Scotland end of programme celebration
Posted on Wed 15 December 2010
Despite extreme weather conditions at the beginning of December, Scottish Community Foundation held an end of programme celebration event hosted at Big Scotland's Glasgow offices. About 30 people braved the weather including representatives from the Scottish Government and other funders.
The event was introduced by Jackie Killeen, Scotland Director of BIG, and included presentations from Nick Addington (SCF's Grants Director) and Jan Beattie, the consultant they had commissioned to write a report highlighting why the experience and learning from the FST is so relevant to the current policy context in Scotland. You can download a copy of Jan's report below.
Crucially, though, they had invited people from two different FST neighbourhoods to talk about their experience and the impact of the programme on them and their communities. These presentations were very effective and gave a really powerful impression of the difference that can be made when local people are invited to participate in decisions about how resources are applied for the benefit of their communities. It highlighted how the process – and how those involved learn from it – is as important as what the money is used for.
Although they didn’t shy away from talking about the challenges, the impression created was that FST was a very successful approach to engaging communities and distributing funding effectively to address local needs. It was gratifying that a few different stakeholders in the room offered very positive endorsements of the Foundation’s – and the team – role in making it work.
At the event, they also handed out copies of their recent booklet celebrating the success of FST in Scotland. Click to download the booklet below.