Please Refer to the 2016 Guidance for Applicants

APPLICATION FORM

Please refer to the ‘2016 Guidance for Applicants’ before completing this application form.

The application form is split over four sections. It is up to you to decide the content and length of each section, but your application must not exceed three pages in total (excluding the cover pages).

Please ensure that your application covers the key criteria that we are looking for and is effectively presented. Any questions relating to your application or the submission process should be directed to [email protected] or 0131 474 9275.

The deadline for submission of entries is 5pm on FRIDAY 23 October 2015.

Submitting Your Application Form

Please use our online application portal to submit this application form. APPLICATONCOSLA EXCELLENCE FORM AWARDS 2016 02

PLEASE PROVIDE SOME DETAILS ABOUT YOUR APPLICATION:

CATEGORY APPLIED Service Innovation and Improvement FOR

PROJECT NAME (as you wish to see it West Lothian’s Engaging Communities Toolkit published)

LEAD ORGANISATION West Lothian Community Planning Partnership

DEPARTMENT/TEAM Community Planning

Susan Gordon, WLC George Scott, WLC

Tony Foster, Kirknewton Ian McIntosh, WLC Community Development Trust

PARTICIPANT NAMES OR PARTNER David Murray, Optima Scotland Scott McKillop, WLC ORGANISATIONS

Lisa Haggerty, Family & Lesley Keirnan, WLC Community Development WL

Lorraine Gillies, WLC

CONTACT NAME Susan Gordon

CONTACT DETAILS 01506 282141 [email protected]

CAN WE PUBLISH THIS APPLICATION FORM ON OUR WEBSITE? YES APPLICATONCOSLA EXCELLENCE FORM AWARDS 2016 03

EXECUTIVE In one short paragraph please describe this project is about, what it has achieved, SUMMARY and why it is delivering excellence. Please note that we may use this summary for promotional purposes on our website and elsewhere. The Engaging Communities Toolkit has been developed as a user friendly resource to enhance community involvement and empowerment in our local communities by increasing the knowledge, understanding and quality of community engagement practice in West Lothian. Engaging with communities is not new to us in West Lothian but the ways in which we approach it and support individuals and groups to engage effectively are being developed; which is why the toolkit is a great example of how we are improving processes, skills and practice in relation to engagement to enable local people to become involved in the decisions that affect their lives. To genuinely engage and empower our communities, we need to inform, consult and involve them in meaningful ways. The development of the Engaging Communities Toolkit is helping staff, individuals and communities work better together to improve services in West Lothian. The Engaging Communities Toolkit is one step in the bigger task of improving and embedding good community engagement practice in West Lothian. We see this as an ongoing process, and we are already building on this further through the development of training and other innovative ways to build capacity and knowledge. What is your project about, and why is it important? What are you aiming to PLANNING achieve, and how does this fit with the bigger picture? Does it tackle the issues that matter most to your community or your organisation? The policy context in Scotland over the last few years has resulted in a renewed emphasis and responsibility on Community Planning Partnerships (CPP’s) in relation to the way public service providers engage with communities. The following developments illustrate the importance of designing and delivering public services in partnership with communities; the Christie report stated that reforms must aim to empower individuals and communities by involving them in the development of services; the Scottish Government’s guidance on the development of Single Outcome Agreements recognised the key role that communities play in helping to shape and co- produce better outcomes and that CPPs need to provide genuine opportunities to consult, engage and involve them. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act sets out a strategic framework that will empower community bodies through the ownership of land and building and strengthen their voices in the decisions that matter to them. All of these developments set the scene nationally and highlight the importance of engaging with and involving local people in decisions that affect their lives.

At a local level, West Lothian Community Planning Partnership is fully committed to the principles and practice of community engagement and recognises that we need to have a better understanding of our communities to be able to provide genuine opportunities to involve them in meaningful ways. West Lothian’s Community Engagement Plan sets out how community engagement will be embedded across the CPP through ensuring we have a clear, consistent and coordinated approach and provide appropriate tools and support to improve engagement. To enable this to happen, we need to ensure that staff from across the partnership, the voluntary sector, community groups and others are confident and knowledgeable about the importance of engagement and how to engage effectively with communities and individuals. The Engaging Communities Toolkit has been designed to make this happen.

The Toolkit was designed and developed by the Community Engagement Practitioners Network (CEPN) – a multi-disciplinary group of practitioners with significant experience or responsibility for engaging and involving communities – set up to help coordinate and improve community engagement across the CPP. The toolkit has been designed so it can be used by a range of audiences; from voluntary to community groups, to practitioners and professionals from different APPLICATONCOSLA EXCELLENCE FORM AWARDS 2016 04

organisations.

Engagement is no longer the sole responsibility of community development workers; most staff now find they engage with groups and individuals in their everyday work therefore it is really important that they have the skills and knowledge to do this effectively. The toolkit is one way that individuals can gain a better understanding of the importance of engagement and access a numbers of tools and resources to help them.

The development of the toolkit will help towards tackling the issues that are important in West Lothian. The central theme of our Single Outcome Agreement is ‘Tackling Inequalities’ and we plan to do this through improving outcomes for local people. This can only be achieved through the genuine involvement of communities.

How have you carried out your project? How did you ensure that this was done DELIVERING effectively? What are you doing to continue to improve?

In developing the toolkit, the CEPN carried out significant research to identify what material to include, what resources to signpost, and the most relevant tools and techniques. They also drew on their own knowledge and experience as to what they would like to see as the key elements of the toolkit. The toolkit was formally launched on the 16th September 2015. This event brought together a range of individuals from key community organisations, community groups and officers from across the community planning partnership. The aim of the launch was to give attendees the opportunity to learn more about the toolkit and how it can be used, hear about some good examples of engagement activity in West Lothian and network with other groups and individuals interested in community engagement. The launch also provided a great opportunity to gain some feedback from those individuals who are using or will use the toolkit as part of their work; it was important to understand what people liked about the toolkit and how they would improve it for the future. We see the toolkit as a dynamic resource that we can update, adapt and improve as practice around community engagement develops. The toolkit has evolved into a much wider programme of support and learning being developed around community engagement. In terms of continuous improvement, a training programme, based on the toolkit is being developed by the Community Engagement Practitioners Network which will consist of a series of sessions which will allow participants to select a particular topic from the toolkit to explore further. This programme will be targeted to a wide audience, will be highly participative and based on good community engagement practice. The training programme will bring the toolkit to life, and give individuals the opportunity to explore elements of the toolkit in much more detail. Training will be delivered by members of the Community Engagement Practitioners Network.

The toolkit is the first step in a process of improvement; continuous evaluation and feedback from users of the toolkit will inform how the toolkit develops in the future. Feedback has already been received through the launch event on the toolkit itself and the proposed training, and will be built into to future development of the toolkit and training programme. The Toolkit is currently being distributed to community groups, partners and other organisations across West Lothian. It will also be used as part of our approach to community-led regeneration planning and the development of placemaking approaches in West Lothian.

The development and initial delivery of the toolkit demonstrates a genuine effort to work together to improve engagement in, evident in this feedback from a worker in West Lothian ‘…the Toolkit has APPLICATONCOSLA EXCELLENCE FORM AWARDS 2016 05 been a prime example of effective partnership working…….Engaging with all sectors – statutory, voluntary and third sector, the toolkit gives a true reflection of the types of engagement that takes place across West Lothian. The use of simple language and non-jargon text makes the toolkit accessible to all. To illustrate the different types of engagement, we used case studies to show examples within the West Lothian area which put the theory into context for people who are new to engagement

INNOVATION & Why is your project innovative? How is it helping to prepare for the future? What LEADING PRACTICE is happening to help other organisations benefit from your approach?

There has already been significant interest in the toolkit, from within and out with West Lothian. Not only the first of its kind in West Lothian but leading the way across Scotland, the toolkit gives us a strong foundation to embed consistent community engagement across the piece. The Scottish Government has highlighted the toolkit as an example of best practice and has used the toolkit to help develop guidance in relation to the Community Empowerment Act and the Steering Group for the National Strategy on Community Justice also expressed an interest in the toolkit and is using it as a case study to in the Empowering Communities chapter of the strategy.

Given the policy context and the responsibilities on Community Planning Partnerships for taking forward public service reform and having community engagement as a central theme, we need to ensure we are smarter in our approach to community engagement and that those individuals carrying it out are equipped and confident about how to do it. At a time where involving communities has never been so important, the toolkit attempts to help those with a responsibility to do it right. Consultation is no longer enough – we need to work in partnership with communities to help drive services forward and ultimately improve outcomes for local people.

Other local organisations will benefit from this approach, through being involved in the training programme; either by attending a training session or through bespoke sessions for particular groups such as community councils. The roll-out of the toolkit and training will be responsive to the needs of the groups and individuals who need support.

What impact are you having, or expect to have? Are you delivering what you set RESULTS & IMPACT out to achieve? How are you measuring this?

As a result of developing the toolkit, we want to improve understanding of engagement and the resulting practice. To measure this effectively, it is important for us to track quality of practice. To do this, a number of key groups/organisations have been identified who we will work with to evaluate whether the toolkit has had an impact. Evaluation and tracking of those who take part in the training sessions will also form a significant part of assessing impact.

This innovative project is still in its infancy and tangible results are in the early stages of evolving. Building knowledge and understanding of engagement is an ongoing process which will be further enhanced by the implementation of the training programme.

The development of the toolkit demonstrates excellent partnership working and a genuine willingness to improve the ways we involve and build relationships with local people. By doing this we can ensure that our communities are genuinely engaged and empowered and can therefore be involved in decisions that affect their lives. By achieving a common understanding of community engagement at all levels of the partnership, coordinating engagement activity and ensuring staff and community members have the right tools to undertake engagement that is appropriate and fit for purpose, we can help to achieve active and empowered communities. We want to achieve better quality engagement that is effective and influential and informs decisions and service provisions. APPLICATONCOSLA EXCELLENCE FORM AWARDS 2016 06

Improving community engagement, and the structures, processes and practices that help deliver it will ultimately result in improved outcomes for our communities.

NEXT STEPS

 Have you answered the criteria set out in the guidance?

 Is your application form 3 pages or less. (Anything more, including appendices, will be automatically rejected)

 Has your application form been authorised by an appropriate person?

 Have you indicated whether you wish the application form to be published?

 Have you provided details for someone we can contact about your application?

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION BY 23 OCTOBER 2015 USING OUR ONLINE APPLICATIONS PORTAL:

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FORM