Stories of recovery from our island communities

We were more than happy to lend our full backing to the James Hutton Institute and Community Development Lens applying to the SEFARI Responsive Opportunity Fund for their “Islands Revival” project. Through the work of our ‘Our Island Home’ development officer, we have seen first hand the efforts and effects of island communities in addressing the issue of population decline and population imbalance.

The Islands Revival website provides a clear explanation of what the project is about:

“The Islands Revival project is collecting stories of population turnaround in order to raise the profile of demographic recovery in island settings, and to identify ways of ensuring that such developments are supported by island policy. During the spring and summer of 2019, we are inviting groups from across the Scottish islands to contribute examples from their own communities, to be published on the Islands Revival blog. These contributions will inform a workshop at the end of August, which will facilitate discussion between communities, local and Scottish Government, island businesses and international experts, culminating in a Workshop Declaration with recommendations regarding how policy can best support island repopulation.“

Our Development Officer was one of the first contributors to this blog. You can read Cameron’s contribution – “Trust Us. We need homes” – here. The short blog highlights community led housing projects in Iona and Ulva Ferry, Isle of Mull. It also briefly touches on ‘lived experience’. The value of lived experience was discussed at the Highlands and Islands Enterprise “Strengthening Communities” conference in Aviemore back in May. It was also discussed at Community Land Scotland’s “Making Community Land Ownership Mainstream” conference in June and the Islands Revival project will help to keep this discussion going.

If you want to contribute to the Islands Revival blog, you still can here.

The Islands Revival project is supported by the Scottish Government-funded SEFARI Responsive Opportunity Initiative and led by the James Hutton Institute and SRUC.