The Engaging with Scottish Local Authorities (ESLA) initiative has its origins in the move by the Scottish Government, since 2007, to work on a more outcome focussed basis.  To support this, the ESLA programme was launched to support develop evidence-informed policy and practice in local government in Scotland, as key agents in the delivery or services and achievment of government policy outcomes.  A jointly funded pilot scheme involving the Economic and Social Research Council, the Scottish Funding Council and support from the Scottish Government to LARCI (the Local Authority Research Council Initiative, launched with a call for projects in 2009, which were to last no longer than 12 months, and were intended to promote knowledge exchange, and help policy and service innovation.

In the event, 5 projects were funded focussed on

• Building Safer Communities
• Co-ordinating service provision in improving the life chances of children living in severe poverty
• Buiulding Capacity for evidence-informed practices in rural and remote island service delivery
• Co-designing and prototyping strategies for carbon emission reduction
• Engaging with involuntary service users in social work.

These projects, for the most part, used a variety of approaches including workshops, masterclasses,, study days and seminars, staff exchanges and the like to further knowledge transfer and exchange between universities, local authorities and staff professionals.  The programme was co-ordinated at St-Andrews University, and details can be found on the 'Engage'  website.

The website also has some useful reference material, on a range of topics related to community engagement and capacity building, and to the development of knowledge mobilisation strategies.

The programme included some independent evaluation, and some early indications of material collected in that process are included.