As we stated in recent communications through summer 2024, the relationship between our benefit fund and development trust is really important for our ability to deliver projects and activities contributing to sustainable development in the Strath. And experiences to date have shown this is something we need to work on.
SDC reported at the August 2024 Community Council meeting that we were in discussion with the Highland Third Sector Interface (HTSI) to take advantage of their free guidance service for strengthening community governance and collaborations. The SDC Board thought that would be a great option but unfortunately they advised we were better placed to request for an accredited process through the Edinburgh-based national organisation Scottish Mediation. We were surprised but enquired about what this means and sought advice from other regional and national organisations in our development network. In the end, after describing a few facts about the issues with our collaboration with SCBF to date, we have been advised by at least 7 regional and national organisations (including the Development Trusts Association for Scotland, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Scottish Community Development Centre) that this would be a very appropriate first step for us. They emphasized that we should not try to simply sort this out ourselves without the facilitation of external, impartial experts. These organisations also emphasized that far from being something negative and only suited to serious conflicts, mediation is a very constructive, quick (being done over a single day and usually within a week of parties consenting) and free process providing an opportunity for community organisations to improve their working relationships. We have also been encouraged by the responses from several community groups and residents endorsing this approach.
Our Board acknowledge this suggestion has not been popular with SCBF, and some others. We fully understand the sentiment that we may be able to discuss things and make some progress ourselves. But please try to see SDC’s perspective. All of these organisations with all their expertise have advised that before we do anything else in respect of the collaboration between SDC and SCBF, we request a 1 day mediation. As a volunteer board of a charity, we have responsibility to make informed decisions and to ignore this advice would be very questionable. Therefore, we feel it is quite objectively the right thing for us to do and our board unanimously support a mediation in the current circumstances. We are not playing politics here, but acting with integrity, focused on establishing good governance, and with a clear focus on how we can best deliver sustainable development for the residents of Strathnairn. Note that this does not mean SDC are inactive or unwilling to meet with community groups. We will happily meet with any and all community groups about any topic, other than how SDC collaborate with SCBF.
We contacted SCBF about mediation on the 2nd September 2024, and had hoped by now we could report about its completion, but we understand SCBF’s Board have reservations. We suggested at the September Community Council meeting that SCBF communicate with Scottish Mediation to ask any questions about the process.
Some have questioned whether we (SDC and SCBF) are really in a situation requiring mediation. To very briefly recap, SDC’s board feel that we cannot function as a charity, seeking to deliver sustainable development in Strathnairn, with the current issues in our working relationship. To put volunteer time and resources in is futile until we find better ways to work together. We have outlined the specific qualities of governance we feel need to be urgently addressed, being the trust & respect between us, the lack of processes and quality of communications through which we collaborate, and the transparency and accountability in decisions and actions affecting one another. We have made several suggestions for how they could be addressed, including:
a) Establishing regular meetings between board members (ideally between female board members with decision making power) to align our visions and co-produce project ideas and pathways to execute them. Community Council meetings are not the appropriate place for this and we currently have no communication at all beyond them. That is a glaring issue to address.
b) We have suggested skills and training audits of our boards to equip us with the knowledge of community development to cooperate on sizeable projects, and help us create a more caring environment for volunteers. All of us could use training in different aspects of how to manage community organisations and to deliver development.
As yet, we have not received positive reactions from SCBF to these, nor alternative options, nor indications of a desire to reflect and improve. This is why mediation is being overwhelmingly advised as our first step. However, we remain open-minded and will endeavour to find channels to improve our working relationships. We hope we can report on progress soon.
The Board, SDC.