Briefing paper 50: Principles for effective social regeneration

Since 2013 the GCPH has been evaluating Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise programme. The evaluation makes clear that Sistema Scotland’s approach offers important learning as to the processes involved in the delivery of effective social interventions. This is an essential area of learning due to the lack of priority afforded to social interventions in comparison with physical (housing, environmental and infrastructure) and economic regeneration (jobs and investment).

Based on the evaluation of Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise programme, this paper proposes and discusses seven principles for effective social interventions and social regeneration. The strength of Sistema Scotland’s approaches appears to lie in the application of all seven principles concurrently, within the Big Noise programme.

Practitioners and communities involved in social interventions and social regeneration should consider the application of all seven principles but may be constrained by resource and time and/or limited by the specific context and remit of the intervention or programme. The principles emphasise the quality and duration of relationship between regeneration agent and participant; Sistema Scotland’s vision could be described as ‘people change lives’ not services or programmes or necessarily even music. These principles are proposed in order to support discussion concerning the strategic and operational delivery of social regeneration and interventions within Scotland and beyond.