Publications and outcomes

Publications and outcomes

Project publications have been as smaller documents, published as the project progressed. 

Individual document links are below, and all the publications have been collected on a single Scottish Government website here. 

In June 2025,  Scottish Government published:

• The theories of change from project stage 1.  This includes theories of change for Community Led Local Development, Scottish Rural Action, and Scottish Rural Network, as well as an overarching theory of change.  
• The policy and delivery context, as part of the project stage 2.  This explains how these Community Led Local Development, Scottish Rural Action, and Scottish Rural Network fit within wider policy and legislation.

In October 2025, Scottish Government published international case studies of rural community development for: 

• England
• Canada
• Finland
• Ireland

In March 2026, Scottish Government published: 

• Research Findings on Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development

• Plain language community case studies: 
• East Borders
• East Moray 
• Harris and Scalpay 
• Lochalsh and South Skye 
• Orkney 
• West Lothian 
• Young People

In June 2026, Scottish Government published:

• Reviewing approaches and tools for evaluating rural community development interventions. 

• Recommendations for future policy.