North Ronaldsay Trust

Community Development Manager

In March 2018, The North Ronaldsay Trust was successful in securing a grant from the Orkney LEADER Programme, which funded salary and related costs for the Community Development Manager role.

The project was successfully completed in August 2020.

Recruitment of the CDM enabled significant activity and progress on activity such as:

• Acquisition of the former schoolhouse, to increase housing capacity
• Investigating housing need
• Hosting of an Island Conference, an event highlighting plans for the future
• Supporting the community during Covid-19
• Raising funds for a range of projects, electric bikes, bike shed etc
• Commercial premises – researching an innovative NEST unit complex to provide a fit-for-purpose building for the wool processing business and potential space for other small businesses. The North Ronaldsay Trust has since acquired such premises at Trebb
• Securing funding to continue employing a Community Development Manager

About LEADER

LEADER (Liaison Entre Actions de Developement de l’Economie Rurale – links between actions for the development of the rural economy) formed part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme, which funded economic, environmental and social measures for the benefit of rural Scotland.

LEADER is a bottom-up method of delivering support for rural development, aimed at increasing the capacity of the local rural community and business networks by building knowledge and skills, encouraging innovation and cooperation, and attempting to achieve local development objectives.

Funded by the European Union and Scottish Government, the 2014 – 2020 LEADER Programme was delivered in Scotland by 21 Local Action Groups (LAGs) implementing Local Development Strategies for their area.