Reality of rurality : community culture

Reality of rurality : community culture

Add to favourites

Understanding Local Communities

Understanding a community’s unique demographics, culture, and strengths is an essential part of forming a community recruitment group from the very beginning. Every community is different, so it’s important to get to know the people, their backgrounds, and the things that matter most to them. Rural and island communities often have their own ways of doing things, and a “one size fits all” approach rarely works. Taking time to understand each community’s character helps you choose approaches that fit local needs, build trust, and make people feel genuinely included. One of the most meaningful ways to make sure a volunteer group truly represents the community is to hold regular community consultations. These give people a simple, open way to share their views, ask questions, and offer ideas. This helps ensure you’re not only hearing from a small group of volunteers, but from the wider community — and that their voices are genuinely shaping the coproduction process.

By checking in regularly with the broader community, volunteers can bring forward a wider range of perspectives and lived experiences. This makes the whole process more transparent and more rooted in the real needs, priorities, and hopes of the people who live there.

Why Local Culture Matters

Understanding local culture helps the group work in a way that feels natural, respectful, and trusted. In rural places, people often know each other well, and relationships, history, and local expectations strongly influence how ideas are received. Volunteers hold a deep understanding of the community’s “cultural rhythm” — the spoken and unspoken norms, local languages and phrases, priorities, and expectations that shape daily life. In small rural communities, these details really matter. Being able to “read the room,” pace ideas carefully, and use the right tone can make a big difference.

What works well in a city or in a large organisation won’t always land the same way in a closeknit rural community. Volunteers who live locally often know the best way to approach conversations, when to introduce new ideas, and when to pause or hold back. Their understanding of local culture is a real strength and should be valued in any coproduction work. One helpful approach is to use local language and dialects in your group’s communication and outreach to the wider community. For example, including Gaelic, Doric, or Shetlandic words and phrases in posters, flyers, or social media posts can make messages feel more familiar, relevant, and rooted in local identity. This small step can help people feel recognised and included and can encourage stronger engagement.

Lessons from Remote Island Working

Previous work in remote island communities shows that success depends on truly understanding local life. Key lessons include:

Give plenty of notice. Many people balance several jobs, caring responsibilities, and long travel times. Advanced notice shows respect and boosts participation.

Be mindful of timing. Avoid school holidays and clashes with community events. These small considerations matter greatly in rural settings.

Stay flexible. Weather can change plans suddenly. Successful projects stay adaptable and are ready to shift dates, venues, or approaches when needed.

Choose accessible locations. Picking central, easy tor each meeting places can make participation much easier, especially where travel is challenging.

Value community voices. Truly inclusive projects don’t just “tick the box” of asking for views — they actively use community feedback to shape decisions. When people see their input being taken seriously, trust grows and the project becomes stronger.

As part of your groups work to recruit new health and social care staff it may be useful to have some written or filmed examples from health and social care staff who already work in your local area about the reality of working in the areas. Some example so this from Skye are here: LINK TO VIDEOS FROM WORK ON SKYE