Processes, Learning and a Funding Toolkit for Community Led Local Development (CLLD) Across Argyll and Bute

Tender description

Argyll and Bute Council acting as the LEADER Accountable Body representing the Argyll and the Islands Local Action Group (LAG), with funding award by the Scottish Government Rural Communities Testing Change Fund - Tranche 1 Stream 1 (Local Action Group Innovation Fund), wishes to commission an external consultant to undertake the delivery of processes, learning and a funding toolkit for community-led local development (CLLD) across Argyll and Bute. Argyll and Bute Council is the Accountable Body for the Argyll and the Islands LAG which has responsibility for delivering the Argyll and the Islands 2014-2020 LEADER Local Development Strategy (LDS), part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP). The ITQ follows a call from the Scottish Government for Programme Rural Communities Team for applications from LAG or their Accountable Bodies to test new ways to support and deliver on CLLD in Scotland. The funding is available for the current 2021/22 financial year. The main objectives of this study brief are: -To map the CLLD activity across Argyll and Bute to provide a baseline against which transformational change can be tested and measured by communities themselves going forward; -To identify good practice approaches and processes; -To understand capacity/skills issues and any other needs/gaps faced by communities; -To identify how any of these needs and gaps be addressed; -To identify how to improve the ability of communities to prepare and submit successful funding bids; and -To deliver a virtual conference to discuss the findings of the desk-based research and provide communities with a toolkit of good practice approaches and processes for securing external funding that is easy to understand and available to all. The virtual conference will be open to all involved in CLLD within Argyll and Bute. This will provide a platform for organisations involved in CLLD to work together to exchange experience and learn from good practice, plus learning from common errors. A conference report, complete with a shared toolkit of good practice approaches and processes for securing external funding, is to be included as part of the final report.