People and Communities Fund (PCF): case studies

Introduction

This booklet sets outs five case studies, each one detailing the activities and achievements of a community-led project which has received funding from the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund ( PCF).

Since being launched in 2012, PCF grant funding of nearly £51 million has been awarded to a wide range of community anchor organisations ^[1] (for example, Registered Social Landlords and Development Trusts) to support hundreds of community-led projects. These projects cover a wide range of activity types, target groups and localities, aligned with the current core aims of tackling poverty and promoting social inclusion. A distinguishing feature of the PCF is the partnership working between organisations and local residents (co-production) as a means to design and deliver local projects that address local needs.

In 2017, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the PCF community-led approach to regeneration. The review, carried out by EKOS Ltd and Avril Blamey Associates, involved 12 PCF funded projects and looked to explore the effectiveness of this approach for funded organisations and the people they work with.

Five of these projects form the case studies presented in this booklet. Each case study is an example of the five co-production models identified by the study team, demonstrating there are multiple ways of working with communities. The case studies give an insight into how, and for whom, the PCF approach to regeneration is helping to bring about positive change.

The full report is available on the publications section of the Scottish Government website www.gov.scot/publications.

Further information on the PCF can be found on the Scottish Government’s regeneration webpages /policies/regeneration/.