National Standards for Community Engagement

The revised National Standards for Community Engagement. These were developed by What Works Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre with a focus on strengthening participation and community engagement, particularly in the context of the Community Empowerment Act.

The seven standards with additional details about how they look in practice. Click on the image to see a larger version.

What Works Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) worked together to undertake a full review and refresh of the original National Standards for Community Engagement, published in 2005.

The purpose of the review was to ensure that the Standards were ‘fit for purpose’ with a focus on strengthening participation and community engagement, particularly in the light of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

There are seven Standards:

Inclusion
Support
Planning
Working Together
Methods
Communication
Impact

The review process drew on contributions from a wide range of community organisations, third sector (voluntary) organisations and public sector bodies.

As part of the process, What Works Scotland and the SCDC organised a Policy Reunion, bringing together people who were involved in creating the original standards more than 10 years ago.

The Reunion was attended by a broad range of participants, including Marco Biagi MSP, the former Scottish Government Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, and key people from the early development of the Standards including Alan Barr, Alasdair McKinlay and Tressa Burke who contributed their views and opinions about the process of developing and implementing the Standards over the past 10 years.