SDC is looking to appoint a short-term Consultant Funding Officer to seek funding opportunities for resources including a Community Development Officer, Local Place Plan and community housing. This will be a temporary role, reporting by the end of March 2025, with the length of the contract dictated by the funds we have available and what can be achieved within that scope. At present we have up to £3,000 available for this contract. Further details available from contact@strathnairndevelopment.scot or directly from our website.

Deadline for quotation: 31st January 2025.

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.

What is a development trust? A development trust is an independent, community led, local organisation. Development trusts recognise the importance of local people establishing and prioritising their own objectives from the outset, and aim to tackle a wide range of social, economic, environmental and cultural issues. 

Strathnairn’s development trust, the Strathnairn Development Company (SDC) was set up as an independent Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) in late 2019. There are many excellent community groups in Strathnairn providing specific services that contribute to community development, such as SCATA, Farr Hall Committee, SMI and the Woodlands Group. SDC differs somewhat in that we are set up to respond to and deliver on a range of community aspirations, including larger projects involving developing funding proposals, recruiting and managing community employees, acquiring land and assets when appropriate, and supporting and working with other community groups and a range of partners to do so. 

There are over 350 development trusts registered as members of the Development Trusts Associated of Scotland (DTAS), and as such we are part of a national social movement, whom we share with and learn from. We are also members of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Social Enterprise Scotland and the Highland Third Sector Interface (HTSI).

Throughout Scotland, development trusts are enabling communities to make their own plans and aspirations a reality and building vibrant, sustainable communities – from developing renewable energy projects to creating community hubs/centres, and from running employment initiatives to managing environmental projects and recreation facilities, communities are finding that a development trust is an important vehicle to meet the community’s needs and aspirations.

Development is not about simply about providing economic benefits to residents, but about empowering and enhancing the wellbeing and resilience of community members through social, cultural, environmental and economic connections and collective actions. Development is as much about the process of getting people and organisations together – to share ideas, interact, act, learn and grow – as it is the material outcomes generated.

What has SDC been doing in the 5 years it has existed? Through funding, primarily from the SCBF, we led Strathnairn’s first Community Action Plan (CAP) in 2021, employed our first Community Development Officer in 2023/24 and have run and managed budgets for numerous events including the last two Farr Galas, ceilidhs, digital training, Gaelic classes and community consultation events (see https://www.strathnairndevelopment.scot/documents/ for links to summaries of recent activities). We are currently run by a volunteer board elected by members of eight local trustees with a range of skills and interests, ably led by our Chair, Prof Mike Danson who brings a wealth of relevant experience. 

What is SDC currently doing and planning? SDC’s main goal is to deliver on the priorities Strathnairn residents voiced in the CAP (although this is dynamic and will be regularly revisited) – including provision of a community hub offering social opportunities to all, including our youth, affordable housing, regular social events, improved public transport and safe, active travel infrastructure. You may not have heard of us, particularly in the absence of a newsletter over the last few years, but we are actively working on various priorities. We aim to employ community development officers and project staff to realise this potential. We are also continually discussing how we can ensure the future resilience of our community and enhance local facilities and opportunities we may otherwise only find in Inverness. And hope to initiate a process to produce a Local Place Plan in the near future. Through Community Development Officers we also hope to continue to support other community groups and ensure we create an environment in which volunteers find support, respect and fulfilment.

So please do take the simple step of completing this form to become a member of SDC. We encourage everyone to join, to ensure you can have a voice in this key community group, receive updates about what we are planning and doing, have options to get involved in or voice your perspective on the projects and activities that you care about the most and contribute alongside many others to sustainable community development in Strathnairn.

We wish to follow up on our recent statement about issues affecting the realization of development in Strathnairn, to ensure we can reconcile these and move forward constructively together.

Of course many community groups are doing amazing work with great results for the community, and there is much to celebrate. However, the relationship between SCBF, SDC and SNCC is pivotal to deliver larger projects residents have voiced as priorities such as affordable housing, a social hub, paths for active travel, improved public transport and outdoor spaces. As our statement highlighted, it is these types of projects which are not being delivered. This is due to our collective weaknesses in governance – the structures and processes through which decisions are made, objectives defined and the ways we interact to do so (governance is different to management, which comprises the day to day activities through which decisions are implemented).

Our benefit fund and development trust are separate charitable organisations with SCBF acting as authority over funds which SDC applies for, with limited additional interaction. In most other communities across Scotland (including Strathdearn, Stratherrick, Garve and many more), the model is for these organisations to sit side by side, sometimes under the same umbrella organization, and to work closely, continuously, to formulate shared strategies, ideas, proposals, projects and events in the community. In Strathanairn, the SDC and SCBF boards have somewhat divergent understandings of what development means and pathways to deliver it. The main way we interact is only at community council meetings, which have become slightly undignified recurring events of throwing blame at one another and moving further apart. Past experiences and individual relationships add to the dysfunctional mix. Taking sides, playing politics to undermine the other, and arguing will not help improve the situation. We all need instead to acknowledge there is a problem, come together with humility, maturity and the community’s interests at heart to let the past go, co-design improved governance processes based on mutual respect and trust and forge a better more collaborative path forward.

We understand why our public expression of our Board’s perspective may induce negative reactions among SCBF directors, as we have at times felt from your own public expressions about our ‘failures’. Yet, we hope we can all reflect, now put aside past experiences and personal grievances and collectively look to reset, think innovatively and put our heads together in an improved effort to deliver sustainable development in the strath.

We do not make these suggestions reactively or speculatively but through experience and expertise. SDC is a registered SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) and constituted to run its own affairs. SDC’s Chair is a respected professor of economics who advises the Scottish government on poverty and social policy and has played a role in numerous large social development projects from Glasgow to the Highlands. SDC’s secretary teaches courses and works with communities across Scotland to further cultural connection and empowerment. Our vice chair is an applied social scientist specializing in the governance of community institutions and his publications are widely utilized by development practitioners around the world. We could go on. So we understand the many different qualities of governance, relationships and leadership that are necessary for successful development projects, and where improvements could be made in our organisations.

As a community we are in such an advantageous position in Strathnairn with our own funds available, good community assets and many community groups. But we do lack some resources and opportunities, and are over reliant on Inverness to provide them. We are far behind other rural communities in some respects, suggesting we could rethink our approach and learn from others. Imagine if we were at the beginning again, with the first funds from wind farms becoming available. How would we set up our benefit fund and development trust and establish their boards and the platforms they work through to ensure they deliver for the community? What differences might there be to the current situation, and how have other communities done it to good effect?

Why should we make changes in how our benefit fund and development trust work together? The SDC board believe this reflection and change is essential for the following reasons:

1. To build the cooperation required to co-create and achieve larger projects. Development is challenging! Other communities’ benefit funds and development trusts sit side by side, planning, conducting and assessing most activities collaboratively. Ours are clearly far too detached, structurally and in thinking. This means we lack the mutual understanding and trust required to properly support community employees or to initiate and deliver large, long term projects.
2. To make the lives of volunteers easier and more fulfilling. This not unique to SDC, but we hear of numerous instances where volunteering has become hard, such as funding renewal being an arduous process. Criticism and uncertainty can bring stress and fatigue. At SDC, the recruitment of CDOs has been difficult and time consuming. But people do change jobs for all kinds of reasons. To be labelled as failures without even being consulted and have funding frozen, and decisions taken away from us is deflating. It dampens enthusiasm at times when support is required. All community volunteers are stretched already. With support, praise and encouragement for creativity it can be more fun. Such positive atmospheres attract more people, make people more likely to lead events or projects and share their ideas rather than suppressing them.
3. Creating the space for ideas to flourish. Better collaboration and more informal spaces for sharing and developing ideas can lead to innovation, such as finding staffing solutions that can unlock potential to achieve positive things for the community.
4. The alternative is dire. Conflict, blame, political manoeuvring and burning of bridges will not bring these things for the community. Arguments and aggression at public meetings are undignified and unhelpful and have become too common here. When we talk of needed improvements in governance of our local organisations and their interactions these are the changes and the likely benefits we envisage. It is time to step up and show leadership qualities with the bigger picture of a better future in mind.

The option we favour to inspire improvements in Strathnairn is to come together in a set of facilitated meetings to both equip our community group boards and volunteers with the skills they need, and to help them build shared visions about how our community groups fit together, for how volunteering could best be supported through staff, resources and funds, for the types of projects to run and how best to deliver them.  

This could be an inspiring event, a means to forge better understanding and relationships between community groups and a way to bring in new volunteers, community group leaders and project managers. 

We intend to write a proposal to SCBF for such an event as a progressive way forward for our groups. We all wish to produce social benefit for the community, and to do so we must avoid bickering and revisiting past grievances and instead move forward in a spirit of cooperation. We look forward to constructive discussions soon. If you support such an event or approach, we would love to hear from you. Also if you have alternative ideas or if you disagree, we always welcome your feedback at michael@strathnairndevelopment.scot .