Unpacking community resilience through Capacity for Change

Enhancing inclusion and self-reliance at community level is gaining ground in policy terms, due – in part – to the need to increase the efficiency of public spend, associated with the global financial crisis. Within Scotland, this shift is manifested through multiple policy and community interventions seeking to enhance resilience of communities. Measuring community resilience remains challenging as there is a lack of practical tools and assessment methods to capture aspects of ‘change’. The research presented here is based on the ‘Capacity for Change’ programme, which, through community engagement and empowerment, seeks to enhance the capacity of rural places and develop inclusive communities.