Case Study
Love Letham children’s wellbeing vision
Involving children and young people in wellbeing visioning
In Scotland, Ministers have a legal duty to consult on, develop, and publish a new set of National Outcomes for Scotland at least every five years. The National Outcomes set out a vision for collective wellbeing in Scotland, describe ‘what good looks like’, and support a shared way of working across government. The outcomes are monitored by national indicators, which provide insights into whether outcomes are moving in the right direction.
At a local level in Scotland, governments are finding innovative ways to include a wide range of voices into wellbeing visioning, including those of children and young people who are often less heard in policy conversations. For example, Love Letham is a partnership project between WEAll Scotland, Perth & Kinross Council, and several delivery partners, funded by Cattanach, a Scottish charity funder. The project aims to bring together children, youth, families, carers and the wider community to co-create solutions to make Letham the best place it can be for the youngest in their community.
In its first phase, Love Letham undertook an extensive participation exercise with children and young people in the local area - visiting local groups within the community, speaking with children, young people as well as working with third sector partners on the ground. They asked: “What does wellbeing in Letham mean to you?”. This participatory process, which involved hundreds of children and young people from across Letham, led to the development of a children’s wellbeing vision.
Source: WEAll Scotland
Starting from the wellbeing vision, Love Letham then worked with schools, the local youth group and an adults’ commission to develop ideas and carry out research for how this wellbeing vision could be achieved. A report was put together with recommendations that the local authority could enact to deliver a local economy that served the wellbeing of children and young people in the area. The report took into account impacts on local authority work and policy decisions, as well as community buy-in so that everyone within the community could drive the children’s vision forward.
The success of the initial phases of Love Letham strengthened the support for the project and engagement was further broadened out to include families with babies, toddlers and the early years community. Love Letham worked with Starcatchers & Early Years Scotland to deliver participation sessions at nurseries, family groups, toddler & parent groups and with practitioners and key workers within the community. The reach within the community further expanded and brought more people along on the journey.
Children often have a profound sense of what matters in life. The Love Letham project helped them articulate what they need to flourish and to co-create plans to deliver it.
Children, youth and adults decided to focus their attention on increasing feelings of safety, which was a key concern for children when developing their wellbeing vision. Early years’ participants focused on what it means for babies and toddlers to feel safe and loved in Letham. Love Letham is now working with the local council, third sector organisations in Letham, community leaders, faith leaders and local business owners to champion and advocate for the children’s vision.
Children and young people are working to develop their own solutions that align with their wellbeing vision and goals and will present them back to their community. The work with early years’ participants is offering a new understanding of the importance of early intervention and prevention within the community.
Children often have a profound sense of what matters in life. The Love Letham project helped them articulate what they need to flourish and to co-create plans to deliver it. The project is generating a wealth of knowledge and insights for community organisations and the local authority, as well as developing tools and networks to inform long-term policy that will benefit the youngest in Letham.