Beyond 2016: It's time to do things differently

Scottish politics has been exciting over the last few years. We’ve seen a majority government in the Scottish Parliament, voted in a referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future, and, through the Scotland Bill, we will soon have one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world. New powers are coming, and the party that wins the Scottish election in May will be the first to use them. Yet despite these advances we still have a long way to go. People across our society face very real challenges as poverty, inequality and social justice devastates those most in need in our society and communities are dis-empowered through unemployment, discrimination and disadvantage. These challenges, and many others, are discussed in depth in the manifestos of our members. Scotland can do better. This is the backdrop to SCVO’s latest policy briefing which captures, just ahead of the coming election, the Scottish third sector’s top priorities for beyond 2016. Our sector has an ambitious vision for the future. We want a fairer Scotland. The big question is: how can we make our vision a reality? To achieve our aspirations we need:

• A long-term plan that is ambitious and visionary, not just the tweaking of existing approaches
• A strategic and well-connected approach to support that enables everyone to participate in society
• People to have more control over their own support and contribution to enable them to build on their own capabilities
• Recognition that everyone’s contribution to Scottish society, financial or otherwise, is important

Everyone in our sector has a role to play. Together we can turn this shared vision into a reality. For example, we need to find new ways of supporting and mobilising the people and communities that other sectors are struggling to reach. Only by utilising our relationships can we empower people and communities to be involved in the decisions that affect their lives. We need to explore and promote how an expansion of self-directed approaches could revolutionise support for the communities we serve. We must also work together to recognise and communicate the links between our strategies if we are to create truly modern services that work in harmony to improve lives. Our calls to action may be ambitious, but together we have a strong voice; let’s use it to build the Scotland we want for the future. Read the full briefing and together let’s turn our ambitions vision for the future a reality.