Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland (CNS) has published its Annual Report, providing an update and overview of the programme as well as a look at the next steps.
The report was written in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and like so many others the work of the CNS team changed rapidly in response.
Principal Investigator Professor Chris Chapman said:
“On March 20th this year, all our lives underwent a significant change. Nowhere was this more stark than in the neighbourhoods that we work in. The response to COVID-19 by the CNS team, those working on the ground and the communities themselves has been remarkable.
“The CNS team developed a programme of rapid response research that has collected evidence about how communities have responded to the pandemic and to document some of the impacts it is having on children, young people and their families. Since April, the production of regular CNS insight papers have informed both national and local policy and practice relating to COVID-19.”
The first CNS pilot site was officially launched in 2018 in the communities of Bridgeton and Dalmarnock in the east end of Glasgow and then received support in the Scottish Government’s Every Child, Every Chance: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan (2018-2022) to expand to a further five sites in a range of urban, town and rural settings.
Over past twelve months the programme has appointed Programme Director Alison Dreever and other key staff, to put in place the systems, structures and processes required to run a complex programme across multiple sites. As new sites are identified, local coordinators are appointed to work with community members and local organisations on a daily basis building relationships at strategic and operational levels and developing a locally tailored offer that meets the specific needs of that community.
Professor Chapman added, “As the programme evolves and expands over the next twelve months our research and evaluative activity will inform and refine the approach taken locally, support community activity and develop networks to share learning and lessons between CNS sites, across Scotland and more widely through our national and international networks.”
About Children’s Neighbourhood Scotland
A children’s neighbourhood is an initiative that brings together people, resources and organisations in a neighbourhood area, so that all of those things can work together towards better lives for the children living there.
Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland is a collaborative centre, developed by Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Policy Scotland and Robert Owen Centre at the University of Glasgow.
Image credit: © Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland
