The Scottish Men's Sheds Association (SMSA) is asking members and the public to support its
petition which will be sent to the First Minister for Scotland Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister for Scotland John Swinney. In short, it calls on the Scottish Government to reverse their decision to
stop core funding of the national association. Here's a lot more detail from the SMSA:
In a post-pandemic world, when reducing social isolation and
loneliness and reconnecting with our communities once again is
paramount, the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) is making a call
for action for the government to continue to financially support the
national hub of the Scottish Men’s Sheds Movement and men’s health and
wellbeing.
The SMSA was formed in 2014 to create a new national
health movement for men which did not previously exist in Scotland and
share their unique Men’s Shed development pathway strategy to new
groups. Since 2016, the Association has expanded into: Shed-specific
tailored information such as policies and constitutions; mediation
support; consultation with a hard-to-reach group; promotion of the work
of the sector; discounts from SMSA partners for Sheds to reduce costs;
sustainability strategy advice; co-production for the voice of men’s
health in a variety of sectors and Cross-Party groups; and a national
membership programme for its Shed Members and 3,000+ Individual Members.
The
SMSA’s initial start-up funding was received from the Scottish
Government in 2016 but unlike the successful developmental statutory
support of the Australian and Irish governments for their respective
Men’s Shed movements, ours has been reduced over the years and now
stopped.
We have been successful in attracting other funders in
recent years to cover this shortfall however require statutory funding
as the demand for services and support increases immensely. Despite a
meeting with Scottish Government where the SMSA Chief Executive, SMSA
Chairman and SMSA Patron, Sir Harry Burns (the former Chief Medical
Officer for Scotland) appealed for increased support for the charity and
the movement, the decision was unfortunately made in February 2022 by
three Ministers (proposed new trilateral funding strategy) to rather
stop all statutory funding to the SMSA going forward in 2023.
Now
is not the time to abandon and disinvest in this successful men’s
health movement that is voluntarily engaging with and reaching men and
changing and saving lives. These volunteers need our support now more
than ever as evidenced by the ever-increasing growth in our
membership.
As we near the 10-year anniversary of the opening
of the first Men’s Shed in Scotland, we now celebrate over 200 open and
developing Men’s Sheds groups across Scotland (in all 32 local authority
areas) reaching and supporting 10,000+ men aged 18 or over. This year,
we also welcomed the completion and findings of our four-year
partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University’s research (£150,000) – Sheds for Sustainable Development Project.
Our
three-year development plans (2023-2026) have taken into account this
research and core statutory developmental funding is required if the
movement is to not only continue to grow but remain sustainable for its
volunteers and their health and wellbeing. We strongly believe that the
current number of Men’s Sheds in Scotland (202) has only reached just
under half (45%) of what it could be.
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