Study Trip to Scotland

Overview

As part of the Future-Ready Society Conference series supported by Tote Board, the Institute of Policy Studies is organising an overseas study trip to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland from 24 to 28 July 2023. The objective of this overseas study trip is for local non-profit practitioners to visit and learn from organisations outside of Singapore that are engaging in new ways of building stronger communities and deepening meaningful citizen engagement.

Scotland implemented the Community Empowerment Act in 2015 to allow local communities to propose policy or programme changes. Under the new statutory requirements, their local government works with citizens to co-create these solutions and transfer publicly-owned assets to community ownership and self-management. During our visits to local community organisations and research centres in Scotland, we will study how these partnerships and place-based approaches are developed and implemented to empower communities and deepen meaningful citizen engagement.

1. First, we will visit the Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS), which is an independent charitable incorporated organisation comprising over 350 community-owned and led organisations. We will have the opportunity to visit DTAS member organisations to learn about their work, including the Granton Community Gardeners, Heart of Newhaven, Action Porty, Lanark Community Development Trust, Cranhill Development Trust, and SWAMP. These organisations have experience in participatory budgeting and/or community asset ownership. We will be able to learn from their creative approaches to community-led development, as well as how DTAS provides support and facilitation for community-led problem-solving and decision-making. 
2. Second, we will visit the Scottish Community Development Council (SCDC), the lead body for community development in Scotland that works with local community partners, practitioners, and policymakers. They are a charity that provides research, training and consultancy services on various issues such as participatory budgeting, local democracy, community health and climate sustainability. They also raise awareness and help to develop one key aspect of the Community Empowerment Act 2015 – Participation Requests, which allows communities to ask to work with public bodies to make services better. 
3. Third, we will visit the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change at the University of Glasgow. They worked on Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland, a project which comprises both research and practical implementation of measures to address child poverty. They also run the Network for Social and Educational Equity which uses research evidence and collaboration to improve classroom practices, build leadership capacity among teachers and students, and support organisational development.

Click here to read the full report of the study trip.


Scotland Study Trip
In this video, the participants visited the Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS), which is an independent charitable incorporated organisation comprising over 350 community-owned and led organisations, as well as some of the DTAS member organisations like Granton Community Gardeners, The Heart of Newhaven and SWAMP. These organisations shared their experience on community asset ownership and their creative approaches to community-led development, as well as how DTAS provides support and facilitation for community-led problem-solving and decision-making.



Insights from Communities in Scotland
The participants of the study trip shared their reflections at the Future-Ready Society Conference in 2023.



Scottish Community Development Centre on Participation Requests
Andrew Paterson from the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) shared with the participants on what is participation requests, who can raise one and the core framework of it. Laura MacDonald also presented on how SCDC designed the Participation Request Resource Package to help communities understand the process. Learn more about SCDC's participation requests process here.



Scottish Community Development Centre on Participatory Budget
What is Participatory Budgeting (PB) and how to make a good one? What is the role of the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) on PB in Scotland? Watch this presentation by David Allan from SCDC to find out more. Learn more about SCDC's PB process here.



Scottish education: place and people
Prof Bob Davis presented on the history of Robert Owen’s support of youth education and the rise of progressive education for the people in Scotland.



Exploring the potential of research-practice collaboration (RPC)
Watch this video as Magriet Cruywagen explained the whole system approach, the Christie Principles, and the No Wrong Door model. How these approach and model form the objective of the Child Poverty Pathfinder to make a meaningful, evaluable contribution to tackle child poverty in Glasgow.



Putting Poverty in its Place: Lessons and Learning from Children's Neighborhoods Scotland
Prof Chris Chapman shared on how the Children’s Neighbourhood Scotland creates equal opportunity for disadvantaged young people, reducing poverty and increasing participation and capacity within the community. He also shared about the importance of data sharing and transparency, and how Children’s Neighbourhood Scotland uses a collective impact approach to work with local people and organisations in the communities in which they live in.



Conversation on the Scotland Study trip with Oliver Escobar
In this video, Oliver Escobar shared about the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, Participatory Budgeting, What Works Centres and his view on striking the right balance to develop a space for collaboration between the government and the people.