Community action/Scotland

The Scottish Islands Federation, founded in November 2007, claims that it aims to promote, publicise and advance the interests of Scotland's islands. It grew out of the informal Scottish Islands Network, which had existed since 2001.

The inaugural conference was held at Craignure on the Isle of Mull. A survey of islanders found that nearly 90% believe that all of Scotland's 90 or more inhabited islands should be able to speak with a common voice and that 77% believe that the Scottish Government should include a minister with specific responsibility for the islands. There was also overwhelming support for a forthcoming pilot scheme to introduce road equivalent tariff that could reduce ferry fares. It was also noted that Scotland's islands have a combined population of nearly 100,000 but have no special government provision, whereas the 3,000 Irish islanders do.

Willie Roe, the Chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise speaking at the conference said that here was a new feeling of self-belief among islanders, encouraged by community-based developments on, for example, Gigha, Eigg and Harris and that "our islands are quite exceptional in world terms". Jim Mather, the Scottish Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism stated that "I think it is a self-evident truth that Scotland hasn't properly valued her islands… but we are seeing a quiet revolution".

The Citizens' Assembly of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Seanadh Saoranaich na h-Alba) is a citizens' assembly that was established in 2019 by the Scottish Government to deliberate on three broad issues of Scottish society:

• What kind of country are we seeking to build?
• How can we best overcome the challenges we face, including those arising from Brexit?
• What further work should be carried out to give people the detail they need to make informed choices about the future of the country?

Community Development Alliance Scotland (CDAS) is a network of organisations that are concerned with community development in Scotland. CDAS is a member of the Scottish Government's Better Community Engagement national advisory group and submits formal responses to relevant Scottish Government policy consultations, such as the 2008 Local Healthcare Bill and the 2011 'Building a Sustainable Future' regeneration discussion paper.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national membership body for Scotland’s voluntary organisations. SCVO's mission is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in building a flourishing society and support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO is passionate about what the voluntary sector can achieve. Along with a community of 3,300 (approx.) members and supporters, SCVO believes that a thriving voluntary sector should be at the heart of a successful, fair and inclusive Scotland.

SCVO provides services and support to the third sector in Scotland to advance shared values and interests. The organisation employs approximately 100 staff.

Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoE Scotland) is a Scottish charity and an independent member of the Friends of the Earth International network of 73 environmental organisations. It is one of the 30 national organisations that Friends of the Earth Europe represents and unites at the European level.

FoE Scotland has a membership of around 3,000 people in Scotland.

Scotland's first dedicated programme for sustainable communities was delivered by Forward Scotland between 1997 and 1999 as part of a UK wide initiative led by Encams. Partnerships with a number of local authorities were developed and dedicated officers recruited to work with communities. This programme piloted the Community Eco-cal a forerunner of ecological footprinting. This programme was evaluated by Professor Michael Carley, Heriot-Watt University and the lessons learned informed a successor programme, 2000–2002, where community groups themselves were the focus. This produced the very first handbook for sustainable communities and a series of highly successful community projects. During this time the first community grants programme for sustainable communities was launched funded by the New Opportunities Fund (now the Big Lottery Fund). This programme funded some pioneering projects in areas such as community renewables, local food, community waste management and the first ecological footprinting projects in Scotland.

In April 2007 plans were announced for Biggar to become the first 'carbon-neutral' town in Scotland. In the same month Findhorn Ecovillage confirmed that its ecological footprint is the lowest ever recorded in the industrialised world. In January 2008 HICEC published a report to "review the opportunities and actions needed to support an island community to become carbon-neutral". Following this, in June 2008 it was announced that Stirling was aiming to become Britain's first carbon-neutral city, hosting the Going Carbon Neutral Stirling project.

Community Energy Scotland is a charity that provides free advice, grant funding and finance for renewable energy projects developed by community groups in Scotland. The main aim of the company is to enable all communities to generate and use renewable energy for their long term and collective benefit. In March 2010 the local development trust on the island of Tiree commissioned a 950 kW community-owned wind turbine project, the fourth such large-scale project in Scotland.

Transition Town projects aim to raise awareness of sustainable living and build local ecological resilience. Examples in Scotland include Forres, Portobello, West Kilbride and Hawick.

In August 2010 the historian James Hunter stated that the transfer of ownership into community control had brought about "a spectacular reversal of Gigha's slide towards complete population collapse" and suggested that the UK Government should learn lessons from this and other community buy-outs in places such as Assynt, Eigg, and Knoydart to inform their Big Society plans. These successes notwithstanding, civil servants have been criticised for impeding community buy-outs of land via the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. For example, the proposed community purchase of the former RAF Machrihanish base was thwarted due to technical problems with the application despite 97.4% local support in a referendum.

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. In 2022, the country's population was about 5.4 million. Its capital city is Edinburgh, whilst Glasgow is the largest city and the most populous of the cities of Scotland. Scotland shares a land border with England to the south-east and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The legislature, the Scottish Parliament, elects 129 members to represent 73 constituencies. The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister, who chairs the cabinet and is responsible for government policy and international engagement.