A
Anchor organisations
Area Partnerships
Established in 2017 in response to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 Area Partnerships develop and review priorities for their area.
There are five Area Partnerships, one for each of the localities, which are chaired by an Elected Member for that area. They are a way in which ourselves and other partner organisations, such as NHS Borders and Police Scotland, to engage with communities at a local level and for members of the community to make representation about issues, present plans or seek funding.
B
Borders Community Action (formelly Borders TSI)
The new name of the voluntary sector in Scottish Borders, they are the organisations which provide support and representation for voluntary work within communities, for organisations, community groups, social enterprises and individual volunteers.They facilitate support through dedicated officers, workshops and training initiatives and by making representation of community needs and aspirations to statutory services.
C
Children and Young Peoples Planning Partnership (CYPPP)
The purpose of the CYPPP is to provide a multi-agency strategic forum for the development of all services to children, young people and families in Scottish Borders.
There are three key policy drivers that underpin the development of the new CYPPP: The Promise and The Plan 21-24, The Integrated Children and Young People’s Plan 2023 – 2026, The Scottish Borders Community Plan .The group are also supporting the implementing of the the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child across agencies in the Scottish Borders.
The CYPPP are responsible for progressing inclusive engagement with young people and their work informs the over arching Community Engagement Strategy.
Climate Change Route Map
The Climate Change Route Map aims to set the Scottish Borders on a path to Net Zero by 2045, in which the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced do not exceed what is absorbed naturally or through technology. It is a commitment to tackle the climate emergency for the region, that we declared in September 2020 with priority action.
"Our world is heating up, ice is melting, seas are warming, and our climate is becoming less stable with disastrous consequences…collectively, it is a story that we have authored and, looking forward, together we need to write a better future, one which is fair to future generations and to the planet they inhabit."
Our Climate Change Route Map for the Scottish Borders June 2021.
Community Benefits
Community Benefits are clauses within public sector contracts which require contractors and suppliers to provide a range of benefits in addition to the principal purpose of the contract.
These can include commitments to training apprentices, local buying, supporting educational opportunities, using supported businesses within their supply chain, creating employment opportunities, providing services to the community.
The idea is to implement social inclusion and economic factors within the public purchasing agenda.
This has been part of procurement policy and practice in Scotland since 2008.
Requests for community benefits to support community groups can be made via the Edinburgh South East City Region Deal portal.
Community Conversations
Tag lined with the statement "What matters to you, matters to us – we’re here to listen" these are drop in sessions where members of the public are invited to meet with Elected Members to raise concerns and discuss issues that are important to them and their communities. These differ from other forums as the focus on individuals and are open to discuss any and all issues from operational service delivery through to strategic goals and budgeting.
Community Council
Community councils are the most local level of democracy and are made up of individuals within a community that have stood to be elected by their peers into an official position within the Community Council.
The role of the group is to bridge the gap between local authorities and communities. They are run by volunteers and have a budget to provide funding for their area.
There are 69 Community Council areas in the Scottish Borders.
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
This Act focuses on promoting positive engagement and participation between public bodies and communities, to help residents to have input into decisions that affect their neighbourhoods and their lives.
The National Standards for Community Engagement are one of the tools that are in place to help to action the principles of the Act.
Community Led Planning
Community led planning is exactly as it sounds - plans that are led by the community for their community.
The idea of community led planning is the foundation of Place Making where those that know their place best are the ones making plans for the initiatives and ideas for the development and investment in that area.
It is sometimes referred to as"bottom up", which is in reference to it being a grass roots type of approach which draws on the lived experience of communities as an antidote to the traditional "top down" thinking.
Community Planning Partnership
The Community Planning Partnership includes statutory and non-statutory participants who are stakeholders in the place in which they operate, and provide services. They are influential, and responsible for working with and supporting communities.
In the Scottish Borders the statuary partners are:
- Ourselves
- NHS Borders
- Police Scotland
- Scottish Fire and Rescue
Full details of the structure can be found online.
All of these services are required to work with the community under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to deliver improvements to services.
Community Wealth Building (CWB)
A people centred approach to local economic development which redirects wealth back in to the local economy. This encourages wealth to be held locally, and recirculated through communities.
Fundamental to the approach are “anchor institutions” which are commercial, public or third sector organisations which have a significant stake in the place, and can exert influence on adopting CWB strategies. This method is intended to improve economic, social and environmental priorities for collective Social Value and creating a Wellbeing Economy.
Placeholder
- progressive procurement - developing local supply chains of businesses likely to support local employment and keep wealth within communities.
- fair employment and just labour markets - using anchor institutions to improve prospects of local people.
- shared ownership of the local economy - supporting and growing business models that are more financially generative for the local economy.
- socially just use of land and property - developing the function and ownership of local assets held by anchor organisations, so local communities benefit from social and financial gain.
- making financial power work for local places - increase flows of investment within local economies by harnessing and recirculating the wealth that exists.
Corporate Social Responsibility
The councils commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is based on the organisations intent to be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. Engaging in responsible way as an organisation means that, in the ordinary course of business, we are operating in ways that enhance society and the environment instead of contributing negatively to them. We are demonstrating this through our Council Plan , our Climate Change Route Map and commitment to the pillars of Community Wealth Building.
Council Plan
We have a Council Plan which lays out the local authority's approach for the financial year ahead, and the ambitions for how services will be developed and improved.
It focuses on six themes:
- Clean, green future.
- Fulfilling our potential.
- Strong inclusive economy, transport and infrastructure.
- Empowered, vibrant communities.
- Good health and wellbeing.
- Working together improving lives.
D
Data Based Decision Making
Sometimes called Data Driven Decision Making, this is when decisions and strategies are based on statistical and other factual information to come to conclusions.
Large amounts of data already exist about Scottish Borders communities and this can be used to identify gaps in knowledge and empower communities to make informed decisions.
E
Elected Members
Elected Members are local Councillors who have been elected by the public to stand as a representative for their community. They are politically affiliated, and receive a salary for their role.
Engagement Checklist
Our Engagement Checklist is designed to guide our staff and partners through an approach which ensures inclusive engagement with our communities. It is a 10 stage approach based on:
- Preparatory research
- Stakeholder indentification and mapping
- Develop and engagement plan
- Communication and information sharing
- Public meetings and workshops
- Surveys and feedback collection
- Targeted engagement
- Collaborative decision-making
- Transparent reporting and feedback loop
- Evaluation and lessons learnt
F
Funding
Funding refers to the ways in which projects and initiatives can be paid for. This can take a number of different forms and come from different sources in different ways.
Funding streams can come from national government initiatives, local allocations, other agencies and philanthropic organisations as well as fundraised sources and other mechanisms such as participatory budgeting and community benefits . Access to funds and eligibility vary from fund to fund.
H
Household Survey
The Scottish Household Survey is an annual Scottish Government survey which asks a sample of people questions about their lifestyle and behaviour. Results for the Scottish Borders help us to understand how we are doing in service delivery and how residents feel about the councils performance.
I
Integrated Impact Assessment (IIAs)
Integrated Impact Assessments are a tool for removing barriers and discrimination and ensuring equal access and outcomes for all our residents and communities. This includes those with protected characteristics but also those that experience disadvantage due to socio economic factors.
Any time we plan a new service, review an existing one, or develop a policy we think about the range of people who might use that service, or be affected by that policy and what barriers to access we might be creating unintentionally. The IIA process ensures that these factors are considered throughout the process so we are being as inclusive as possible.
N
National Standards for Community Engagement
Placeholder
These standards are designed to help organisations to implement the requirements of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, and can be used to help shape the engagement process of public bodies, and inform how they interact with residents to capture and understand community concerns and interests.
The guidance focuses on seven titled standards to outline the best practice for community engagement:
- Impact - we will assess the impact of the engagement and use what has been learned to improve our future community engagement.
- Communication - we will communicate clearly and regularly with the people, organisations and communities affected by the engagement.
- Methods - we will use methods of engagement that are fit for purpose.
- Working together - we will work effectively together to achieve the aims of the engagement.
- Planning, Support - there is a clear purpose for the engagement, which is based on a shared understanding of community needs and ambitions.
- Inclusion - We will identify and innvolve the people and organisations that are affected by the focus of the engagement.
P
Participatory Budgeting (community choices)
A means for citizens to identify, discuss and prioritise public spending projects and input in to the decisions around how money is spent in their community.
It is a democratic process which originated in Brazil as an anti-poverty measure, and is now used internationally as a means to empower neighbourhoods to create a fairer distribution of public resources.
Participatory Budgeting is also known as Community Choices.
Place Making
Place making is a process designed to collectively inspire communities to rethink and reinvent public spaces to enhance the public realm in their area.
This can be buildings or open space and infrastructure, but the main goal is to improve the connections between people and the places they share.
Place making facilitates urban design, but also contributes to capturing the social and cultural identities of community – informing creative thinking about the changing needs for all stakeholder.
Protected Characteristics
Protected characteristics is the term given to a personal trait that cannot be used as a reason to discriminate against someone. The nine protected characteristics in the UK are:
- Age - older or younger people or a specific age grouping.
- Disability - e.g. effects on people with mental, physical, sensory impairment, learning disability, visible/invisible, progressive or recurring.
- Gender reassignment/gender identity - anybody whos gender indentity or gender expression is different to the sex assigned to them at birth.
- Marriage or Civil Partnership - people who are married or in a civil partnership.
- Pregnancy and Maternity - refers to the period after the birth, and is linked to maternity leave in the employment context. In the non-work context, protection against maternity discrimination is for 26 weeks after giving birth.
- Race Groups - including colour, nationality, ethnic origins, including minorities (e.g. gypsy travellers, refugees, migrant anf asylum seekers)
- Religion or Belief - different beliefs, customs (including athiests and thos with no aligned belief).
- Sex - woman and men (girls and boys).
- Sexual Orientation - e.g. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Heterosexual.
Protected characteristics are defined under the Equality Act 2010.
S
South of Scotland Enterprise (SoSE)
SoSE is the economic agency for the South of Scotland, inclusive of Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.
They were established by Scottish Government in 2020 to recognise the unique challenges and opportunities for economic growth in the region. They are tasked with driving inclusive growth, increasing competitiveness, attracting business, and tackling inequality in the region's communities, and work with statutory partners, third sector and directly with communities to support the development of the area.
T
Top Down
This term refers to a traditional approach to service delivery whereby the decisions are made at the "top" and filter down to those on the ground that are affected by those decisions.
This approach is at risk of being disconnected from the actual issues that effect people because it does not engage and relies on assumptions about need, not actual evidence or opinion gathered through engagement.
U
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
The UNCRC is a framework set out by the United Nations on the fundamental rights children should expect to be given in society.
Placeholder
Legislation to oversee the implementation of the UNCRC within public bodies in Scotland comes into effect in Summer 2024 under the UNCRC Incorporation Act.
UNCRC Incorporation Act
The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was unanimously passed in Scottish Parliament on the 7 December 2023. On the 16 January 2024, Royal assent was granted for the UNCRC Bill meaning it is now officially an Act. Most of its provisions will come into force by 16 July 2024.
V
VOiCE
A community engagement tool developed by Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to help community facilitators to have meaningful conversation.
Based on the principle of three sections - Plan, Do, Review - it guides users through logical steps to improve the quality of engagement sessions.,
VOiCE accounts are available free of charge to Scottish community groups (and for a small charge for others.
W
Wellbeing Economy
Wellbeing economy is the term given to the recognition that money is not the defining measure of an economy. It represents this shift in thinking, and looks at quality of life and collective wellbeing as measure of success.
The movement goes beyond redistributing value, and looks to active participation of communities to create places which ensure dignity and fairness to all of its residents.