Training and Mentoring
Supporting learning and capacity-building with communities, and public and third sector organisations.Nescan Hub – training and mentoring programme
Between 2023 and 2025, CCN delivered a training and mentoring programme with the North East Climate Action Network (Nescan) Hub as part of the Just Transition Communities Project. As a newly established Hub, Nescan wanted to build confidence, skills and experience in community development, including how to design and run Community and Climate Assemblies.
The programme combined hands-on practice with structured reflection and mentoring. In the first year (2023–2024), Nescan staff shadowed CCN during community engagement work in Huntly, Banff and Macduff. In the second year (2024–2025), the roles shifted with Nescan staff leading engagement activity in Kemnay and CCN providing mentoring and support. This approach allowed learning to be applied directly in a live real-time project, rather than remaining theoretical.
Hands-on Community Engagement and Place-based Co-learning: livd experience and margins-in approaches. The programme involved practical hands-on community engagement activities including how to establish contact with a community for the first time, developing and expanding participation and representation, learning from key community ‘anchor’ organisations and individual actors and workers via lived-experience narrative approaches, and identifying key demographics that make up a Place. As with all CCN’s work, a ‘margins-in’ approach was pursued including establishing contact with people and groups who are often not involved in these types of processes, for the purposes of building a more accurate and fuller picture of each Place.
Place-based Representation. A core principle of CCN ensuring detailed and accurate co-learning, understanding and ‘picture-building’. Learning took the form of shadowing an iterative process of establishing contact with residents from a diverse range of backgrounds, and receiving feedback about the demographic make up of their community and reaching out to each new section of the ocmmunity to invite them into participating in the porject. Without sufficient representation, interventions and solutions run a higher risk of being ineffective, producing unintended consequences and/or worsening situations which were already in need of attention and improvement.
Mapping Community Perspectives and Systems Dynamics Mapping exercises were carried out reflecting on residents’ views and perspectives on locally potent issues, areas identified for protection and improvement and important things which were cherished and people wanted to preserve. Important themes were mapped systemically through diagrams articulating relationships, knock on impacts and virtuous or vicious cycles. The development of each systems diagram included a process of community review, verification and validation through further engagement and discussion of the draft maps and models.
Design, Recruitment and Facilitation of Community Meetings, Workshops and ‘Citizen Assemblies bringing diverse and representative voices together to learn from teh initial engagement and mapping/modelling exercises. The mentoring programme focussed on recruitment, how to ensure genuine representation and the right balance of participants, ideas around ‘Dunbar’s Number’ (effective group sizes supporting particular activities and purposes), and communications strategies which included clear and personalised correspondence for residents. Assembly design and facilitation skills were also practiced in order to promote collective discussion and co-development of ideas and solutions related to the themes and priorities.
Learning and Reflection Workshops: Sensemaking and Theoretical Foundations A series of workshops were carried out during the programme to enable group reflection on key learnings, sensemaking of the findings emerging from the communities, and opportunities to discuss the theoretical grounding underpinning CCN’s principles-based approach. They also included experiential exercises which facilitated relational and holistic modes of perception, the ‘System A – System B problem’ and co-learning around challenges related to organisational approaches to community development (see Process, Sensemaking Workshop 1 below).
‘Agile’ Reflection / Check-in Meetings were held during year 2 of the programme as a way of supporting Nescan staff to lead on their project in Kemnay. The meetings involved regular fortnightly check-ins where the team shared progress, and could raise emergent challenges and adjust their approach based on feedback. These meetings supported short iterative learning loops, enabling participants to test ideas, learn quickly from real project work, and refine their methods in real time. The approach promoted adaptability, collaboration, and ongoing learning and improvement throughout the project.
The programme enabled Nescan staff to develop the skills and confidence to design and lead place-based community engagement processes grounded in CCN’s approach. The learning has informed ongoing work in Kemnay and staff’s ongoing practice.
The programme felt different from traditional training. I learned by being out in communities, first by shadowing CCN and then by leading engagement activities myself, with plenty of ongoing mentoring and space to reflect. CCN were very much involved, passionate about what they do, and generous with sharing their knowledge and experience. The mix of hands-on work, workshops and regular check-ins helped me think about community work more deeply and make sense of complex and multiple community perspectives. By the end, I felt well equipped to design and facilitate inclusive Assemblies, and more confident to continue the work in Kemnay with Nescan.
This programme really changed the way I think about my work in communities. Instead of starting with solutions or set agendas, I learned the real value of listening more carefully, and how important letting peoples lived experience shape the work. Being out in communities, trying things in practice, and having a lot of time to reflecting collectively on what we were seeing helped me understand the importance of taking a place-based perspective and the role representation plays in this. I now approach engagement more thoughtfully, paying attention to who is and isn’t involved, and how different voices can be supported to contribute. Working with CCN has influenced how I work day-to -ay and will continue to shape my practice going forward.
Process
Year 1
Year 1 saw Nescan staff shadowing CCN’s work in 3 communities with the aim of sharing the approach and practice of the place-based principles-led approach to community development and transitioning. This aimed to lay the foundations for Nescan staff leading on their own project in Year 2 in an additional separate community.
Initial Community Engagement (December 2023 – January 2024) with Nescan staff shadowing in-depth, one-to-one discussions with a diverse cross-section of residents guided by the goal of collating voices to establish an accurate description of 3 towns, Banff, Macduff and Huntly to the extent possible. Nescan staff shadowed CCN’s engagement work in either Huntly or Banff and Macduff participating in discussions surfacing views and perspectives related to local assets, challenges, histories and aspirations, and early ideas about “what is good”, “what needs improving,” and “how we got here.”
Resident Community Meetings (February – June 2024) in parallel with the above one-to-one activities, community meetings were held to identify and agree on common priorities relevant to the themes emerging from the initial engagement phase. Staff participated in the facilitation of events, including running activities, note-taking and consolidating outcomes. Meetings included those with support users accessing a range of services such as health, wellbeing, economic and employment support, parents of children under 5, young people, and members of key community ‘anchor’ groups. These involved a diverse mix of residents including community leaders, volunteers and local organisations across the 3 towns. The meetings provided a forum for building on emerging outputs and agreeing a set of priorities and/or courses of action relevant to each group. Each meeting was followed by a written outcome shared to all participants for comment, validation or objection at a follow up gathering which included further reflection and discussion on further resulting ideas and the participation of Nescan staff.
Community ‘Assembly’ Meetings In June 2024, 2 meetings involving a diverse range of residents who had contributed to the project were held in Huntly and one jointly for Banff and Macduff. These aimed at reviewing, refining, validating and/or objecting to all of the project’s emergent outcomes. Nescan staff were actively involved in the events which involved reaching broad agreement around the proposed priorities through discussion and consequent refinement and improvement. The meetings also found agreement around a number of practical interventions, which were explored in the following Phases.
Each of the above stages were followed by reflective ‘sensemaking’ and feedback sessions with Nescan staff. These included reviewing the design, recruitment and facilitation of workshops / meetings / ’Assemblies’, their outcomes and practical implications, and practice-based elements of all stages in the process undertaken. These aimed to prepare Nescan staff to lead on running a similar project of their own in Year 2.
Year 2
In Year 2, a Nescan staff member took the lead on engagement activities in Kemnay village, supported by two or more colleagues. Nescan staff were responsible for coordinating and delivering all community-facing activity, with CCN staff shadowing and providing mentoring support.
To support learning alongside delivery, fortnightly online ‘agile’ meetings were introduced. These provided regular opportunities to reflect on engagement activity, share learning, and review emerging outcomes. The meetings created short, iterative learning cycles, allowing staff to adjust their approach in real time as relationships with the community developed.
This ongoing support was complemented by a programme of in-person workshops (one two-day planning workshop, two one-day sensemaking workshops, and two one-day workshops focused on event design and facilitation). Together, these sessions supported deeper reflection, shared learning, and practical preparation for the design and delivery of a Community Assembly.
Planning Workshop (September 2024) This two-day workshop focused on reviewing learning from Year 1 and agreeing key milestones and a timeline for Year 2. Experiential, place-based exercises supported staff to practise working with lived experience narratives, identify and articulate key themes, and recognise and record salient information through approaches such as structured note-taking. Perception exercises supported experience-based learning and meaning-making, highlighting how this differs from more conceptual or data-led methods.
Initial Community Engagement (September 2024 – June 2025) During this phase, Nescan staff led ongoing engagement with residents in Kemnay, alongside internal team meetings to share and consolidate learning. Engagement followed an iterative approach, initially working with residents able to speak to specific themes or represent particular parts of the community, and then widening outreach to involve additional groups and demographics. While staff capacity was more limited than during Year 1, a broad range of residents took part in the project. This included most local community ‘anchor’ groups, schools, young parents, sports clubs, and people attending local support services and activities.
Sensemaking Workshop 1 (November 2024) The first sensemaking workshop focused on shared learning about change and transformation in community contexts. Nescan and CCN staff reflected on their experiences of challenging community projects through first-person narratives, initially in small groups and then more widely. This surfaced common themes such as patterns of individual behaviour, organisational structures and hierarchies, funding constraints, and different decision-making cultures. Alongside this reflection, staff developed practical skills in facilitation, note-taking, reflecting back, identifying key themes, and supporting group agreement. Learning from the session informed both ongoing project activity and internal ways of working within Nescan.
Sensemaking Workshop 2 (March 2025) This workshop focused on reviewing learning emerging from community engagement in Kemnay. Staff worked together to identify key themes and priorities, explore relationships between issues, and highlight areas where further learning was needed. The second part of the workshop focused on the design of the Community Assembly, including participant recruitment and representation, communications and engagement approaches, event structure and facilitation, and planning for follow-up and next steps after the Assembly.
Planning Workshop (May 2025) This workshop brought together learning from the final months of engagement activity. It focused on refining themes and resident priorities, reviewing participant recruitment and communications, and finalising the Assembly format and content. A facilitated practice run-through helped ensure those leading the Assembly were confident in their roles and clear on the purpose and flow of the event.
Review and Reflection Sessions (June 2025) Following the Community Assembly and the write-up of outcomes, CCN and Nescan staff came together to review the overall process, reflect on outcomes, and agree next steps. This included identifying gaps in participation and planning further engagement to broaden representation, as well as continuing work with residents who were keen to develop ideas emerging from the Assembly.
A final structured online reflection session brought together learning from across the mentoring and training programme. This highlighted key insights around inclusive participation, working with lived experience, understanding Place as a system, and the value of collaborative reflection and sensemaking. This learning continues to inform Nescan’s ongoing work and supports their continued development of community-led approaches.