Assynt Resilience Group

Local Groups working together, including: Assynt Community Council, Community Care Assynt, Connect Assynt and Assynt Development Trust

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Since the onset of Covid-19 in 2020, local groups entered into partnership to help people locally in response to the pandemic and related issues. This was largely by way of the Assynt Resilience Group partnership. Projects included local facemask manufacture and distribution, and the creation of Assynt Food Larder. More recently, other partnerships have developed tackling various local issues, including a partnership addressing local wellbeing, which includes other key partners such as Lochinver Medical Practice.

More detailed historic background information

The Supporting Communities Fund – to support community response to Covid-19
In March 2020, the Scottish Government announced an investment of £350 million to support local communities and households across Scotland in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. These funds included the Supporting Communities Fund which was targeted at being locally distributed and administered by community anchor organisations. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) distributed the funds on behalf of the Scottish Government to anchor organisations within the Highlands and Islands. HIE aimed for a targeted approach working closely with partners and communities to identify key anchor organisations with the ability to deliver and distribute funds to grass roots level.
HIE approached Assynt Development Trust to see if the Trust was willing to act as Assynt’s community anchor organisation for this purpose, and to invite the Trust to develop an application to the fund to support the Assynt community. Working together with Assynt Community Council (ACC), Community Care Assynt (CCA) and Connect Assynt (CA), an expression of interest was submitted, then following further discussions a final application costed at £29,008 was submitted and accepted by HIE in mid-April 2020.
The grant funds were used with some flexibility in responding to impacts of Coivd-19, but aimed to fulfill the following activities and outputs across Assynt:

Assessing and managing risk and provision of information resources
Hot daily meal deliveries to isolated and high risk individuals
Local food bank establishment and operation
Provision of consumables and equipment including PPE
Contingency fund including support to enable working with other groups
Supplies collection from outside Assynt

Assynt Community Council (ACC) and Community Care Assynt (CCA), who run the Assynt Centre, initiated the Assynt response to the threat of Covid-19, and both those bodies and Connect Assynt joined in partnership with ADT, as the Assynt Resilience Group, to develop and take forward the SCF project and wider work around Covid-19 response.

The role of ADT was to act as the community anchor organisation with the legal powers to receive the funding which it could then distribute, and to be accountable to the Scottish Government for the expenditure.

Following its formation, Assynt Resilience Group, often working with other local partners, delivered the following:

– Local Food Bank service with food deliveries to around 60 individuals per week at the height of the economic impact of the first lockdown.

– Face mask production and distribution to all Assynt Residents, including providing paid work for local craftspeople.

– Provision of Hand sanitiser, hand sanitiser dispensers, PPE etc. and advice to local businesses including tourism businesses.

– Hot meals delivery, providing nutritious food and social contact to older people unable to attend Assynt Centre lunches due to forced closure of the centre due to Covid 19.

– Creation of a Food Larder, to continue provision of food to the economically hard-hit while also reducing food waste (sited at Assynt Leisure Centre, in partnership with Assynt Leisure)

Besides SCP funding, Assynt Resilience Group also sourced further funding funds through North Highlands Initiative and Scotland’s Towns Partnership towards the costs of sanitiser and PPE for local groups and businesses.

Since closure of the SCP grant period in September 2020, it was agreed to continue the Assynt Resilience Group partnership, welcoming involvement from other local organisations and individuals and aiming to address wider economic issues arsing due to economic impacts of Covid 19, and further cost of living and food and fuel poverty crises.

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