Community Work is about strengthening local communities.
Community Work supports people to develop the skills, understanding and confidence to get involved in their community. It helps build the capacity of local communities to identify and tackle community issues, and influence decisions that affect their lives.
Community Work is delivered under the Community Development Service. A team of Community Involvement and Development Officers work throughout Shetland, with a focus on building stronger, more resilient, influential and inclusive communities. Click on the links on the left to find out how to contact the officer for your area.
We work to maintain and improve Shetland's quality of life by providing support across a wide range of aspects of community life, such as education, the economy, employability, local transport, local planning and democracy, barriers to participation, health and well being.
We have one of the most active communities per head of population in Scotland in which volunteering and community involvement plays such an integral part. Our job is to support Shetland’s unique way of life, to help communities adapt to the challenges they are facing, and work together with others to develop practical solutions which make the best use of resources available.
What we do
- Support communities to identify and develop local solutions to local issues
- Help communities and those providing local services to work closely together
- Work with communities to develop and implement local development and regeneration plans
- Support communities and community groups to play a key role in local planning
- Help communities and community groups achieve their full potential
- Help groups access external funding
- Work in partnership with groups and agencies to identify individuals, families or groups facing particular difficulties or disadvantage
- Work with, and to act as advocate for initiatives and community concerns, in order to ensure that the voice of the community is clearly heard
- Support communities to access information to plan, fund, and manage their work effectively