Community safety

A number of organisations that we work with are involved in safeguarding communities, ranging from national and local government programmes, to grassroots projects that aim to improve safety and other key local community outcomes.

We are experienced in providing research, evaluation and developmental support to all types of organisations involved in improving community safety. We are also currently on the research and evaluation frameworks for both the Scottish Government Community Safety Unit and Scottish Prison Service.

Other examples of our work include:

• Scottish Police Authority  – conducting research with police officers, examining their use of stop and search procedures, and follow-up work with the public to explore their views and experiences of stop and search; and

• CashBack for Communities – evaluations of CashBack-funded programmes, a Scottish Government initiative in which the proceeds of crime are used to improve outcomes for young people in Scotland. We are currently undertaking another three CashBack for Communities evaluations – for Basketball Scotland, Scottish Rugby and the Scottish Football Association.

 

Community development

Sometimes communities need support as they look to strengthen their approaches to social, economic or environmental development. We have experience of working alongside communities to help them prioritise work, providing sensitive and impartial facilitation of consultation events or reviewing the impact of initiatives.  

Some of our recent work includes supporting four local authorities and their partners to develop, evaluate and strengthen their LEADER programmes and develop strategies for the new LEADER programme (2014-2020). This has also involved assisting other rural economic development initiatives, including developing a local LEADER development strategy for fisheries through consultation.