10 September 2019

Event highlights need for strong partnership working

An event led by Aberdeenshire Council’s Community Learning and Development team in Ellon on Monday (9 September) brought together partners from across the region to build stronger connections for the benefit of the local community.

Senior CLD worker Nicola Twine explained: “Community development is often about helping communities identify common needs which they feel will make the most difference. Meaningful engagement can help to strengthen local knowledge and capacity so communities can more easily make the changes they want to see happen. We work closely with local volunteer groups, charities and partner services including schools, colleagues in health and the police.”

The event in Ellon is one of the key outcomes from the Local Learning Community Partnership’s discussions. They identified priorities and are keen to see services become more visible, to ensure better uptake of the opportunities and support services available to local people and to ensure signposting is even better between agencies. A number of speakers and stall holders at the event travelled from Edinburgh to support the event, including Alliance Scotland. They run ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) - a digital platform which helps citizens, professionals and organisations work together to find and share information about local offerings which help people to live well.

Cllr Gillian Owen, Chair of Aberdeenshire’s Education and Children’s Services Committee who is also local to Ellon commented: “This is about supporting people to make the best possible lifestyle choices, it’s about working together to improve our community and it’s about building relationships. We’re only human as they say and sometimes just being able to put a face to a name or getting a better sense of an otherwise faceless organisation is a simple yet important step in making a difference for the future.”