Championing the Local Part 3

Monday, 21st September 2026

Championing the Local, part 1

SPEAKERS: (full bios below)

• Neil McInroy, Global lead for Community Wealth Building, The Democracy Collaborative

• Dr Emilia Pietka-Nykaza, Senior lecturer, University of the West of Scotland

• Chris Martin, CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland

• Zoë Holliday, CEO, Community Energy Scotland (CES)

• Abi Mordin, Co-director, Propagate & coordinator, Dumfries and Galloway Sustainable Food Partnership

• TBC, The Ridge , Dunbar

Building vibrant local economies

Monday, 7th September, 4-6pm

Online – free admission

Building vibrant local economies is the first in the CHAMPIONING THE LOCAL series of SEDA Land Conversations.

This Conversation is aimed at helping community groups realise their ambitions 

We will explore alternative business models, including co-operatives, social enterprises and employee-owned businesses, and how they can make LVC’s possible, as well as the best scale at which such issues can be addressed – local, regional or national. 

At present, Scotland has plenty of micro examples of Inclusive and Democratic Business Models (IDBMs). We will look at ways of scaling these up, and rolling them out across the country, in areas such as food, renewable energy and retrofit.

One aim is to highlight the interconnectedness of all these issues, and how thinking about them together brings wider benefits, with different sectors learning from each other. 

This Conversation will include inspirational models, using these as a springboard for a broader discussion of the subject, addressing obstacles along the way and how to overcome them.

CHAIR:

• Adam Forrest, co-op development manager at Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS)

Championing the Local 

An online series of SEDA Land Conversations (free to attend)

Mon 7th, 14th & 21st of September 2026

There is an emerging consensus about what needs to be done to revive rural Scotland. This series of events will look at how this might be achieved in practice.

The theme will be the role local value chains can play and how these might be facilitated. A place-based model enables rural communities to reap more of the benefits from the land around them including health and wellbeing benefits as well as environmental ones from shorter supply chains.

The passing of the Community Wealth Building Act by the Scottish Government is likely to fuel the growth of local value chains. This world-first piece of legislation commits the Scottish Government to “enable more local communities and people to own, have a stake in, access and benefit from the wealth [Scotland’s] economy generates”, making it mandatory for public bodies to prioritise the reinvestment of locally-generated wealth back into local communities. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

Artistic Contributions

Moteh Parrott, Alternative-indie-folk singer-songwriter

Born in Cameroon to parents working in rainforest conservation, and given the local name ‘Mnkongmoteh’, Moteh is a Scottish musician who has been likened to “a Highland wilderness with all the sweeping colour and spirit which that encompasses”. He was shortlisted for BBC Radio Scotland’s Singer-Songwriter of the Year 2019, and released his debut album The Stones are Merely Sleeping in 2024.

Lisa MacDonald, poet and short story writer

Lisa lives in Achiltibuie in the NW Highlands. She is a community activist, a primary school teacher and a lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Her work has been widely published including her collection Mnathan na Còigich | The Women of Coigach. Lisa won the Wigtown Gaelic Poetry Prize 2014. She is fascinated by context – the way choices and circumstances ripple across communities, relationships and time in unforeseen ways .

Neil McInroy

Global lead for Community Wealth Building, The Democracy Collaborative

At The Democracy Collaborative Neil advances systemic economic reform and inclusive ownership strategies across the United States and internationally. With over 30 years of experience in progressive economic and public policy, Neil is widely recognized as a leading international figure in democratic economic development. Neil has been instrumental in shaping Community Wealth Building as both a practical framework and a strategic theory of change. His work is grounded in key contextual ideas — such as addressing structural inequality, democratizing wealth, and embedding resilience into local economies. He has developed the CWB Guide and Training Program, which provides a structured pathway for action, framed by his original development of the Five Pillars of CWB. Until 2021, Neil served for 20 years as CEO of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), the U.K.’s national organization for progressive local economies. He was also a Community Wealth Building Adviser to the Scottish Government until 2023, where he embedded CWB principles into national economic policy and chaired strategic reviews on Inclusive and Democratic Business Models and the Shetland Islands Energy Transition Taskforce. He is currently the chair of the economic development association of Scotland (EDSA).

Chris Martin

CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland

Chris Martin is Chief Executive Officer of Social Enterprise Scotland, the national membership body for social enterprises in Scotland. He has spent his career building and championing the social enterprise movement, with direct experience as a founder, practitioner and sector leader.  Chris has launched a number of social enterprises, including Engage Youth Project and Callander Hostel, and has a background in both formal and informal education. As Convener of the Callander Social Enterprise Network, Chris played a leading role in Callander becoming Scotland’s first Social Enterprise Town.  He also has a strong interest in social investment and co-founded Impact Investment Partnership Scotland. As Chair, he helped establish the £15 million Catalyst Fund in 2021, designed to support early-stage social enterprises with the finance they need to grow their impact. Through his current role, Chris works with members, government, funders and partners to strengthen Scotland’s social enterprise sector and advance a fairer, more inclusive economy.

Dr Emilia Pietka-Nykaza

Senior lecturer, University of the West of Scotland

Emilia brings a rich academic background in sociology, refugee studies, and political science to her research on integration and settlement processes. Her focus extends to exploring the impact of diverse population mobility patterns on the sustainability of rural communities, particularly examining the connections of young people to rural areas and fostering community relations among residents with varied migration histories. Emilia is an academic migrant herself and is keen to support sustainable rural communities. Emilia is currently a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy and Programme Leader for Social Sciences at the University of West of Scotland. She has more than 15 years of research experiences in the broad field of migration studies from a multidisciplinary and policy-focused perspective. Prior joining UWS, Emilia was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Population Change (CPC) at the University of Southampton. Emilia holds PhD in Education, MPhil in Sociology and MSc in Refugee and Migration Studies from University of Strahclyde. She is a director at Scottish Rural Action.

Zoë Holliday

CEO, Community Energy Scotland (CES)

Since joining CES in 2022 Zoë has become a leading voice for the community energy sector in Scotland and the UK and uses insights from more than 450 community energy members on the ground to unlock barriers and campaign for change. Zoë was instrumental in setting up the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy with DTAS and Community Land Scotland, and has co-authored several publications that have had significant traction. Prior to her role at CES, Zoë was Head of Strategic Development for Caritas Sofia in Bulgaria, which led to posts leading the Refugee Survival Trust and Humans in the Loop Foundation. She has also spent time working for the Energy Saving Trust, the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.

Abi Mordin

Co-director, Propagate & coordinator, Dumfries and Galloway Sustainable Food Partnership

Abi is a co-director of Propagate - a Scottish collective working on local, sustainable and community food projects. She has been working across community and local food projects for over 20 years, and is passionate about food sovereignty, resilience and fair food systems. An experienced grower, facilitator, practitioner and researcher , with an MSc in Farming and Food Security, Abi's inclusive and collaborative attitude encourages everyone to be involved in thinking about and co-creating sustainable food and farming systems. Abi lives in Dumfries and Galloway where she runs a small market garden and a small herd of Shetland cattle. Find out more at www.propagate.org.uk

TBC

The Ridge , Dunbar

The Ridge is a community charity. It provides access to training and support for people who live in Dunbar and the surrounding area and we aim especially to develop the skills and employability of marginalised and vulnerable local people. They develop practical supports to allow these more vulnerable members of our community to overcome barriers in accessing training and necessary interventions, to facilitate the fulfilment of their potential. They specialise in traditional construction methods such as joinery and stonemasonry .

CHAIR – Adam Forrest

Co-op development manager at Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS)

Adam works at the interface of agriculture, sustainable food systems, and rural development. His background spans roles in farm enterprise management, organic sector development, co-operative governance, and commercial strategy in the food sector. He is particularly interested in building collaborative, farmer-led approaches to sustainable agriculture that combine food production, nature restoration and community benefit. In 2025 he joined SAOS as Co-op Development Manager, to support the growth and resilience of Scottish agricultural cooperatives.  Adam previously served as Scotland Manager for the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), where he led advocacy, farmer engagement, and policy-influence efforts working with producers, eNGO partners, and government to embed nature-friendly farming in national agricultural policy. Prior to NFFN at Scotland Food & Drink, Adam coordinated the development of Scotland’s National Organic Action Plan alongside sectoral stakeholders and prior to that he was the enterprise manager at Cyrenians Farm, a market garden and rural skills centre for young people from backgrounds of homelessness.

Championing the Local, part 2

SPEAKERS: (full bios below)

• TBC, North Ayrshire Council

• Sarah Gowanlock, Partnerships Manager, Soil Association Scotland

• Sue Guy, Director, People, Place & Resilience Scotland CIC

• Iain MacPherson, director, Reorient Places

• Mike Staples,CEO, South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH)

• Emma Fletcher, founder & chair, Heating Swaffham Prior

Councils need to buy better

Monday, 14th September, 4-6pm

Online – free admission

Councils Need to Buy Better is the second in the CHAMPIONING THE LOCAL series of SEDA Land Conversations.

This conversation will highlight the critical role that local authorities play in enhancing local economies.

The Scottish Government is committed to integrating social value and wellbeing into public procurement through not only the Procurement Reform (Scotland) legislation, but also the Scottish National Performance Framework strategy.

In April 2023 the Scottish Government published the first Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland. Local authority procurement – on the long-term contractual basis – can give communities the much needed confidence to invest and kickstart new enterprises.

This could be particularly transformative for Scotland's rural and remote communities which often face unique challenges, including economic fragility, limited employment opportunities, and infrastructural deficits. Local procurement fosters local employment, enhancing skills, and improving local infrastructure. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

This Conversation will include inspirational models, using these as a springboard for a broader discussion of the subject, addressing obstacles along the way and how to overcome them.

CHAIR:

• Chris Martin, CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland

Championing the Local 

An online series of SEDA Land Conversations (free to attend)

Mon 7th, 14th & 21st of September 2026

There is an emerging consensus about what needs to be done to revive rural Scotland. This series of events will look at how this might be achieved in practice.

The theme will be the role local value chains can play and how these might be facilitated. A place-based model enables rural communities to reap more of the benefits from the land around them including health and wellbeing benefits as well as environmental ones from shorter supply chains.

The passing of the Community Wealth Building Act by the Scottish Government is likely to fuel the growth of local value chains. This world-first piece of legislation commits the Scottish Government to “enable more local communities and people to own, have a stake in, access and benefit from the wealth [Scotland’s] economy generates”, making it mandatory for public bodies to prioritise the reinvestment of locally-generated wealth back into local communities. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

ArtistIC Contributions

Jenny Sturgeon, composer, singer-songwriter, and sound artist
Jenny’s music combines field recordings with sonic and lyrical imagery bound together by threads of nature, folklore and the connection people have with the landscape. Jenny has released two acclaimed albums. 'The Living Mountain' won Best Acoustic at the 2020 Scottish Alternative Music Awards.  ​Jenny's most recent work paths.made.walking is a series of sound recordings which chart her journey walking the Scottish National Trail. Jenny’s music has been played widely on radio stations.

Chris Powici, poet, English and creative writing tutor

Chris’s poetry focuses on human and natural environments and how they overlap. He edited the literary magazine Northwords Now for seven years. He lives in Dunblane, and teaches at The Open University, the University of Stirling, and in the community. His collection, This Weight of Light, was published in 2015.

Flora Fraser, artist

Flora is an award-winning multi-media landscape artist exploring shared experiences in Scotland’s wild places: Art by FAF

TBC

North Ayrshire Council

North Ayrshire Council was Scotland's first Community Wealth Building (CWB) Council, as part of the Regional Economic Strategy for Ayrshire. Their Community Wealth Building Strategy 2024–2027. They have brought the key Anchor Institutions in Ayrshire together and created a Community Wealth Building Commission which will drive forward this new approach.

Sarah Gowanlock

Partnerships Manager, Soil Association Scotland

Sarah is an experienced project manager working in partnership with public sector, third sector, academic institutions and community organisations toward a sustainable future where we can all access good food. I build partnerships to develop and facilitate innovative projects to embed healthy and sustainable diets. Roll up the soil Association, Sarah is also partnerships and programsme manager for Food for Life Scotland.

Sue Guy

Director, People, Place & Resilience Scotland CIC

Sue has worked for over 25 years with communities, public bodies and third-sector organisations to turn local priorities into practical action. She was Project Lead for Scotland’s First Zero Waste Town and went on to co-found Reuse Scotland SCIO, bringing practical experience of community action and circular economy approaches. Her work has included advising governments, local authorities, schools and community organisations, nationally and internationally, with a consistent focus on enabling people to shape the decisions and solutions that affect their lives. Sue is now Director of People, Place & Resilience Scotland CIC, which supports more ambitious community benefit, social value and place-based work - helping public investment and procurement leave a stronger legacy for local people and places.

Iain MacPherson

director, Reorient Places

Iain specialises in reshaping the narrative of places and spaces through innovative thinking. Supporting and co-designing with stakeholders, communities, local authorities, and organisations, he help navigate creatively towards achieving impactful and sustainable outcomes. Awards include: Your Kirky Town Centre Action Plan (2020), Warrington Central 6 Masterplan (2021) and most recently Fraserburgh Beach Masterplan won the RTPI Scotland Award in the Best Plan category (2024). Iain was also a finalist for the 2021 Young Planner of the Year award.

Mike Staples

CEO, South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH)

Mike has been Chief Executive of South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH) since 2015, working in support of community-led housing, regeneration and asset ownership across Southern Scotland. Over that period, he has helped community organisation across the region to buy land and vacant/derelict buildings and deliver permanently affordable homes in community control that address local needs such as repopulation and homes for key workers. More recently, Mike has worked with Communities Housing Trust, CLS, DTAS and Nationwide Foundation to form the national Community-led Housing Alliance. Previously in his career, Mike has worked on urban regeneration projects across the UK, both in the public and private sector. He lives in Moniaive in Dumfries and Galloway.

Emma Fletcher

Founder & chair, Heating Swaffham Prior
Emma is the Low Carbon Housing Director at Octopus Energy. Her career has centred on leading high impact, high innovation projects in real estate, with a particular focus on housing, energy performance and green energy production. Her practical experience includes starting her career in rural surveying and estate management moving into award-winning housing and regeneration developments. Emma is a passionate advocate for change, community resilience and sustainability solutions for all. She established and led the UK’s first fossil fuel-free district heating scheme in her village, Swaffham Prior. Her work regularly features in trade, national and international press & media.

CHAIR – Chris Martin

CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland

Chris Martin is Chief Executive Officer of Social Enterprise Scotland, the national membership body for social enterprises in Scotland. He has spent his career building and championing the social enterprise movement, with direct experience as a founder, practitioner and sector leader.  Chris has launched a number of social enterprises, including Engage Youth Project and Callander Hostel, and has a background in both formal and informal education. As Convener of the Callander Social Enterprise Network, Chris played a leading role in Callander becoming Scotland’s first Social Enterprise Town.  He also has a strong interest in social investment and co-founded Impact Investment Partnership Scotland. As Chair, he helped establish the £15 million Catalyst Fund in 2021, designed to support early-stage social enterprises with the finance they need to grow their impact. Through his current role, Chris works with members, government, funders and partners to strengthen Scotland’s social enterprise sector and advance a fairer, more inclusive economy.

Championing the Local, part 3

SPEAKERS: (full bios below)

• Andrew Williams, Local Programme Manager, Verture

• Clare Cooper, Co-Founder & Co-Director, Bioregioning Tayside

• Lizzie Williams, Regional Land Use Partnership (RLUP) manager, NW2045 

• McNabb Laurie, Manager, D&G Woodlands

• Henry Leveson-Gower, Founder and CEO, Promoting Economic Pluralism

• Gary Jack, founder & trustee, Highland People’s Power 

Landscape-scale governance

Mon 21st September 4-6pm

Online – free admission

Landscape-Scale Governance is the third in the CHAMPIONING THE LOCAL series of SEDA Land Conversations.

This conversation will explore when it may be appropriate to scale up the model to regional or national level. Regional Land Use Partnerships (RLUPs) and bioregions are models bordered by natural geographic and landscape boundaries such as mountain ridges and watersheds. Both adopt a natural capital approach to understanding their regional landscapes. This addresses issues in a cross-sectoral way, using a systems approach, rather than simplifying the issues into sectoral silos. This is a challenging ambition, since it means grappling with the complexity, uncertainty and trade-offs inherent in large scale, closely coupled, socio-ecological systems, but policy and land use decisions (such as natural flood protection measures) are often best made at such a scale.

This Conversation will include inspirational models, using these as a springboard for a broader discussion of the subject, addressing obstacles along the way and how to overcome them.

CHAIR:

• Lucy Filby, Head of Land & Forestry Transition, South of Scotland Enterprise

Championing the Local 

An online series of SEDA Land Conversations (free to attend)

Mon 7th, 14th & 21st of September 2026

There is an emerging consensus about what needs to be done to revive rural Scotland. This series of events will look at how this might be achieved in practice.

The theme will be the role local value chains can play and how these might be facilitated. A place-based model enables rural communities to reap more of the benefits from the land around them including health and wellbeing benefits as well as environmental ones from shorter supply chains.

The passing of the Community Wealth Building Act by the Scottish Government is likely to fuel the growth of local value chains. This world-first piece of legislation commits the Scottish Government to “enable more local communities and people to own, have a stake in, access and benefit from the wealth [Scotland’s] economy generates”, making it mandatory for public bodies to prioritise the reinvestment of locally-generated wealth back into local communities. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

Artists Contributions

Kirsty Law, singer and songwriter

Kirsty is a Scots folksinger, songmaker and storyteller. Having learnt directly from tradition bearers such as Sheila Stewart she now works in theatre, with artists, dancers, poets, storytellers, sound artists as she explores themes such as social commentary, landscape, hope and snow. 

Stuart Paterson, poet

Stuart is an award-winning poet and performer in his native Scots & English. An author of many collections, his poems have been commissioned by BBC2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Ulster, the Scottish Parliament and HMP Barlinnie. In 2017-18 he was BBC Scotland Poet in Residence. In 2020 he was voted ‘Scots Language Writer of the Year’.

Andrew Williams

Local Programme Manager, Verture

Andrew is the Local Programme Manager at Verture, the UK’s only charity solely dedicated to climate resilience. Verture work to support a fairer, more climate-ready future for all by bringing together communities, public bodies, businesses and policymakers to address the root causes of climate vulnerability and turn ambition into practical action. Their work focuses on collaboration, place-based approaches and lived experience, combining local knowledge with scientific evidence and policy insight. Andrew is a sustainability professional with experience working in marketing, communications, and project management around environmental and social justice issues, with a particular interest in how community climate action can allow under-represented groups to have their voices heard.

Lizzie Williams

Regional Land Use Partnership (RLUP) manager, NW2045 

Lizzie manages the NW2045 Regional Land Use Partnership. She has lived in Coigach since 2009, working on a variety of land and community regeneration initiatives, including hands-on management of nature restoration projects and facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration across the area. Lizzie has supported the NW2045 since 2021, providing communication and coordination skills to sustain the positive intentions of the partners. Raising a young family and supporting unwell parents in a remote community has given Lizzie first hand experience of the issues facing the area. 

McNabb Laurie

Manager, D&G Woodlands

McNabb completed a BSc in Environmental Management at Lancaster University before spending 10 years working across the UK in the not-for-profit and corporate sectors. He grew up near Palnackie and in 2013 returned to the region, working initially at Loch Arthur Cafe and with the council, culminating in a role with the Galloway Glens Scheme between 2018-2023. This role involved a broad range of disciplines, from natural environment and heritage through to community engagement. In 2023 McNabb established Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, leads the organisational development, and aspects of work including the adding of community and wider value to woodland creation schemes in the region. He is a founding trustee of Upper Urr Environment Trust, and secretary of the local community council

Clare Cooper

Co-Founder & Co-Director, Bioregioning Tayside

Clare is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Bioregioning Tayside, where she leads the development of the Framework for Action for the Tay Bioregion (2025–2045) and is helping pioneer new approaches to place-based governance, landscape restoration and regenerative finance. An independent creative producer by background, Clare has held a number of leadership roles bringing together communities, public bodies, land managers and investors to build resilient, regenerative futures, including with Alyth Community Council, Alyth Development Trust and the Rural Perth & Kinross LEADER Local Action Group.

Henry Leveson-Gower

Founder and CEO, Promoting Economic Pluralism

Henry is an ecological economist and policy analyst with 30 years experience working in the public sector, locally, nationally and internationally. He has particular expertise in agricultural and environmental policy and regulation as well as green finance, local currencies and environmental markets. He has always sought to take a pluralist approach to economics since first coming into contact with standard economics in the early 90s following a degree in Philosophy. He set up Promoting Economic Pluralism and The Mint Magazine in 2016, where he is CEO and editor respectively. Henry has also been a Research Fellow at the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus, is a Fellow of the RSA and a qualified chartered accountant.

Gary Jack

founder & trustee, Highland People’s Power 

Gary lives and works with his wife on their croft in Wester Ross, growing produce organically and generating a large part of their energy needs through renewables. Having been involved in various roles in community projects in the Scottish Borders, now that he has settled in the Highlands has become involved in many local community projects as well as being the Treasurer and committee member of the local village hall. Gary was a Chartered Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager in the construction industry for over 35 years, initially in the private sector, then social housing provision. For the last 15 years, he project managed the installation of  renewables in domestic properties, as well as carrying out Energy Performance Certificates. Gary and his wife are both avid nature lovers which was one of the reasons for moving to the Highlands.

CHAIR – Lucy Filby

Head of Land & Forestry Transition, South of Scotland Enterprise

Lucy has over 20 yrs experience of building partnership projects to improve environmental outcomes in farming and wider food and drink value chains. Lucy worked at SEPA before joining SOSE in 2022. Lucy believes passionately that the health of our environment cannot be protected or improved without also tackling poverty and inequality. An aspiring regenerative practitioner, she loves working in the spaces between current reality and future vision. She is an advocate for business to be a force for good, growing prosperity and resilience together, within planetary limits.