OrkCEmP - Orkney Community Empowerment Project
Project aim
Orkney Community Empowerment Project (OrkCEmP) is part of the RESAS Theme 8 (Work Package 8.2) work on 'Governance and Decision-making for community empowerment in rural communities', running from 2011-2016. It aims to explore perceptions and experiences of living in Scotland’s rural communities such as Orkney, and the challenges and opportunities this provides.
Project objectives
- To contribute to understanding of how local communities can be empowered or can empower themselves by following processes used to engage residents in a Climate Challenge Fund project in Orkney.
- To understand the role played by institutions in rural empowerment processes.
- To investigate the extent to which changing patterns of rural governance encourage inclusion.
Methodology
Qualitative, ethnographic study in Orkney; semi-structured interviews; postal questionnaire; observations.
Key findings (ongoing)
- Rural governance includes local and non-local actors and institutions (Climate Challenge Fund)
- Community engagement varies over the life course
- Perceptions of community utilise non-instrumental notions of history, sense of place, family, identity and emotional ties
- Governing through community utilises instrumental goals and targets, which may limit engagement and inclusion because these understandings are different from everyday meanings of history, place and family.