Rural Exchange by NISIRE

The Rural Exchange provides an exciting new platform for people living and working across Scotland’s rural and island communities to have their voices heard in both research and policy-making.

Through the Rural Exchange the research team at SRUC would like to hear from you about the key issues affecting your everyday lives as households and businesses, what is working well in your community, and what could be improved.

This information into the research to ensure that ‘grassroots’ views are taken into account when developing recommendations for policy at local, regional and national levels. In this way, the Rural Exchange provides a new vehicle for the views and experiences of those across rural and island Scotland to be heard and to inform policy change, in particular through Scotland’s rural movement.

You can provide your ideas and suggestions at any time through the "Get Involved" button on their website, you can also respond to regular polls, and inform of any issues that should be focused on in future polls.

In its Programme for Government 2019-20, the Scottish Government committed to support the development of a rural movement in Scotland:

“We will work with Scottish Rural Action and others to support the development of a rural movement that will engage with communities between rural parliaments to include a more diverse range of voices, including those in disadvantaged communities.”

Scotland’s rural and island communities are characterised by many organisations and networks, focusing on many different activities and sectors, including agriculture, forestry, land ownership and management, economic development, education and skills, renewable energy, health and social care, and so on. Drawing on the collective strengths of these individuals and organisations to bring together rural and island communities and amplify their diverse voices is a rural movement. Scotland’s rural movement serves two purposes:

• Community mobilisation: enabling communities to share expertise and resources
• Policy development: advancing dialogue between communities and decision makers, enabling co-production of policy

Head over to their website and take a look;

Rural Exchange by NISRIE