Page 5 – Shining a lens to redefine islands and rural communities in Scotland and beyond. Enabling younger voices and action.

December 21, 2021December 23, 2021

As 2021 comes to a close …

Welcome to CoDeL. We wish all the many individuals and communities, partners and funders who have engaged with our work, especially over the last two years, a peaceful Christmas and a successful New Year, regardless of the challenges it may bring.

After working so intensely with communities, organisations and individuals, in Uist, Scotland, Ireland, across the Nordic region and internationally, since the onset of the pandemic, we have now refreshed and significantly updated our website.

You can find out more about CoDeL here and about some of our projects, activities and reports down the right hand margin (all the images have links). You can browse CoDeL’s blog with posts over the last three years, and of course click on the menu tabs along the top to explore the main areas of CoDeL’s diverse work … enabling community development, younger voices and action; coaching for enterprise and facilitating visioning, learning and organisational development; conducting and communicating innovative research; influencing local, national and international policy.

We would like to thank especially all the young people and community organisations in Uist who have contributed so much to our activities. Our joint work brings insight and relevance as we face society’s challenges only because it is deeply rooted in the life and meaning of islanders here in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. We would also like to thank our partners across Scotland, Ireland, the Nordics and as far afield as Canada and Malaysia for the opportunities and insight they have been so willing to share, putting into practice new forms of exchange and collaboration that the pandemic and the climate crisis are demanding of us all.

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr airson 2022!

November 16, 2021November 17, 2021

Uist – Social Enterprise Place

Earlier this year Uist in the Outer Hebrides received one of two Social Enterprise Place Awards, the first ever awarded within Scotland.

Today we launch a brochure highlighting the history of community and social enterprises in Uist, the many diverse contributions they make now, and their ambitious goals for the future on the climate emergency, young people, health and inclusion, and Gaelic language and culture.

It is a remarkable showcase of just how strong and resilient our island communities are: we have been building community wealth for over 40 years, have sustained our island communities through Covid, which has in turn only served to heighten our ambitions for the future.

Mags McSporran, head of Social Enterprise Development at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, has commented, “it is such a great picture of social enterprise in Uist, its longevity, innovation and out and out tenacity”. In a blog post, Mags says that the Scottish Government is prioritising the involvement of local communities and businesses in economic and community wealth building, and that there is so much to learn from the breadth of experience our communities have in stimulating sustainable development. Uist is an outstanding example of such “innovation … with community prosperity at its core”.

In our European work we have called for redefining peripherality: looking anew at remote island and rural communities to build on their remarkable strengths and assets that have always been there, but that became so much more visible during Covid. In his opening remarks at the NPA’s annual event, the Chair David Minton suggested that, following the experience of Covid, peripheral communities who have been so far left behind may well now end up in front.

Communities on Uist demonstrate what flourishing peripheral communities can be – their strength and resilience, their cohesion and collaboration, their innovation and adaptability

You can access the document here.

September 28, 2021

Smart Islands in Scotland and Ireland – Island Voices, Population

Island Voices is a series of recordings brought together by the Smart Islands Scotland and Ireland project. In these recordings Irish islanders speak about their visions for their communities in 2025, covering the topics of population, housing, infrastructure, language and culture, and tourism.

In this recording you can listen to islanders speak about population, and its role in the future of their communities.

Smart Islands in Scotland and Ireland is a transnational project bringing together island communities in Scotland (especially Uist in the Outer Hebrides) and Ireland (off Donegal, Mayo, Galway and West Cork) to share and develop experiences and methodologies that can make their islands smart, dynamic and sustainable.

September 16, 2021