Review of rural communities interventions September 2024.pdf
This report presents the findings of a desk-based review of existing evidence on the success factors and impacts of rural community interventions. The review builds on work already undertaken as part of the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme 2022-27 to analyse the evolution of rural and island policies and interventions in Scotland since 1945.
The review revealed a set of common success factors including: the need for a genuine commitment to empowering communities and hearing all voices; programme flexibility to enable tailoring to local circumstances but also clear, achievable objectives which are developed in partnership; transparency of local governance and decision-making structures; and long-term support (ideally multiannual funding) which reduces uncertainty for staff and volunteers and enables innovation.
In terms of evaluating interventions it is important to recognise that: the impacts of rural community interventions may not be visible immediately or even in the short-term; evaluations should collect both quantitative and qualitative evidence in order to identify and measure both tangible outputs as well as less tangible outcomes; and evaluation should be built into projects from the outset.
A series of recommendations can be made to inform future larger-scale reviews in this area:
· Maximising the use of existing evidence on rural community interventions
· Investigating and evaluating the long-term impacts from interventions
· Evaluating evaluation frameworks and tools for a rural context
· Learning from the delivery of rural community interventions outside Scotland
· Demonstrating that community-led local development delivers to national/regional policy objectives
· Ensuring that all voices across all communities are heard.