What we do

We work directly with community organisations, people who work in communities and with people who make policy.

We deliver large scale programmes across Scotland to help build the capacity of the community sector, support public agencies to work effectively with communities and to widen participation in local democracy.

We support and manage a series of networks, using our learning from these and working with communities and community practitioners to inform policy and legislation.

A major part of our work is providing research, training and consultancy services. All of our services are tailored to meet the individual needs of the organisations and partnerships we support. Find out more about our training.

We work closely with the European Community Development Network and the International Association of Community Development.

Our key work

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Supporting Communities

Supporting Communities is a package of support for community organisations across Scotland to help build skills, confidence and capacity.

Community Health Exchange (CHEX)

CHEX supports and promotes community development approaches to improving people's health.

PB Scotland

PB Scotland acts as a hub for sharing and learning about the work being done by participatory budgeting initiatives around Scotland.

Scottish Co-production Network

The Scottish Co-production Network is a way for people to share ideas and learning about co-production.

Health Issues in the Community

Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) is a training programme which looks at issues such as health, poverty, power and social justice in a different way.

VOiCE

VOiCE is planning and recording software that assists individuals, organisations and partnerships to design and deliver effective community engagement.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is Power is a programme to support community-led action research across Scotland.

Learning, Evaluation and Planning

The LEAP framework is designed to support a partnership approach to achieving change and improvement in the quality of community life.

Communities Channel Scotland

The Communities Channel Scotland is a website which puts communities in the spotlight by connecting people and sharing ideas.

Building Stronger Community Organisations

This resource is designed to build the skills, confidence and knowledge of refugee-led organisations and refugee supporting organisations, although most of the materials will be useful to any community group.

Participation requests

Participation requests are one way that communities can ask to work with public bodies to make services better. SCDC works to raise awareness, and support the use, of participation requests, as well as to help strengthen and improve how they work.

Rebooting Resilience

This programme aims to explore what resilience looks like in our communities, how we can build on existing good practice and improve how communities and local agencies can work together to develop strong, resilient communities.

Climate statement

Our statement promoting community involvement in climate decision-making on as COP26 summit begins in Glasgow.

Supporting Communities Safely

These pages provide advice on how to virus proof the fantastic things communities are doing and reduce the risk of indirect spread of Covid-19.

National Standards for Community Engagement

The National Standards for Community Engagement are a way to build and sustain the relationships between public services and community groups.

Peer-led Practice Learning report

A report from Barnardo's Scotland & SCDC about peer-led evaluation and the impact that the Barnardo’s Nurture Service has had on the people involved.

Local Place Plans: Challenges and Opportunities

Using action research, we wanted to find out more about the implications of Local Place Plans were for the planning system and communities.

Strengthening Community Councils

Exploring how community councils can contribute to democratic renewal in Scotland.

Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act strengthens community voices in decisions about public services and makes it easier for them to own and manage land and buildings.

Our resources

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Education Bill Provisions Response - SCDC response

SCDC submitted a written response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a new qualifications body and a new approach to inspection of Education in Scotland.

Getting it right - a Human Rights Bill for Scotland

SCDC submitted a written response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on a proposed Human Rights Bill for Scotland. We’ve summarised our key points, with a focus on the importance of participation and community capacity building within the context of human rights.

Engagement in Local Development Plans

Here are the key points from SCDC’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on ‘Effective community engagement in local development planning’ guidance in September 2023.

Community wealth building

Community wealth building is focused on growing the influence communities have on the economy and ensuring communities receive more of the benefits from the wealth they help to generate. The Scottish Government has adopted a community wealth building approach, and sees it as a key tool in supporting a just transition to net zero and reducing child poverty. This is a summary of SCDC’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on community wealth building which ran in 2023.

20-minute neighbourhoods

If you lived in a 20-minute neighbourhood you would be able meet all your day-to-day needs without having to travel more than 20 minutes by foot, bike or public transport. We’ve summarised the key points from our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on planning guidance it is developing in relation to 20-minute neighbourhoods and local living.

Participation Request Resource Pack

SCDC’s participation request resource pack contains a range of guides, tools and templates to help you understand the Participation Request process, the language and terms that are used, and the process involved.

National Standards for Community Engagement: the 7 principles in graphics

We’ve made these graphics to help show the 7 standards in a simple way and highlight the key elements.

Making your community events greener

Are you planning a community event and want to do your bit to make a climate impact? Even if your event isn’t focused on climate change, there’s still lots you can do. Here are some practical things to make your event greener, and some things to think about too.

National Standards for Community Engagement

The National Standards for Community Engagement are a way to build and sustain the relationships between public services and community groups.

Peer-led Practice Learning report

A report from Barnardo's Scotland & SCDC about peer-led evaluation and the impact that the Barnardo’s Nurture Service has had on the people involved.

Strengthening Community Councils

Exploring how community councils can contribute to democratic renewal in Scotland.

Community Participation Action Learning Report

This report aimed to develop learning, take actions, improve practice and reflect together on opportunities and challenges in the current context.

Communities matter to democracy

Our response to the recent Scottish Government’s Democracy Matters consultation welcomes the idea of people having more control over what happens in their communities.

Knowledge is Power

SCDC and the Poverty Alliance worked with ten community organisations to co-design a resource framework which could be used to support communities across Scotland to conduct their own inquiries into the issues affecting them.

Widening the Welcome

Exploring the local experiences of refugee resettlement and how examines how community development approaches could be used to further refugee integration in Scotland.

Action Research by, in and for Communities (ARC)

ARC is to help community and voluntary groups carry out research in and with their communities.

Community development and co-production

This paper outlines the common approaches that community development and co-production take.

Co-production: Making a difference together resource

Published in 2015, 'Co-production – how we make a difference together' is a suite of resources – videos, case studies and information to help spread understanding of co-production

Building Stronger Communities

Building Stronger Communities is a practical assessment and planning tool for community capacity building in Scotland.

Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act strengthens community voices in decisions about public services and makes it easier for them to own and manage land and buildings.

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May 12, 2026

Supporting Communities

May 12, 2026/ Admin

Supporting Communities is a programme to help build the skills, confidence and knowledge of community organisations across Scotland.

Through Supporting Communities work we’ve partnered up with community organisations from across the country to help build skills, develop ideas and address the issues important to them and their communities.

A key focus of Supporting Communities is disadvantage: how some community organisations face more barriers to achieving their aims than others. These could be groups that are based in areas with higher levels of poverty, or remote rural areas, or groups that represent communities who are more likely to experience discrimination. We work with groups to identify barriers and come up with solutions.

Supporting Communities is funded through as part of the Scottish Government’s Strengthening Communities programme.

Our work

We’re working with a number of groups across the country to explore how placed based approaches work in different settings, and how place links to community involvement in local planning processes, where we’re supporting groups to take forward their plans together with local partners.

A place based approach is about understanding the issues, interconnections and relationships in a place and coordinating action to improve the quality of life for that community.

Community-led action plans are a way for community groups to identify and prioritise the issues and needs in their communities - and set them out for other organisation and bodies to take in account.

Supporting Communities Programme: Review of implementation and influence of locality planning approaches in Moray, May 2025

This report summarises the impact of SCDC’s Supporting Communities Programme in Moray, focusing on strengthening community participation, locality planning and place-based approaches within community planning. The review highlights progress made since 2021 and identifies priorities for continued development and support. Main findings include:

Increased collaboration between Community Planning Partners, locality planning groups and community anchor organisations
Progress in embedding community engagement and community-led planning approaches across Moray
Recognition of the need for stronger communication, ongoing evaluation and sharing of successes
Challenges around limited resources and access to funding for community organisations
Recommendations to strengthen long-term, sustainable community-led regeneration and expand learning beyond the current locality planning areas

Read the full report here.

Supporting Communities Learning Exchange report

In December 2024 we brought together groups and agencies involved in the Supporting Communities Programme together to explore their insights around the development of the local ‘planscape’ including community-led action planning and the development of Local Place Plans (LPPs) in particular. Here's our key takeaways:

We need more straight forward language to support people's understanding
We need to ensure the less-heard voices are included through proper engagement
We need to address power and influence and the scope of any particular plan and what it could achieve
We need ways for communities to manage, access and share useful data
We need to focus on the funding and support required to put plans into action

Read the full report here.

Supporting Communities programme: Progress and Learning, 2023-2024

This report summarises the activity SCDC has undertaken through the Supporting Communities programme this year. The main outputs include:

Supporting the development of 4 new, and 6 existing anchor organisations/networks.
Supporting production of 3 new community-led action plans (CAPs).
Implemented support to 6 existing plans which contribute to local place-based approaches of various kinds.
Supported 4 of our sites to explore or produce Local Place Plans ( LPPs) integrated as spatial and land use development sections of their Community Action Plans.
Produced tools to assist the growing numbers of communities looking to produce LPPs.
We have supported knowledge and skills development with public and third sector partners in six local authority areas through a mixture of training sessions on engagement methods.

Read the full report here.

Who we’re working with

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The Lochalsh Collaboration

In Lochalsh, we are working with the local Community development trusts, Community Councils and other groups to implement the Lochalsh Community Action Plan.

Invergordon, Saltburn and Westwood

SCDC are currently working with a partnership of community organisations in Invergordon, who are keen to develop a community-led action plan for the areas covered by Saltburn and Westwood Community Council and Invergordon Community Council areas.

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Torridon & Kinlochewe Steering Group

The Torridon and Kinlochewe Community Development Plan Steering Group brought together seven community organisations to create a community-led development plan for the area.

The Langholm Alliance

The Langholm Alliance is an umbrella community partnership which came together to oversee the economic and social regeneration of the town.

What are we learning?

A key aim of our programme is to learn about what works and what gets in the way of community-led approaches to regenerating our communities. We’ll be publishing detailed learning as we go, but the emerging themes from the programme include:

Understanding Place – it is important that communities themselves are able to take a lead in defining their ‘place’, and what it is that connects people across communities of geography, identity and interest. The role of community anchor organisations/networks in developing community-led action plans and generating their own evidence and data is a key element of this.
Place and Inequality – our participating organisations all emphasise the importance of good quality community engagement in ensuring that those groups that face additional barriers are supported to participate on an equal basis. There is also a need to recognise the reach and depth of community engagement which is undertaken by local community organisations.
Place-based relationships – strong and positive relationships (within communities, and between communities and public bodies) are key in establishing community priorities and identifying shared goals.
Capacity and infrastructure – there is a clear need to have local capacity and infrastructure to support the development of community-led action planning and place-based approaches. Community anchor organisations, local networks and strong collaboratives are key components of this local infrastructure.
The impact of community-led working – programme participants have emphasised the importance of demonstrating the impact of community-led approaches. There is also a need to develop on-going learning about what works, and what gets in the way of, community-led regeneration.

Recent learning activity

March 2026 Funding Learning Event

On 19 March 2026, we held a workshop for community organisations about strengthening their funding future. We explored:

The current funding landscape (led by SCVO)
Developing a funding plan (using our Building Stronger Community Organisations resource)
The funding challenges and opportunities for community organisations

View the Padlet and presentations here.

December 2025 Community-led Planning Learning Event

On 17 December 2025, we held a workshop for community planners about working with communities to strengthen community-led planning. We explored:

Opportunities and challenges with current work on Community Action Plans and Local Place Plans
Sharing learning on community-led planning
Resourcing action plans
New tools in development

Place-based exchange

We have actively contributed to a collaborative forum on place-based activity, the Place-Based Exchange, which includes partners from Corra, Inspiring Scotland, SURF and the National Lottery Communities Fund. An output from this collaboration is this report on ‘Working Better Together in Place’ which combines the learning from the partners’ place-based programmes over 2-3 years.

You can see information about previous years’ programmes here.