Resilience funding to support community resilience

Seven community-based projects across Scotland will benefit from funding that will empower communities to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and adverse events.

The funding was awarded by the National Centre for Resilience (NCR), a research and knowledge exchange hub hosted by the University of Glasgow’s School of Social and Environmental Sustainability. It will help communities to build flood resilience, bolster community emergency preparedness, and support sustainable local supply chains to improve food security.

Although the NCR has been funding academic work since 2016, this is the first time they have solely funded community-based projects aimed at improving responses to natural hazards, which demonstrates a shift to directly empowering communities.

NCR Manager Ailsa Mackay said: “Supporting communities to build their own resilience is at the heart of what we do at the NCR. Given the changing climate and funding landscape, communities must become more resilient than ever before. We are excited to see the positive impacts that these innovative projects will have, and the potential they will deliver to help similar communities across Scotland develop their own resilience in challenging circumstances.”

The NCR’s yearly grant funding is open to projects from across Scotland and the rest of the UK, for projects that focus on developing Scotland’s resilience to natural hazards. This year’s project call included a ‘Third Sector Community & Practice’ fund with a focus on place-based resilience building, open to applications up to £15,000.

New for this year was the Community Councils Fund, with a focus on supporting communities to develop their own resilience planning with smalls grants of £500.

The Meigle and Ardler Community Development Trust (MACDT) received funding for a
multi-faceted resilience project with a focus on improving flood resilience.

Paul Soppit, MACDT Resilience Lead, commented:

"We are very grateful to receive this funding as it will assist us in helping our community to become sustainable when it comes to flood management, with expert advice to get us on the right track in combating the ever-changing circumstances which we face every year."

The project will support the local community with improved flood resilience measures, training and communications whilst working to develop sustainable, nature-based solutions through the community and local environment.

Propagate Scotland also received funding for the ‘Dumfries and Galloway Sustainable Food Partnership’ project. Their work focuses on shortening food supply chains and enhancing community resilience by fostering stronger connections between producers and consumers.

Project lead Abi Mordin said:

“Propagate is delighted to be part of this year's National Centre for Resilience funded cohort. It'll make a BIG difference to our work around co-creating fairer, more sustainable and healthier food systems in Dumfries and Galloway. We'll be building on our Action Plan and organising more ways for citizen engagement.”

In addition to MACDT Propogate Scotland, the NCR will be funding five Community Councils across Scotland to undertake resilience planning, with the introduction of the Community Council Fund:

• Colvend and Southwick Community Council: Funding will support the production and distribution of tailored community resilience plan leaflets.
• Ashgrove and Stockethill Community Council will be working to collate location-specific resilience resources including maps, contacts and information for their area in Aberdeen which they will host in an accessible, single point resource online.
• Muirhead, Birkhill & Liff Community Council are working to develop a comprehensive resilience plan for the area which will help to ensure adequate resources are available to those in need and volunteers can quickly assist during crisis incidents.
• Tongue Community Council are developing a community resilience plan for the area, including the villages of Melness and Skerray. The plan will address issues such as road closures, power outages, and loss of mobile phone signal, to support continuous operation of essential services.
• Cromar Community Council’s funding will go towards the production of their resilience plan, which has been carefully tailored to the needs of the Howe of Cromar community. The plan, printed on a handy Z-card, will be distributed to every household in the area.

The next call for projects will be released in October 2024. For more information about the National Centre for Resilience and its funding programs, please visit ncr.glasgow.ac.uk or contact the team: nationalcentreforresilience@glasgow.ac.uk.