Shed members of the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) qualify to apply for accommodation and travel costs, to share ideas and learn from other Men’s Sheds across Scotland, through its membership agreement with the Scottish Community Alliance’s Learning Exchange grant program.
The Community Learning Exchange is a fantastic opportunity for communities to learn through the exchange of ideas and the sharing of common solutions. When community groups make visits to other communities, the most valuable part is often meeting new people with similar interests and gaining new insights and perspectives on shared challenges. Visiting groups come away armed with new ideas and approaches, and host organisations have the opportunity to explain their project to a new and interested audience, often seeing their own projects afresh through new eyes.
Changes to the application process
The Scottish Community Alliance (SCA) has announced some changes to the way applications to the Community Learning Exchange are processed. The new protocol for this grant funding asks for interested parties to now make contact directly with their SCA member network—in terms of Scottish Men’s Sheds, this is the SMSA—in advance of applying to ensure that the network has knowledge of the application and is willing to endorse it.
The SMSA will then automatically receive an email when the application has been received by the SCA. Once the application is approved, the SMSA will then receive a Grant Acceptance Form to countersign to provide evidence of its endorsement of the grant.
What will the Exchange fund for SMSA member Sheds?
Community to community visits—up to 100% of the travel and accommodation costs of a visit by members of one community to another community project up to a limit of £750. For more information on the Community Learning Exchange, please click here.
Interested?
Interested SMSA Shed members should make contact with the SMSA in the first instance at admin@scottishmsa.org.uk or call 07465 202834.