What has been the role of the Community Link Lead within the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme? In this Impact Story, we highlight the work undertaken by the Community Link Lead’s and how this work has benefitted the Project Towns they have been working within.
What has been the Community Link Lead’s role within the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme?
The Community Link Leads have been instrumental to the work of the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme, bringing the voice of those experiencing inequality into decision making processes within each Project Town.
The Community Link Leads have facilitated connections between community groups, the third sector and the Programme, acting as a crucial bridge between being informed by data on health and wellbeing for the Project Towns and bringing a citizen focus of understanding the communities needs and aspirations.
One of the powerful things about the role of Community Link Lead, is that it’s a unique role. We were able to gather information from groups and people working with everyone across the whole spectrum of the Alloa communities. So we weren’t working with a specific demographic, and we weren't consulting on a specific project, we were gathering that really broad view from people to understand what people need from the place they live, work and play in.
What work have the Community Link Leads undertaken?
During the Programme, the Community Link Leads were tasked with compiling a:
- Community Link Lead Report for their Project Town
- Community Link Lead Infographic – visual summary of key insights from the Report
The report required Community Link Leads to:
- Connect with community groups and organisations to understand the needs of the demographics most impacted by key inequalities, using an asset-based approach
- Support ongoing data gathering related to key inequalities to identify demographics most impacted and connect with community organisations to sense check this data
- Undertake a review of existing qualitative data/ engagement exercises to identify key priorities around place for people, and particularly those most impacted by inequalities
- Promote understanding of the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes amongst local organisations
The Community Link Lead Infographic brings the comprehensive quantitative data supported by Public Health Scotland’s Local Intelligence System Team (LIST) to life, to understand residents' experiences within our Project Towns, of the places they live, work and relax.
What have the Community Link Leads brought to the Programme?
- Sense checked quantitative data
- Helped to understand the assets, capacities and capabilities that communities already have
- Built an understanding of the needs of those impacted by the identified inequalities in the Project Towns
- Contributed insights of lived reality of the people who live, work and play in the Project Towns to Place and Wellbeing Assessments
- Produced reports and visual summaries to share learning with others
What has been the impact of this work on the Programme and those living within the Project Towns?
Strengthening community voices to improve place-based decision making
The work of the Community Link Leads has involved shining a light on communities who often feel their voice is not heard. The quantitative data the Programme has collected from Public Health Scotland’s Local Information Support Team has been essential in creating a picture of each Project Town, but it has not given us the whole story or the finer detail from those facing inequalities. The Community Link Lead work has therefore been valuable in bringing this quantitative data to life, to give it more depth than the data alone could, using the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes as a foundation to frame conversations. This has been undertaken through conversations with local groups, third sector organisations and practitioners who have generously shared their knowledge, experience and insight, to embed their voices into the work of the Programme and shape place-based decision making.
The biggest impact I’ve had so far has been to be able to engage with those parts of the community who are often the hardest to reach, who are those suffering the most from inequality relating to poverty, mental health and other issues we’ve identified in Fraserburgh. I try to bring those voices into conversations, such as at the Place and Wellbeing Assessments, about what’s happening in the town and embed them in the decision-making process.
The Reports and Visual Summary Infographics that emerged from these conversations have been fundamental for place-based decision making and to share learning. It has allowed for the quantitative data to be sense checked and has given the Community Link Leads a better understanding of what is important to people and communities, as well as what assets, capacities and capabilities communities already have. This lived reality has been fed into Steering Group meetings and Place and Wellbeing Assessments and has furthered the embedment of recommendations from these Assessments into the Project Towns.
In the Project Town of Rutherglen, the proximity to vacant or derelict land emerged as a key inequality which only emerged due to conversations with community members and organisations.
By having the Community Link Lead in Rutherglen, we’ve also been able to sense check the data profile that’s been developed and have a look at what’s important to people. Does the data accurately reflect what people feel within Rutherglen? The proximity to vacant and derelict land, and the impact this has on people would have possibly been missed relying on just the data, whereas this is something that comes up regularly in conversations and what impact that’s having on people locally.
In Dunoon, employment and income inequalities emerged from the data as something that needed to be explored further. However there was limited data at the population scale, so it was hard to understand the complexities of the challenges and ambitions for people to have secure employment. This was therefore better pulled out by the Dunoon Community Link Lead through information from local surveys and from stakeholder conversations.
We heard about how the types of employment or the contracts that are available locally mean that people often have seasonal work or they’re holding down multiple jobs, and how hard that is to balance, when childcare provision is really limited, or it can't be flexible. Transport links can also make it really challenging to work outside of the area. Bus routes and timetables are also limited compared with urban areas, so trying to get to a job that finishes late or starts early can be hard. As a result, people need to run a car, even if they can't afford to.
Supporting the development of work within communities
As well as embedding community voices into place-based decision-making, the findings within the Community Link Lead Reports and Community Link Lead Infographics have aided decision-making and been used to support work within communities and share learning.
The conversations that we’ve had have supported the community and local organisations, and have been used to support funding applications around vacant and derelict land. There's been an application that’s been submitted into the Regeneration Capital Grants Fund and the support provided for them has been very much down to the information that we received, in relation to local people and what people are saying and their thoughts and concerns for local communities.
Improved understanding and consideration of Place and Wellbeing Outcomes
Improved consideration of place in plans and strategies has also filtered down to support provision and delivery in communities, strengthening collaboration. The work of the Community Link Leads has promoted the understanding of the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes amongst local organisations. These organisations have not only increased their understanding of the Outcomes, but they have also then used this new awareness to address inequalities in their areas to ensure services are being designed accordingly. This has also allowed for stronger working relationships through undertaking Place and Wellbeing Assessments. The Community Link Lead work has highlighted the importance of the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes in a tangible way and what it means to get an Outcome right for a community, from accessing health appointments, to securing employment or doing the weekly food shop.
Highlighting the issues that people are experiencing in Ayr, those most impacted by the inequalities, in the Report and Infographic Visual Summary has had a big impact... as we have mapped them against the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes, so it brings the Outcomes to life and is really meaningful to the stakeholders and formal statutory services who are looking to address the inequality areas through the work they’re designing. That’s been beneficial – they can use that within their work to make sure that the lived experience voice is being heard and services are being designed accordingly.
It is clear the Community Link Leads have played a fundamental role in supporting the work which has taken place within the Project Towns. Through conversations with community groups and organisations, the Community Link Leads have been able to give valuable depth to the quantitative Public Health Scotland Local Information Support Team data, by bringing the lived reality and voices of those experiencing the most inequalities in the Project Towns into Place and Wellbeing Assessments and place-based decision-making processes. In Fraserburgh, the Community Link Lead has set up a Community Champions Group, which aims to foster collaboration and networking between community groups who traditionally work siloed and separately. The positive results of this are already beginning to be seen, with representatives from the group making connections as they see areas of common interest and opportunities for multi-agency community working and shared learning.
Within Rutherglen,it’s about trying to recognise how we actually make a difference and how we shape some of the decision making, not by ourselves but in partnership with local people and local organisations. The conversations that we’ve been having have been used to inform decisions in relation to things like the Rutherglen Town Centre Action Plan and BurnhillNeighbourhood Plan, so the information we’re gathering is not just sitting on a shelf, it’s being used to inform decisions, and to start conversations about how we tackle some of the issues that are being raised.
For more information on the work that we’ve undertaken within the Project Towns, head over to our Local Project Action page.
For more information on the work of the Community Link Leads please see the blog ‘Embedding the views of those experiencing inequality into decision-making processes’ in full. Written by Project Lead for Alloa, Sarah Rodway Swanson, she explains in more detail how the Community Link Leads have brought the qualitative data on Project Towns to life, to help us understand what it means for people who live in these communities.
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