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VSRP21 Youth Session – March 6th 2021

This free, virtual session is an opportunity for rural and island young people aged 16-25 to collectively reimagine the future of their communities. Facilitated by the Social Enterprise Academy, the fully interactive session will also provide an opportunity for young people to question decision makers such as Maree Todd, Minister for Children and Young People and Bruce Adamson, The Children and Young People’s Commissioner. The outputs of the session will contribute to other sessions of the Scottish Rural Parliament and help to influence rural policy.

To attend, register for the Scottish Rural Parliament and select the Youth Session when asked.

Registration link: https://www.srp2021.scot

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Scottish Rural Parliament 2021

The Scottish Rural Parliament is a grassroots democratic assembly, bringing together people who live and work in rural and island Scotland with decision makers and influencers to explore current thinking and identify actions that will shape the future of rural communities. 

Scottish Rural Parliament 2021 will be held over five days between March  6th and 18th. In sessions that will be open to everyone who would like to register, panels will look at a wide variety of issues that deeply affect rural Scottish lives – from local democracy and land use to digital communications and climate change. Through conversation and the sharing of stories these sessions will explore what needs to be done so that rural communities are thriving and their natural environment is safeguarded.  

A member of the European-wide network of Rural Parliaments, the Scottish Rural Parliament takes place every two years. Responding to the pandemic reality, the 2021 Virtual SRP (2021vSRP) will take place online on a platform which is easy to access if you have a mobile phone, tablet or laptop and an internet connection. This year the Scottish Rural Action is partnering with the Scottish Islands Federation and Scottish Rural Network and the outcomes of the parliament will form the basis of an updated Manifesto for Rural and Island Scotland.

The programme can be seen in full here and we will be looking at the individual sessions in greater detail over the coming weeks.

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Rural Housing Summit

Rural Housing Scotland’s 2021 Rural Housing Summit is well underway online, sharing stories from rural communities working to tackle housing need in their area through a mix of panel discussions, interactive workshops, webinars and one-to-one sessions with various experts in the field. 

Upcoming sessions include funding routes for community-led housing, the quiet rise of rural homelessness and building cultural and economic capacity.

Thursday’s key note speaker Dr Annie McKee of The James Hutton Institute and Rural Housing Scotland Convenor, provides the opportunity to look at the impact of land reform in Scotland and the challenges communities still face.

On Friday, delegates will hear from Scottish Rural Housing’s Derek Logie about the key role rural housing enablers play in efforts to tackle housing need and about plans SRH are developing to combine traditional models and modern technology to repopulate rural areas.  Further sessions on Friday will look at rural re-population, rethinking rural and building cultural and economic capacity and speakers on the Rethinking Rural panel discussion will include North Uist architect – Alex Durie. One-to-one appointments with a Rural Housing Enabler will also be available on Friday afternoon. 

The complete programme for the week can be found here and bookings are still open for sessions from Thursday afternoon onward.