Scottish Rural Action Covid-19 Local Reference Group Report Launched

Wed, 21/04/2021 - 09:26am

The Scottish Rural Action Covid-19 Local Reference Group was established to add a local and personal dimension to some of the themes around resilience and recovery that had emerged from the surveys. Through a series of consultation with people across rural and Island Scotland, we added to our knowledge of how the pandemic is affecting communities and how people are responding. The key highlights from this report are:

  • When it comes to the needs of the community, one size doesn't fit all but volunteers were the key to a community's Covid-19 response.
  • Inspiration and learning can be taken from communities across Scotland as they tried to keep the most vulnerable safe, maintain food supplies, reduce boredom and isolation, as well as combat the financial strain the pandemic and subsequent lockdown caused. 
  • There is an increased sense of community and people have greater confidence in being able to tackle local issues. Communities want to be active participants in finding solutions. 
  • Volunteer burnout, although raised in the initial surveys, was not identified by the reference group as a factor as they felt there were enough volunteers in their communities to meet demand.

Read the full report here.