The David Hume Institute, in conjunction with the Diffley Partnership, published the latest Understanding Scotland: economy insights on the 22nd of November 2022. The data, collected just prior to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement, shows almost universal pessimism and poses huge questions for our economic outlook. Nearly a year after the first report in this series, Read more…
Storytelling for Systems Change: Insights from the Field Report
Community-led place-based initiatives are modelling new ways of working – shifting away from top down, program-focused approaches towards an approach grounded in systems thinking and community-led innovations. However, while these stories of change are sitting in communities, they’re often not being told or celebrated. The purpose of this report is to better understand why this Read more…
SENScot & Community Enterprise: Community-led Tourism Report
Communities are increasingly getting involved in tourism and shaping the offer their area provides to visitors. The drivers and motives behind this vary considerably and include the desire to secure greater levels of visitor spend; managing visitors to limit their impact on the environment or to safeguard community assets through diversification of income. This paper Read more…
Community-led Tourism in Scotland – Lessons Learned May 2022
Tourism plays a key role in supporting Scotland’s regional and local economies with many rural and island communities reliant on visitor spend. The economic value of the tourism industry has historically been the predominant focus for both industry and government but in recent years the significance of hospitality and tourism as a driver of sustainable Read more…
Community Ownership Cold Spots Briefing March 2022
Community Land Scotland, with the support of the Scottish Government, has been working to get a better understanding of Scotland’s “community land cold spots”. The process started with desk-based research and the results have informed this paper. The following areas were researched: • Urban – rural split • Deprivation on an SIMD and local Read more…
The David Hume Institute: Community Insights March 2022
Throughout 2019-20, the David Hume Institute’s Action Project brought people across Scotland together to discuss what was needed to progress towards a more prosperous, sustainable, inclusive and fair country. They spoke to people from all walks of life, including many from smaller communities in Scotland which retain a strong sense of identity but feel Read more…
Collective Leadership: Research and Learning
On the 1st of March 2022, the Rural SE Hub hosted a session at the Illuminating Leadership Festival, a virtual, week-long event hosted by Collective Leadership for Scotland, with a focus on the topic of collective, systems- and place-based leadership. The name of the session was ‘Communities leading Collectively’. Collective Leadership was a subject that Read more…
Research calls for rural and island communities to be seen in a new light following Covid.
Research led by CoDeL and funded as part of the Northern Periphery and Artic Programme has found that while the health and economic disruptions caused by Covid-19 are undeniable, on balance many rural and island areas have performed relatively well during the pandemic by drawing on a wide range of resilience factors both for health Read more…
Community Based Social Enterprises fostering Inclusive Development in peripheral European Rural Areas.
Community Based Social Enterprises fostering Inclusive Development in peripheral European Rural Areas. Lucas Olmedo, Mara van Twuijver, Mary O’Shaughnessy. This paper investigates how community-based social enterprises (CBSEs) foster inclusive development in European peripheral rural areas and in turn contribute to the sustainable development goals. CBSEs are seen as a subset of social enterprise that Read more…
Social Enterprise in Rural Communities. Ireland
Social Enterprise in Rural Communities. Ireland. O’Shaughnessy, M. and O’ Hara, P. (2013) National Rural Network. Community Development Enterprises (CDEs) operate through providing broader social and economic benefits to their host communities by engaging in commercial activities. Based on this definition five case studies are presented with a specific focus on critical success factors Read more…
RurAction. Handbook for Practitioners
The RurAction Network: Handbook for Practitioners. The stated aim of this publication is to: ‘to help practitioners – both on the basis of our own empirical research and a literature review – to reflect with greater awareness on rural conditions with their specific challenges; potentials; dynamics; organisational forms and the hybridity of social Read more…
Identifying the Characteristics of Rural Social Enterprise in Scotland
Inspiralba has hosted a PhD Intern for the past six months in conjunction with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. Cat Aitken has looked at the characteristics of rural and island social enterprise and the extent to which this offers a different model. You can read her full findings here….
LEADER and Spatial Justice
LEADER and Spatial Justice. Mark Shucksmith, Elizabeth Brooks and Ali Madanipour Sociologia Ruralis: Journal of the European Society for Rural Sociology 2021. This paper explores ideas of ‘spatial justice’ and how they can be applied via placed – based approaches in a rural context. It identifies four key dimensions to spatial justice – plurality Read more…
A Different Approach to Community-Led Asset Development
In this short video, Douglas Westwater, Chief Executive of Community Enterprise Scotland introduces this research carried out in collaboration with The William Grant Foundation: https://youtu.be/jb9pAl-sOd4 Read the full report here: A different approach to community-led asset development
Think Big, Act Small: Elinor Ostrom’s radical vision for community power
The report provides an accessible introduction to Nobel prize for Economics winner Elinor Ostrom’s work and the radical vision it offers for our current challenges. Described as the ‘intellectual hero of the community power movement’ it explores her decades long academic and practical research and how her ideas can be applied in the UK. The Read more…
Social enterprise, social innovation and self-directed care: lessons from Scotland
This study based on guided conversations with 19 stakeholders explored the experiences of social enterprises that deliver social care in Scotland within the Self Directed Support (SDS) framework. It found mixed evidence of transformation in the Scottish social care market and significant differences between urban and rural settings. It highlights misconceptions of social enterprise as Read more…
Social enterprises’ impact on older people’s health and well-being
Exploring Scottish experiences: Part of the Common Health research programme, this paper explores ‘what’ impact social enterprise activities had on the health and well-being of participants over 50 and ‘how’ this impact was created. The research covers the work of three social enterprises in Scotland, one in rural south west Scotland. Beneficial impacts were identified Read more…
Young People and Access Routes into Social Enterprise Report
In rural areas, there is often the expectation that young people should relocate to urban cities to access employment and education – this is known as the ‘brain drain’, and is one of the key drivers of rural depopulation. Social enterprises in Scotland have a track record of providing access routes into employment for marginalised Read more…
Filling a void? The role of social enterprise in addressing social isolation and loneliness in rural communities.
This study of seven social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands looks at the ways in which they address social isolation and loneliness. It supports suggestions that in remote and rural areas social enterprises can be generators of health and wellbeing but also highlights the impact of managing and delivering services on small local populations. Read more…
Unlocking the potential of rural Social Enterprise
This paper reports on an exploratory study with social enterprise stakeholders in Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders focused on the potential of social enterprise to contribute to rural development. It considers three key domains that impact on this potential – the rural, the social enterprise and the policy. It argues that ‘social enterprises can Read more…
Rural social enterprise – evidence to date, and a research agenda.
This introductory article to a special issue of the Journal of Rural Studies on rural social enterprise considers current knowledge in relation to social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in rural settings. It also finds ‘considerable research gaps’ and suggests issues for a future research agenda. Read the full article here: Rural social enterprise – Evidence Read more…
Social entrepreneurship in a rural context: an over-ideological state?
This study from 2008 considers the factors that influence how social entrepreneurs operate in rural areas, the difficulties they face and how they might be addressed. Based on interviews with 30 social enterprise stakeholders in the Highlands and Island it argues that rural settings present some distinct challenges as well as advantages. While issues of Read more…
Can social enterprise contribute to creating sustainable rural communities?
This study based on interviews with social enterprise stakeholders in the Highlands and Islands considers the extent to which social enterprise can address social and economic challenges in remote and rural areas. Promotors of social enterprise include the market context, the culture of self-help, support from rural communities and the small size and thus flexibility Read more…
Starting social enterprises in remote and rural Scotland: best or worst of circumstances?
This study extends the analysis of specific promotors/ barriers to the success of social enterprise in the Scottish Highlands to consider issues relating to health and social care. It finds thinking not well developed and issues in relation to procurement. While those interviewed could see a role for rural social enterprise in maintaining the wellbeing Read more…
Built-in Resilience: Community Landowners’ Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis
In June 2020, Community Land Scotland and the Community Woodlands Association co-published a new report entitled “Built-in Resilience: Community Landowners’ Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis.” The report demonstrates the remarkable efforts made by community landowners’ to support their communities throughout the lockdown period, highlighting the ability of community landowners and organisations to be agile and Read more…
