Yes were in July 2011, when Martin Armstrong, GHA’s CEO visited 4 local offices to pilot a new approach. He asked the local staff to “take charge of their local service and do the right thing for the customer”. In a sense this was about thinking for oneself, as much as simply thinking positively, in order to tackle problems and customer requirements. There was no training; the only direction was to do what the customer wanted and not to break the law. The manager was there to support and coach staff to make decisions.

Change initially happened slowly: the staff were nervous that, despite assurances, they might be in trouble if they made different decisions and broke out of the traditional leader-follower route. It took time for staff to see that experiments and, yes, mistakes were actually encouraged in order to help change mind sets. A couple of people who were braver than others took the first steps. They used local budgets to solve small problems for customers and the response from the leadership was positive. Staff in the pilot offices were building better relationships with their customers, were more confident in making decisions – customer satisfaction was improving. Curiosity about the four offices began to spread throughout the organisation…

In February 2012 Think Yes was rolled across GHA. Groups of 70-80 staff attended sessions in May, led by the Executive Team, followed by smaller sessions in which the staff from the pilot offices told the stories of what they had done. Key to spreading the approach and building confidence was storytelling. When the Executive Team visited the local offices in November/ December 2012 they were told that Think Yes had become part of the culture of working and services were being redesigned around the customer at the point of contact. The change in working practice was confirmed by external assessments for Customer Service Excellence and Investors in People (GHA achieved Gold standard) and EFQM. Customer Service Excellence UK reported “We have never been into an organisation that has transformed itself so fundamentally, so quickly, so positively”. EFQM observed “strong leadership at every level, right down to your front-line staff – and this is something you don’t see very often.”

A key aspect of the transition to Think Yes was a move towards clearer lines of accountability with each housing officer responsible for their own patch and reductions in the number of managers at the local level. This flatter staffing structure resulted in savings to the organisation of £3.4million, nearly £2million more than had been thought possible prior to the cultural change.

In terms of leadership, Think Yes entailed a shift from a ‘command and control’ to a style of leadership that recast the role of managers as supporting, mentoring and responding to the issues raised by front-line staff (see Leadership triangles below). Hazel Young observed that in a complex environment, command and control leadership doesn’t work. As a manager, you are not close enough to the issues on the ground to be responsive. But it doesn’t usually feel like that for leaders and managers. Emotionally, there is a feeling of safety with command and control and for some managers adapting to the new approach was difficult. For J, a local area manager, shifting to a culture where the team could challenge the leader, was a big change:

‘Staff were saying to me ‘we have raised this with you why haven’t you done something about it? It was tough, learning to bite your tongue, learning not to give answers and decisions, direction. Letting go of needing to be in control of everything’.”

Despite the positive external assessment, it hasn’t been easy for all staff to adjust to this new way of working. It took 6-9 months to get people to buy in to the new approach and there were different reactions. It was 50:50 who took it on and who rejected it.

Building the confidence and trust of the staff in the organisation was described as key to the improvement in performance. The new role of managers is to coach and mentor, so that staff feel confident to make decisions and are able, effectively, ‘to manage themselves’. R, a local housing officer explained that for her the change was about learning to make good decisions, taking account of needs, considering options, and learning to get the balance right without reliance on the manager:

“There is risk involved and you do take a chance, but it’s about being accountable, and having reasons for the decisions taken, having the confidence to cope with people, responding to their complex needs and making difficult decisions.”

Trust in the organisation has been built by removing bureaucracy and delay, and downgrading process. The days when five signatures were needed to get a decision taken (i.e. under the Council’s housing department), are now long gone. Where an issue has to be escalated for management decision this is systematically logged and managers seek ways to address these ‘blockages’. For example, if there is a shortage of funds for home improvements or adaptations, pooling separate budgets. When there are observable patterns in the type of support needed, new services are born. For example, the Home Comfort Service was a result of housing officers from across the organisation finding it necessary to buy furniture to support tenancies.

Think Yes is designed to respond to a complex environment where most customers are suffering the effects of multiple deprivation, unemployment, poor health and high mortality. The GHA service aims to be responsive, adaptive, and prevention-focused which is especially important with the onset of welfare reform. C, a housing officer with a background working in supported accommodation, spoke about tailoring the service to individual needs and communication:

“In the past it was: ‘We are the landlord. Pay the rent!’ Now there is freedom in how we work. Your manager is enthusing you and you are enthusing the customer. Now I can say: ‘We can give you a wee helping hand’.”

Staff roles have moved from rescuing to enabling. This involves being the advocate and commissioner of other services, drawing in support tailored to the needs of the individual. Fundamental to the ability to do that was getting to know ‘the customer’ by adopting a more informal style and using resources to get the right support such as education bursaries, financial inclusion, employment generation etc.

While Think Yes did not spring from a received management textbook or approach to leadership change, it does echo closely leadership change in military organisations as practised by L David Marquet (2012) Turn Your Ship Around (Penguin) and by HH McArthur as described in Tim Hartford’s book – Adapt: Why success always starts with failure.

Author: Community Development Foundation

Trust in Democracy: How community groups bridge the gap between people and politics

Our latest research finds that community groups hold the key to rebuilding trust in politics and revitalising democracy.

About Trust in Democracy

Trust and engagement with UK politics are at an all time low. People are disconnected from remote national political structures, feeling they have little influence over them. Our research finds that only 25% of people “trust” Parliament, but 50% trust the overall democratic process.

How can we bridge the divide?

We found trust improves at a local level – with over half of people trusting their local MPs and councillors. The more community based the picture becomes, the better – 93% trust other people in their local area.

Community activity helps bridge the gap by giving people meaningful opportunities to get involved in things that matter to them. Perceptions of influence increase for those involved in their community. Volunteers are 46% more likely to feel they have an effect locally.

We surveyed hundreds of community organisations and a third of them said that their community involvement led onto more political roles, such as a councillor, school governor, or magistrate. One even went on to become a Deputy Mayor.

How can the new Government rebuild trust?

So we are calling on government to encourage and enable voluntary work for those not already involved, recognising and supporting the powerful role community groups have in building trust. The Government’s commitment to enabling more volunteering through employers could be a real force for change towards this aspiration, especially if it means more volunteering at a very local level.

Only then can we bridge the divide between people and politics – and start rebuilding trust in democracy.

How the research was conducted

Trust in democracy: how community groups bridge the gap between people and politics is a research report based on mixed research methods, undertaken by the Research Team at CDF.

The research methods comprised of three main strands:

•             We ran an online survey of groups and individuals from the community sector who receive CDF’s monthly newsletters. The survey was completed by 593 respondents.

•             We commissioned Coventry University to analyse data from the Community Life Survey 2012-13.

•             We conducted interviews with six individuals whose community involvement led to more formal roles in local civic activity.

Download the report

Download the report in full: Trust in Democracy: how community groups bridge the gap between people and politics

•             Download the Trust in Democracy summary document

Author: ResPublica

A Community Right to Beauty To read full report click here 

ResPublica has launched its latest report: A Community Right to Beauty: Giving communities the power to shape, enhance and create beautiful places, buildings and spaces. Arguing for the restoration and democratisation beauty in public policy, this seminal publication recommends the extension of community influence in the planning process to ensure beautiful localities are accessible to all.

Based on findings from a public poll conducted by leading pollsters Ipsos Mori, the report explores the public’s attitudes towards beauty and perceived local access to beautiful spaces.

Beauty plays a central role in enabling people and communities to flourish. Our report highlights the health, economic, social and civic benefits of living near beautiful surroundings, and reasserts the importance of its intrinsic value.

Our report argues for a ‘community right to beauty’ to be introduced via primary legislation, the details of which will be revealed in the report. The policy recommendations set out a range of new powers and incentives to support the democratic discernment of what makes a neighbourhood beautiful, and communities’ ability to independently create, shape and improve their locale.

Author: Oliver Wagner, Kurt Berlo

To read a copy of the full text click here  

After a wave of privatizations in the end of the 1990s, the electrical power supply of many municipalities in Germany has been returned into public hands. Many municipalities discover chances and possibilities for local action, which arise with remunicipalisation. The local policy-makers realize that remunicipalisation offers the opportunity of implementing an independent energy policy at local level which is critical in creating a transformation to a sustainable energy system based on energy efficiency and renewable energies. The municipal ownership allows a strong governance towards more political influence in the local energy market. In addition, there is a clear opinion of the population: 81 % of citizens surveyed say they trust their local municipal utility, compared to only 26 % who say they trust corporations (VKU-Survey, 2010). In summary, there are many good reasons for local politicians to establish their own municipal utilities. The payback for municipalities is tangible when the local utility focuses on reliably providing affordable energy rather than on increasing its returns. The new municipal power utilities stimulate competition and contribute to the renewal / restructuring of the traditional energy market. The founding of 72 municipal utilities since 2005 leads us to ask for the reasons. The study reviews the German trend towards municipal ownership of local utilities, assessing their performance based on 10 targets related to the energy transition, climate protection, and the local economic impact:

1. Achieving environmental objectives and organization of the local “Energiewende”.

2. Higher local added value.

3. Harnessing tax regulations for improving municipal services.

4. Improving the income situation of the city.

5. Democratization of supply and stronger orientation towards the common good (public value).

6. Creating and protecting good jobs.

7. Acting in social responsibility in energy supply.

8. Expansion of eco-efficient energy services.

9. Harnessing customer relations and public image.

10. Materialising synergies with other sectors. Based on expert opinions, the study finds out that the likelihood of these targets being reached is “high to very high”. The aim of this article is to provide a compact and basic understanding of the possible reasons for the phenomenon of remunicipalisation. 

ABOUT TAKE ONE ACTION

“Want to change the world but not sure where to start? This festival will rouse you into action.” The Guardian

“Take One Action bring together the most acclaimed, globally conscious movies of the year” New Internationalist

“Take One Action brings to light stories from across the planet which – like South Africa’s injustices, courage and beauty – were once hidden.”Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Take One Action is a Scottish charity whose aims are to empower communities, mitigate social inequality and promote environmental sustainability. We use the vehicle of world-class, high profile cinema events – spotlighting issues of social and environmental change – to empower thousands of attendees to influence and change the behaviours and systems that can lead to a fairer and more sustainable world. Among other activities, we organise the UK’s leading global citizens’ film festival each year.

Take One Action celebrates the people and movies that are changing the world, from Argyll to Zimbabwe. We believe that small actions lead to big ones, and that we all make a difference.

TAKE ONE ACTION LOCAL

Do you want to inspire people wherever you live, work or play in Scotland (including yourself)? Do you love film, and have a heart for a better world?

Then apply now to run a Take One Action Local in your community, and we’ll bring you to our festivals in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Inverness (see dates below) to:

•          find out all you need to know about running a Local

•          meet other practical dreamers like you

•          watch films you could soon be showing closer to home.

Applications take the form of submitting an expression of interest form by email. Together we’ll go from there. 2015 deadline: Fri 14 August.

LOCALS IN A NUTSHELL

What we do:

•          Offer your Local 6+ licences/year from our catalogue of world-class films;

•          Provide tools and training, and network you with other organisers at one of our own festivals;

•          Set you up as part of our online family.

What you do:

•          Share our values: To empower people to find their own perspectives and actions around a range of social-change issues;

•          Gather a co-ordinating group – ideally people with diverse social-change interests;

•          Get creative!

WHAT FILMS CAN LOCALS ACCESS?

Take One Action distributes films that bring the world to our doorsteps, without the carbon footprint…

World-class documentaries, drama and shorts on a range of social change issues that inspire, that encourage self-reflection and have the potential to change lives – when audiences crerate and find out about local opportunities to make a difference.

Our Locals Film Catalogue already includes some 25+ titles, with many more to be added in the coming months.

By supporting film through the Locals programme you also ensure that the filmmakers who struggle to share amazing untold stories get paid for their work, so they can continue to inspire change around the world.