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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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.

Supporting Communities

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

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

Featured

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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July 09, 2025

SCDC’s policy advocacy work - 2024/25

July 09, 2025/ Admin

The main policy work we have been involved in during 24/25 is highlighted below:

Democracy Matters 2: Following completion of the joint delivery contract with DTAS to engage local communities in detailed conversations, SCDC submitted a bespoke report as a formal response to the consultation which outlines our aspirations for a future Local Democracy Bill. We remain in contact with the SG team leading DM2 and are involved in discussions about the next stage of the DM2 process. Scottish Government (SG) have established a Steering Group to carry forward the next phase of the process which will focus on developing a framework of ambition, including the development of models to transfer more powers and control to communities and community bodies in Scotland. SCDC regularly meets with SG leads and key partners which will continue in-between the meetings schedule of the Steering Group to conduct some of the more detailed work. We are also providing some facilitation support to the steering group to assist with its work.

National Outcomes Review 2023 (NPF4) Expert Advisory Group: We have continued to attend this group which has an ongoing role to support SG in producing a revised National Performance Framework (NPF4). Publication of the new framework was expected at the end of the 2024 but this has been put on hold, and we are awaiting information on next steps with the process.

Place and Wellbeing Programme Board (PAW): SCDC continues to chair the core group for the community workstream of this programme and is a member of the Programme Board which sits under the wider Care and Wellbeing Portfolio of Scottish Government. We have continued to make an active input to communities core group meetings, workshops and the programme board over the course of the year. This includes: hosting a core group meeting in April to hear about the Common Health Assets research being led by Caledonian University and SG’s planned Population Health Framework (PHF) over the next 10 years; involvement in a workshop on the PHF held in June and a discussion on current challenges in local funding and how community-led health projects are able to influence local health decision making structures and processes. These topics relate directly to the objectives of the workstream.

Place-Based Exchange: SCDC feeds into this group which meets regularly to discuss issues and opportunities around place-based working.

Climate Policy Engagement Network: We have continued involvement in this network which is facilitated by Scottish Government.

Voluntary and Community Sector Resilience Advisory Group: Since May 2020, SCDC has been part of this advisory group which supports British Red Cross to input to the Scottish Resilience Partnership. Work was initially COVID-focused but has now broadened to include responses on other issues, e.g., winter storms, flooding and other emergency events. Our representation has changed to reflect a better connection with our other work on supporting community-led resilience. This has included a significant input to the SG Community Resilience Conference held in November 2024.

Rural Policy: We continue to be involved in the Rural Economy and Community Stakeholder Group (RSG) which meets quarterly. The main work of the RSG is taking a slight change of focus to: input into the development and implementation of the Rural Delivery Plan (RDP); ensure a wide range of views and voices are included around policy development, including specific delivery issues so that the SG can monitor and continuously improve the policies they have created; increase awareness and build understanding about work being conducted by member organisations (of the RSG); and understand and hear first-hand issues that are being raised that affect the rural economy and communities. There are significant ties for us in terms of the role for locality, place and community led plans within the RDP, and how that maintains the lens of community development approaches within the overall plan with a focus on equity and inclusion. We have also been asked to join the research advisory group for the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review following on from the passing of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill 2024. Its purpose is to inform rural Scotland policy delivery, in Scotland: Community Led Local Development, Scottish Rural Action and the Scottish Rural Network.

The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: We are members of the Community and Social connections thematic group and have supported refugee and asylum seeker involvement on the Development of the New Scots Three Strategy. This has involved helping the Scottish Refugee Council involve approximately 2000 refugees and asylum seekers in commenting on the content of the strategy. We are presently seeking clarification on plans for ongoing governance for New Scots which has been very limited since the pandemic, and we expect to play a fuller role in the Community and Social Connections themed working group once the revised governance process has been agreed.

Policy consultation responses:

During 2024/25 we have submitted responses to the following policy consultations:

Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Consultation
Democracy Matters 2 – a submission on a series of interlocking proposals on new powers for communities, building anchor organisations, strengthening community action planning and providing community development support. These will hopefully be considered for inclusion in the forthcoming Local Democracy Bill.
Pre-Budget 2025/26 Scrutiny – Third Sector Funding Principles. Following on from a dedicated engagement exercise which identified key issues in relation to funding for the community sector, SCDC (through our CHEX project) led a submission to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee of the Scottish Parliament. This was informed by a bespoke survey completed by 35 respondents from our networks and ongoing policy work.
We produced a response to the Scottish Government Local Government and Housing Committee for their tracking report on progress of improvements in Community Planning under Part Two of the Community Empowerment Act
We also met with key civil servants and submitted a major consultation report to the Government Review of the Part Two of the Community Empowerment Act on Community Planning.

Our work

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

The main policy work we have been involved in during 24/25 is highlighted below: