New funding for supporting new ideas in Rural Communities.

Not-for-profit community groups in rural areas will soon be able to apply for funding of up to £50,000 to trial new and innovative ways to address local challenges and benefit from local opportunities.   The Rural Communities “Ideas into Action” Fund is supported by £1.5 million of Scottish Government funding and will be delivered in Read more…

Capable People – Hopeless Systems. Why do Scotland’s Leaders still think Big is Beautiful?

Journalist, land reform campaigner and Nordic Horizons Director, Lesley Riddoch will give this year’s John Pearce Memorial Lecture as part of the New Lanark Anniversary conference on October 12th. Full details in the attached flyer available  here. This is a hybrid event and you have the option to attend face to face or online. Book Read more…

New Virtual Community Learning Exchange Series

We would like to invite you to our upcoming series of virtual community learning exchanges, funded by the Scottish Community Alliance. The sessions will focus on themes identified by Rural SEN members as important to their future plans, and will be hosted by social enterprises from Uist, Tiree, and Dumfries. See the links below to Read more…

Rural virtual learning exchanges

We are excited to announce the launch of rural virtual learning exchanges, taking place this October, supported by Inspiralba and the Scottish Community Alliance. In place of traditional learning exchanges, there is still a need for rural social enterprises to be able to share learning and solutions to the challenges posed by Covid.   Stakeholders from Read more…

Scottish Rural Action: Survey Round 2

Scottish Rural Action are running an ongoing survey to better understand response and recovery in rural communities across Scotland. Round 1 of the “Rural Communities Survey on COVID-19 – Response and Recovery” was undertaken in May 2020, and the findings have now been published as a report. Read our summary, or click here to read the Read more…

Access and Progression Routes Survey

Discussion at the latest Rural SEN meeting highlighted the importance of social enterprises to provide access and progression routes for young people, especially in light of the unemployment and youth unemployment challenges that are being projected as a result of Covid-19. The provision of local access and progression routes are vital to give young people Read more…

South Islay Development

South Islay Development Covid Response Since the end of March 2020, the role of South Islay Development has been entirely diverted into coordinating the day to day response to the COVID-19 pandemic on the Isle of Islay in the southern Hebrides. Prior to COVID-19, South Islay Development’s (SID) focus of work was delivering community benefit in Read more…

The impact of Coronavirus on rural Scotland

A series of blog posts by the Social Economic and Geographical Sciences Group at The James Hutton Institute looking at the research evidence on: Community resilience and social innovation. The impact on Scottish agriculture. How the virus may open up opportunities and technological change that could lead to positive changes in rural Scotland. Click here Read more…

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