Foundation Scotland nominated for Scottish Green Energy Award

Foundation Scotland is up for the ‘Best Engagement Award: Foundation Scotland for Vattenfall’s South Kyle Windfarm

Nominations for The Scottish Green Energy Awards 2022 have landed…and Foundation Scotland is up for the ‘Best Engagement Award: Foundation Scotland for Vattenfall’s South Kyle Windfarm’. Over 150 entries were received, so it is a huge achievement to have been shortlisted.

In their submission, Vattenfall said:

“Foundation Scotland’s exemplary engagement work for South Kyle Wind Farm has put the community in the driving seat and set a precedent for accelerating impact and building capacity when considering community benefit funds.  Foundation Scotland have innovated and pioneered and gone over and above to work with South Kyle’s four contrasting local communities and make sure the community benefit fund generates lasting benefits for future generations.

 

“Foundation Scotland’s initial goal was to inspire community members to develop ideas for how the fund could meet long term local needs. They adapted swiftly to pandemic restrictions, helping people get online and worked to overcome the challenges of remotely building trust, co-design and agreement. They innovated and capitalised on the unique circumstances with a series of themed online ‘Inform and Inspire’ workshops where groups from across Scotland shared their experiences of managing community benefits with the South Kyle communities. They also ran online workshops exploring joint strategic priorities (e.g. tourism) and then later in-person ‘Deep Dive’ sessions to ensure individual communities felt innately heard and understood.

 

“Foundation Scotland worked hard to ensure young people’s voices were at the heart of the engagement process by using a new digital polling platform and designing an innovative Young Deciders programme which gave children a taste of making spending decisions on behalf of their peers. This collaborative and thorough approach has helped build trust, connections and relationships, navigating a path where each community ‘wins’ and has a close understanding of best practice around renewable energy community benefit. They feel positive and empowered – ready for the fund to land. We are proud of Foundation Scotland and the communities because of the focus on actively designing a brilliant fund together. This approach is building local capacity, empowering groups and will ensure the fund and its wealth-building impacts are sustainable.”

The awards take place on the 1st of December.

A huge thank you to Vattenfall for the nomination, we’re very honoured.