2024 was a tough year – but there are signs of change!
As 2024 comes to a close I know many social enterprises, third sector organisations and community groups will be reflecting on a year of delivery at a time of rising need and demand, continuing inequality and the perennial challenge of identifying funding. From the 81 applications we received for round four of the Scottish Government’s Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund I know that the standard of applications is also rising. The key therefore must be in greater collaboration across the sector and beyond, supporting public sector reform by offering innovative preventative and early intervention solutions and an approach to financial planning that enables boards and trustees to plan for challenging times.
As a TSI we will need to offer more support and tools to groups so that we can manage these challenging times better, but I am also keen to work with other partners in building a resilience and investment fund across Argyll and Bute. This links in well with the Community Wealth Building (CWB) agenda and locally in 2024 we have of course taken some small steps in embedding this approach into the work of our local anchor institutions via the Community Planning Partnership. 2025 will see us all implement some of these early plans as well as embrace the forthcoming legislation on CWB – there is much to do but our partners in the statutory sector are willing and open to conversations and new ways of working.
This very much matches the language in the Scottish Government’s December 2024 budget who need the third and community sectors to be active partners in promoting community wellbeing. However, time will tell whether this translates into fairer funding for our sector, devolution of centralised budgets and true co-production in the redesign of our under pressure public services.
In the meantime, I urge all of you if you can to take some well-deserved time off to recharge for the year ahead. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of the team at your TSI!
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