Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland brings people together to do more for children and young people.

What Works Scotland is working in partnership with other organisations to develop the Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland project, including the Robert Owen Centre at the University of Glasgow, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and Education Services at Glasgow City Council.

Within any area there is a huge amount of knowledge and resource – in the people who live in the community, the local third sector, public sector organisations and businesses. In a children’s neighbourhood, the idea is for those people and groups to agree a way of working that will help tackle the big issues that are making it difficult for children and young people to live happily and healthily, do well in school and achieve what they want in life.

A children’s neighbourhood aims to make sense of the range of different services, projects and interventions in an area, including how these do and don’t work together. Then it aims to go beyond existing partnership between organisations to make sure all of these things are working together towards what local people want.

The first children’s neighbourhood in Scotland is in Bridgeton and Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, chosen because of the existing work of Thriving Places in the area to build community capacity and recognise the people power and assets in the neighbourhood.

Historically the Bridgeton and Dalmarnock area has one of the highest levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in Glasgow and in Scotland, and there is an opportunity to improve a wide range of outcomes for children and young people living in the neighbourhood. Local schools and services are grouping together to become the start of the new children’s neighbourhood.

The Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland project provides the opportunity to develop and pilot a practical example of the What Works Scotland approach to place-based change. The learning that emerges will help develop and establish a way of working that will be transferable  across a range of settings and issues.

It will build on our collaborative action research experience, particularly from our four case sites, which has involved multi-agency and collaborative working in complex settings.

Find out more on the Children’s Neighbourhood Scotland website.