Knowledge is Power applications now open

Community organisations and groups will be able to apply for support to carry out community-led action research in their communities starting this September. 

On 16th September at 9AM, groups will be able to visit www.knowledgeispower.scot to download their application form to be one of six organisations using the knowledge - and power - of their communities to make change happen. 

Community-led action research is where communities of place and identity decide on the issue to be researched, design and carry out the research, and makes use of the results. 

The two-year programme will support six community organisations to develop their own evidence to influence change in their communities - and to take forward actions for improvement. The research evidence generated by the community organisations will be brought together through the Knowledge is Power website and used to help shape policy at a national level across Scotland.

Groups will be asked to fill in an application form and provide information about their work and knowledge of community-led action research. Applications will then be scored based on a programme criteria by SCDC and Poverty Alliance staff, with groups due to be notified after 4th October.

Knowledge is Power is a new programme from Scottish Community Development Centre and The Poverty Alliance to support community-led action research in Scotland - funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Scottish Government. 

Follow @KnowledgeScot for the latest.

Find out more about the programme’s launch here.

Welcome to Knowledge is Power

We're really excited to be kicking off this new piece of work to support community-led action research. Here at SCDC we're delighted to be working with our friends at The Poverty Alliance and grateful to our funders the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland and the Scottish Government for helping to make this happen.

We can't wait to see how the ideas, skills and knowledge of communities can be used to help take action on the issues important to them.

Central to community-led action research is putting communities in control of what evidence looks like and how it's used. We think a critical mass of community generated evidence could be a game changer in how decisions and policy are made - for the better.

With support for six organisations to undertake community-led action research (more details about how this will work soon!), a new website to bring together resources and an aim to help shape policy at a national level, we're now beginning the next steps of this new programme.

We're looking forward to having you along to support this to happen and hope you can get involved. In the meantime, we'll be tweeting from @KnowledgeScot and working hard on the next stages of this work.

Thanks,
Fiona Garven
SCDC Director