Scotland's communities are a rich source of energy, creativity and talent. They are made up of people with rich and diverse backgrounds who each have something to contribute to making Scotland flourish. The role of Government is to help communities to work together to fulfil their potential.
The Scottish Government is committed to our communities being supported to do things for themselves - community empowerment - and to people having their voices heard in the planning and delivery of services - community engagement.
Where communities are empowered we would expect to see a range of benefits: local democracy boosted; increased confidence and skills among local people; higher numbers of people volunteering in their communities; and more satisfaction with quality of life in a local neighbourhood. Better community engagement leads to the delivery of better, more responsive services.
The links on the left take you to documents and products that detail what the Scottish Government is doing with partners to help to support and promote community empowerment and engagement.
The Scottish Government will continue to develop this agenda working closely with COSLA, in the spirit of the concordat, and with colleagues in the third sector.