Circular Communities Scotland is pleased to release our ‘Share and Repair Network Report’, as we move forward with establishing the Share and Repair Network.
The Share and Repair Network Report shares findings from an online survey and development workshops hosted to find out how we can best support established, new and burgeoning sharing libraries and repair projects across the country.
Circular Communities Scotland announced we were looking forward to setting up and overseeing this nation-wide network, supported by Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland, late last year, in partnership with Edinburgh Tool Library and Edinburgh Remakery.
You can read the Share and Repair Network Project Report here. Some key findings from the report are outlined below:
There is significant potential growth in Scotland for both sharing libraries and repair projects, highlighting the importance of the support the Share and Repair Network can offer.
Challenges faced by sharing libraries include staff costs, premises suitability, premises cost, stock purchase and maintenance, whilst repair projects are struggling with staff costs, capacity and availability of volunteers, core funding, and promotion and engagement of their work.
The report found that the Climate Challenge Fund is the most common source of funding for both groups. This funding stream has recently come to a close, making this a critical time for share and repair activities in Scotland.
Areas of support the projects were interested in included sharing learning and best practise, networking, funding opportunities, training, mentoring, peer to peer support and advocacy for the sector, exchanging of stock, join procurement opportunities and help with insurance requirements.
The Share and Repair Network Report shows that sharing libraries and repair projects are facing uncertain times, but there is still a huge appetite to start more initiatives and find ways to keep current projects thriving. There is a clear need for the support the network can offer, and the time groups have taken to respond to the survey and attend the workshops has gifted the project with significant information about how to best represent and support them.
Thank you to everyone who took part.
To join or learn more about the Share and Repair Network, email our Share and Repair Coordinator Emma, emma@circularcommunities.scot.