Engaging and empowering communities and stakeholders in rural land use and management: technical report

Summary report of the aspects of research on how to assist rural communities to engage with decisions on land use and management.


Annex 3: Engaging and Empowering Survey

Engaging and Empowering Communities and Stakeholders in Land Use and Land Management in Rural Scotland

This survey is part of research commissioned jointly by the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH) and Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS). The research findings will help public bodies better support communities in relation to land use and land management in rural areas.

The focus is rural Scotland but we would like to hear and learn from people working in other settings (e.g. urban, private sector, coastal, marine or other countries).

In the survey the word 'engagement' is used loosely to include involvement, participation and inclusion. For the sake of simplicity we have used the present tense throughout.

We may quote what you say in research outputs but will do this in a way that cannot be attributed to you/your organisation.

Responding to this survey

1. This survey will take about 20 minutes

2. This survey is available until midnight on the 30th November 2015.

3. You can look through the survey before responding, return to earlier pages without losing your work, and complete it in more than one session.

If you have technical difficulties completing this survey please alert: admin@dialoguematters.co.uk

1. About you

1.1 What is your full name?

1.2 What is your occupation?

1.3 What Organisation do you work for?

1.4 What is your email address?

1.5 Organisation type:

  • Central Government
  • Agency (Non-Departmental Public Body)
  • Authority (local authority)
  • Parish Council
  • Non-Government Organisation ( NGO)
  • Community Organisation
  • Voluntary
  • Business
  • Research
  • Partnership Project
  • Consultancy

1.6 Your role/s:

  • Project Officer/Manager
  • Project Team Member
  • Project Steering Group Member
  • Funder/sponsor
  • Stakeholder
  • Participant
  • Researcher
  • Process Designer
  • Workshop Facilitator

1.7 What projects have you been involved in that included communities (of place or purpose) in decisions about land management or use in Scotland?

2.0 Opportunities and challenges for community engagement around land use and management

Thinking about community engagement and empowerment projects you have been involved with please provide up to 5 answers in relation to:

- The opportunities and challenges of working in a rural setting (Questions 2.1 and 2.2)

- The opportunities and challenges of working around land use and land management (Questions 2.3 and 2.4)

2.1 What do you think are the opportunities of carrying out engagement and empowerment in a rural setting, as opposed to urban?

2.2 What are the challenges in this context?

2.3 What are the opportunities in carrying out community engagement and empowerment in relation to land use and land management?

2.4 What are the challenges in this context?

3.0 Thinking about communities and stakeholders involved in rural land use and land management

3.1 From your experience what is already working well in relation to engagement and empowerment in land use and land management decisions?

3.2 Please suggest five ways to further improve community engagement and empowerment in land use and land management decisions

3.3 Thinking about project/s you have been involved with, with the benefit of hindsight, what three things could have been done differently?

4.0 Environmental Bodies and community and stakeholder engagement

A number of public bodies do environmental work in Scotland including: Scottish Government, the Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS), Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency ( SEPA), Marine Scotland ( MS), and Local Authorities ( LA). This section considers what public bodies in Scotland are already doing well to enable community engagement and empowerment and asks for suggestions of what more they could do.

In you answer, please specify which organisation/s you are commenting on.

4.1 How are public bodies supporting and enabling community engagement and empowerment work? Please give examples (maximum 5)

4.2 What more could public bodies do, or do differently, to support and enable effective community engagement and empowerment going forward? Please give examples (maximum 5)

5.0 Increasing community and stakeholder empowerment

5.1 In your opinion/experience, what turns community and stakeholder engagement in land use and land management decisions into empowerment?

5.2 What three things would most enhance community and stakeholder engagement and empowerment in land use and management decisions in rural Scotland?

End Page

Thank you very much for taking time to do this survey.

We may quote what you say in research outputs but will do this in a way that cannot be attributed to you or your organisation.

Please note we have another survey specifically looking at Success Stories. If you have been involved in a particular example of empowerment and engagement in land use and land management, and can afford the time, do please fill in that questionnaire as well at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/successstories2 (This survey is currently closed. Please contact the author of this survey for further assistance)

Please indicate if you would like to receive a link to the final report when it is published

  • Yes
  • No

Please forward this link to others you know who would like to have their say.

Contact

Email: Clare Magill, socialresearch@gov.scot

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