Research for stronger communities

Stuart Hashagen reflects on an initiative in Scotland that demonstrates the importance of community-led research for effective community development

Key issues
When it was established in 2001 the national regeneration agency, Communities Scotland, was quick to identify a number of key issues relating to community organisations. It was clear that smaller community organisations faced obstacles to their development and to the achievement of the their goals due to the poor quality of information available to them. Skills and confidence about the best way to use what information was available were lacking. There was clearly scope to develop and test out more innovative and participative approaches to research and to be more consistent with the needs of community organisations. There was also the hope that public bodies would be receptive to proposals and arguments based on such research models.

A further issue was the increasing control over funding for investigation and development being exercised by partnerships working to a government agenda. This meant that community organisations were only likely to succeed in having projects funded that were consistent with the established priorities of these partnerships. There were few routes by which communities could be funded to explore their own issues or needs, or to have control and authority over their information and research base. The Scottish Community Action Research Fund (SCARF) was established in 2002 in order to address these issues. 1

Key ideas
From the start SCARF was defined as a community-led research initiative. In essence this meant that it would be available to community groups and organisations that: (i) had a clear understanding of the needs and issues they wished to investigate; (ii) would use the product of the research to inform their development and activity; and (iii) did not have an existing capacity to produce a sound research proposal or to carry out the tasks involved. As such, it was recognised that it was as important to use the Fund to build research skills and understanding in the community sector, as to fund the research itself. As the initiative has evolved the emphasis on building capacity has, if anything, become more significant.

The interplay between building capacity and producing research is reflected in the structure of SCARF. It has two distinct stages; the first designed to assist community organisations to develop a sound research proposal, and the second providing funds to allow the research to be carried out. Stage 1 funds allow the organisation to engage a ‘research mentor’ to advise and support them. Organisations that are able to produce a sound research proposal may apply directly to Stage 2.

Although SCARF is designed to have few restrictions on the nature or scope of the work to be done, it does require the research it funds to focus on some aspect of disadvantage or exclusion. This is broadly interpreted and funds have been used to investigate issues of health inequality, disability, and race as well as those of poverty, regeneration or community organisation. SCARF also gives priority to proposals that will support the engagement between communities and the policy process, and which will produce lessons or insights that can be applied elsewhere. The key ideas in SCARF are thus capacity, social justice and engagement.

How it works
Stage 1 applications are assessed on the extent to which the intended study is clearly expressed, has evidence of community support and interest, will involve community members and service users in undertaking the study and making use of the findings, and its likely impact on policy, practice and social justice. One dilemma, or perhaps a contradiction in the management of Stage 1, is that applications from groups with limited experience or low levels of literacy may not meet these criteria in their Stage 1 application, yet it may be argued that it is precisely such groups that most clearly would benefit from mentor support. Normally in such cases applicants will be contacted and asked for further clarification.

Successful applicants to Stage 1 are put in touch with a selection of up to six mentors chosen from a pool of 56 research mentors. Between them, the mentors have experience of the academic/research sector, the public sector and the voluntary/community sector, and can offer detailed understanding of research methods, contexts and issues over a range of specialisms. Stage 1 provides the applicant with support up to the value of £1,500, plus approved expenses. Mentors set their own fees, which range from less than £100 per day to £500. Once selected, mentors work with the group to provide support and advice on four main areas:
· Clarifying issues and research questions: assisting the group to formulate or reformulate its research question and the way in which information and evidence could be obtained;
· Encouraging participative methods: for example story-dialogue, participatory appraisal, visual or photographic techniques or other ways of gathering information with meaning for the participants, and which can be presented as a valid expression of opinion or condition;
· Building skills and capacity;
· Helping prepare a sound/sustainable research proposal for consideration at Stage 2.

At present, the Stage 1 assessment cycle is six-weekly, while the Stage 2 panel assesses applications six-monthly. The assessment criteria for Stage 2 includes a need for an assurance that the research plan is well thought through, achievable, and sustainable. Stage 2 applications may, and usually do, include provision for further mentor support and advice. Applications that are approved are managed by the relevant area office of Communities Scotland. Normally SCARF funds are to the value of between £6,000 and £10,000, plus approved expenses. As noted above, applicants may apply directly to Stage 2, although applications that have had mentor support at Stage 1 are more likely to be funded.

Who applies for what?
The nature of the applications gives some insight into the issues and needs experienced by community organisations in Scotland, and to some of the innovative or challenging ideas that communities have. The majority of SCARF proposals fall into one of six areas:

· Community and neighbourhood groups wanting to gauge local needs and opinions, either generally, or in relation to a particular need or proposal. Some of these relate to the community recognising that it needs a good information-base to inform its participation in community planning, health improvement or regeneration.
· Organisations wanting to undertake feasibility studies to support the development or continuation of community services and resources based in community buildings.
· More established local voluntary organisations with staff wanting support with user or community need assessments to help the organisation develop its strategy or methods. These applications are scrutinised and rejected if they appear to come from organisations that would seem to have research capacity, which are focusing on business planning rather than practice development, or if they do not involve service users in the proposed study. The numbers of such applications suggest that it is difficult for this type of organisation to get business planning or strategic advice.
· Community organisations that are involved in local development and seek to improve their methods of communicating and networking in order to play a full part in strategic work.
· Several national organisations representing communities of interest, such as equalities issues, disability or health, have applied. Although SCARF is intended primarily as a community research fund, some applications from national organisations do propose innovative ways of gauging opinion or influencing policy, and these are normally supported.
· Applications reflecting a wide range of themes and issues. Studies focusing on local environmental issues, the needs of LGBT communities, and mental health seem to predominate.

Interim conclusions
An evaluation of SCARF has been commissioned and is currently under way. The findings from this will inform the future direction and focus of the fund. Clearly it would be inappropriate to anticipate what the evaluation may conclude. However, the Scottish Community Development Centre team will feed in their observations and comments to the process, and these will include the following:

· That SCARF seems to be primarily a capacity building initiative rather than a research fund. This seems to be its particular value and contribution and as such, SCARF Stage 1 could become a route for community organisations to submit strong bids for research funds to a wide range of government and non-government sources, as well as to the SCARF Stage 2 fund.
· There may be space for an alternative to Stage 1 and Stage 2 funding in the form of a single award that would be sufficient to provide mentor support to clarify proposals and carry them out. This would meet the needs of several organisations with a relatively straightforward study question to get the work done quickly and effectively.
· The range of applications has focused attention on what constitutes a community organisation, and raises questions about whether larger, staffed organisations should be eligible.
· Similarly questions about whether SCARF funding should be used for organisational development and business planning need to be clarified.
· Finally, and very important, the lessons emerging from SCARF need to be captured, reflected on, and perhaps used to develop better understanding of community research. What has been learned about the issues being studied? What has been learned about methods and building capacity? In what way has SCARF reinvigorated organisations that may have lost their way? In what ways has new understanding contributed to development of public policy and practice?

Stuart Hashagen is Director Scotland, Community Development Foundation and Co-director, Scottish Community Development Centre

Information on SCARF can be found at
http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/Web/Site/Whatwedo/SCARF_projectsfunded.asp

1 - SCARF is managed by Communities Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre. Edited - S. Simanowitztop