The Transformation Team, part of Faith In Community Scotland, works alongside local Faith Communities as they work together

to make a difference in the economically poorest communities in Glasgow. This is done by providing a wide range of support and training opportunities for local people.

Some of our Community highlights over the year (2010/11) are:

Nearly 627 people have benefited from capacity building opportunities including: supporting the creation of new employment opportunities; providing skills training and events, such as Valuing Volunteers and Fit for Funding Training; providing local statistics and information in Community Profiles; personal development opportunities through the Discovery Programme; and poverty awareness workshops. Active links within 31 of the 38 priority areas in Glasgow, and active across all the citys Planning Partnership areas. Worked with nearly 100 different local faith based organisations including the Muslim Communities; Church of Scotland; Roman Catholic; other Christian organisations. Through the Faithful Purpose Volunteer initiative placed 28 volunteers in community groups with specialist skills in e.g. finance or project planning and some in a more general one off way e.g. painting community halls. Provided of 59 Community Profiles; valuable statistical evidence and comparative analysis that can assist local groups. Transformation Team have supported more than 22 different events including: poverty awareness; human rights, Faith in Action and Better Community Engagement. These provide opportunities for local groups and organisations to increase their awareness and skills to engage with local communities. Faith in Community Scotland was one of 10 agencies in Scotland selected to take part in the Scottish Government Better Community Engagement programme because it was able to show a strategic role in Glasgow and are valued as a city partner.

How we work
The Transformation Team is a resource for faith communities in Glasgow. We work alongside local people at the invitation of faith community leaders. The ethos of the team is to work collaboratively across denominations and faiths. We work at three levels:

1. Resourcing

and encouraging individual faith community members who are involved, or would like to become involved, in social action within their community

2. Working with faith communities to enable them to establish or continue good

practice initiatives within their communities and to accompany and facilitate them as they become more active or involved in local community planning and regeneration

3. To

motivate and encourage at strategic level, ecumenical church and faith structures to become more focussed and more co-ordinated in city-wide responses and initiatives relating to poverty reduction and social inclusion.

Where We Work
The Transformation Team work is resourced to support the 38 economically poorest areas of Glasgow and the surrounding areas. The Team is currently working in all but a few areas of the city.

Providing Training and Resources

We deliver tailored and context specific training to members of faith communities and faith-based organisations from all across Glasgow: Fit for Funding is a training day designed to equip people with the skills necessary to write effective funding applications. Its aimed at people who may have responsibility for fundraising or securing long-term stability for a project or piece of work. Valuing Volunteers is training programme to support volunteering structures and make volunteering more sustainable. It can also be delivered as part of an organisations team development to engender good practice when working with volunteers. Community Research Toolkit is a training programme aimed at giving people the skills needed to carry out research in their local community, including, developing questionnaires and how to analyse data. Eethaar Community Resource is a unique set of hands on training activities aimed at getting Muslim communities more involved in issues of local poverty and social inequalities. The resource addresses the need to develop skills within the Muslim Community to enable them to be effective in addressing the needs in our neighbourhoods across the city.

CASE STUDY
Toryglen is a community of approximately 4,500 people on the south side of Glasgow where well over half the population are either unemployed, on benefits or in lowgrade employment. The Team have worked with a local church and Thistle Housing Association to develop a new community facility in the area. Over 100 local people have helped shape and plan how the new facility can serve the community most effectively