By Professor Chris Chapman (School of Education) and Professor Nick Watson (School of Social & Political Sciences)

Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland (CNS) is a distinctive community-based approach to improving outcomes for all children and young people in neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty. CNS works in partnership with children and young people, their families, local public and third sector organisations to support efforts and services to reduce poverty, increase participation and capacity within communities, and to help tackle the issues currently making it difficult for children and young people to live happy and healthy lives. CNS activity is driven by the views and involvement of children, young people and their families, community members, and local professionals. Using place as a focus enables CNS to connect with and contribute to the evidence base around priorities focused on children and young people in areas with high levels of disadvantage across the public policy spectrum, rather than focusing on one area (e.g. education).

The research conducted by Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland has had an influential impact both locally and nationally – particularly in informing policy.

 

Involving children in policy decision-making 

The CNS Research team have utilised a Capabilities approach in their work with schools and community groups. This multidimensional approach to evaluating wellbeing has allowed children and young people to identify their top priorities for wellbeing in their neighbourhoods.  Through dialogue and discussion, the Capabilities approach is a key mechanism for children identifying what is most important to them, and enables their voices to be heard in the planning of activities, services and policies that concern them.

CNS has developed frameworks of children and young people’s capabilities goals in four schools so far across the Bridgeton & Dalmarnock and Clydebank neighbourhood sites. Our Local Coordinators are working with the children and young people and partners to take forward actions and activities based on the priorities identified through this process. Across the participating schools, the willingness of children and young people to engage in critical thinking on the effects of poverty, and their priorities for wellbeing has been marked.

 

Informing local & national policy

Having synthesised the learning and findings from across the CNS sites, our outputs have helped draw out contextual, policy and practice implications for both local and national stakeholders.

At a local level, our reports and literature reviews have offered insight and recommendations to a number of groups. These have included Glasgow City Council’s Poverty Leadership Panel, Public Health Oversight Board, and their Social Recovery Taskforce – as well as the West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership’s mental health group.

Our rapid response research into the impact of COVID-19 on disadvantaged communities provided key recommendations to stakeholders at a national level also, with early insight papers highlighting the pandemic’s effects from the perspectives of children and young people, families, frontline workers, refugee and migrant families in Glasgow, and those living and working in rural areas.

 

Why is this study important?

Most crucially, the children and young people living in the neighbourhood areas stand to benefit most from our research, through improvements made from our recommendations – but their engagement and participation in the identification of their priorities can have a lasting impact on them personally too.

Children and young people develop skills as co-researchers through being involved in the Capabilities research and the research identifies local and national actions that can be taken to improve their well-being based on the priorities the children and young people identify. 

The study also provides an opportunity to examine the systemic barriers and opportunities within local systems of governance for improving the outcomes of children and young people, through the context analysis workstream.

CNS research will be important for understanding how a place-based approach in high poverty settings, can work in practice. A unique aspect of this programme is the involvement of the university in place-based work, by employing practitioners (local coordinators) with skills in community and youth work and facilitation, delivering a programme of local activities. Universities have a civic duty to support local communities but there is little research on how the involvement of a university can work in practice and the lessons that can be learned.  This is a key focus of the process and outcome of evaluation.

Further Information

Local authorities – such as Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils – benefit from very localised research findings that we have provided on the impact the pandemic is having on some of their most vulnerable communities and citizens. The data generated through our Capabilities research with young people in Clydebank is also of great benefit to West Dunbartonshire’s Community Planning Partnership – with our recommendations now being actioned by their Mental Health task force.

CNS is a cross policy programme providing learning and insights to a number of Scottish Government directorates, and they have been aided particularly by the real time research findings from our COVID-19 Insight papers.

Our research has also contributed to the wider body of learning about the adaptability and validity of the Capabilities approach, when working in practice in a number of settings.

First published: 7 January 2022

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