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Thinking Local, Planning National – Lessons from Planet Youth in Scotland
BY ZAHRA HEDGES, CEO, WINNING SCOTLAND
Last week I was invited to speak at the Global Planet Youth Conference in Iceland, reflecting on our journey to pilot the Icelandic Primary Prevention model here.
As we now launch a LinkedIn page for Planet Youth in Scotland I've decided to share the essence of my talk, in case it is more widely useful.
Planet Youth is a prevention model that started in Iceland and is now used in dozens of countries. It’s not a programme in the traditional sense - it’s a long-term approach to reducing risky behaviours by building strong, supportive environments around young people. What drew us to it was its simplicity, its evidence base, and its belief in community.
But taking something that worked in Iceland and making it work in Scotland? That’s not a simple copy-and-paste job. Our ambition was (and is) to take a model that’s designed to grow organically from local partnerships - and try to scale it nationally.
That’s a tall order. Scaling something like Planet Youth isn’t just about funding or policy endorsements. It’s about navigating complexity: working with local partners who are fiercely autonomous, while trying to build something coherent and strategic at a national level.
And if we get it wrong? We risk creating something that only works when the right people are in the room or the funding’s still flowing. Something that unravels as soon as attention moves elsewhere.
But if we get it right? We could change the game for Scotland’s young people.
Let's start with the obvious; Scotland is not Iceland.
Scotland is a small country with a big personality. We have our own devolved government, but we’re still part of the UK. Our politics lean more to the left, our people are proud and passionate, and our history of progressive social policy is strong. On paper, that makes us a promising place to adopt something like Planet Youth.
But the reality is more complicated.
We’re a country of just under 5.5 million people - but they’re not spread out evenly. We have big urban centres like Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, but also vast rural and island communities. Our 32 local authorities vary hugely in size, geography, capacity and approach.
We also face deep, systemic challenges - ones that can’t be ignored if we’re serious about prevention.
Scotland has some of the worst drug-related death rates in Europe. Life expectancy lags behind the rest of the UK. Mental health, obesity, chronic disease, food insecurity, poor housing - these aren’t abstract issues. They’re real, and they’re rooted in trauma, poverty, and decades of underinvestment in prevention.
I love this country. It’s where I live, where I work, and where my daughter is growing up. And despite all the challenges, I believe in what’s possible here. We have passionate people. We have good legislation and politicians that do seem to care. We even have some of the right values. But we lack long-term thinking, and we struggle to implement at scale.
And then there’s the complexity on the ground.
Each local area in Scotland has its own ecosystem - councils, health boards, police, fire, housing associations, community groups, charities, colleges, businesses, public bodies like Sport Scotland or Scottish Water. All of them touch the lives of young people in some way. But most don’t see themselves as part of the solution.
In theory, these organisations work together through things like community planning partnerships. In practice? Collaboration is patchy. Some areas do it brilliantly. Others are stuck in silos and territorialism. There’s no one-size-fits-all. And that’s a challenge when you’re trying to introduce a national prevention model like Planet Youth.
This isn’t just about launching a new programme. It’s about shifting culture. Navigating power. Challenging assumptions. And recognising that although Scotland is small, our systems are messy, and some of our problems feel deeply baked in.
From Pilot to Possibility – What It Really Takes to Build a National Movement
So, how do you scale something like Planet Youth in a country like Scotland?
You start small. Then you hold your nerve.
We began as a partnership between six organisations - one charity (us) and five public sector bodies, health, education mostly. Even within that small group, there were differences in systems, priorities, even language. We started under the radar, learning as we went, figuring out what it meant to implement Planet Youth here. And at the same time, our colleagues in Iceland were still figuring out what global support would look like.
I sometimes refer to that time trying to walk across a bridge as it was being built.
In our first year, we had five areas involved, covering 13 schools. There was real energy. No schools opted out. Since then, we’ve grown to 24 schools - and this year, we’re hoping for over 30.
At first, the work was funded by us and our partners. Then we secured private funding to hire a national coordinator. That role made a huge difference - suddenly we had someone to hold the threads, share learning, and support consistency across areas.
Then came the big shift: Scottish Government asked if we could scale. They funded a two-year national pilot to test whether Planet Youth could work across the country. That funding was a turning point - but it also brought challenges.
We went from being a collaborative facilitator to a grant-holder. From being trusted partners to being accountable funders. We re-awarded most of the grant money to local areas, but now those areas were accountable to us. We got legal advice. We tried to reduce bureaucracy while still ensuring good governance. But the power dynamics had changed.
We also had new expectations. Civil servants. MSPs. Stakeholders who wanted quick results, clear attribution, measurable impact. But prevention doesn’t work like that. You don’t run a survey and immediately see healthier choices. It takes time, trust, and tenacity.
And even with funding, things moved slowly. Bureaucratic processes meant some staff posts weren’t filled until months into the pilot. A two-year pilot became, effectively, one year of implementation. A good reminder: money helps - but systems and structures matter just as much.
Still, that investment gave us credibility. It opened doors. It got people listening.
And the whole time, we were trying to do two things at once:
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Make the model work locally
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Learn what would be needed for it to work nationally
We didn’t want to fudge it just to "get it over the line". We wanted to know: does this actually work in Scotland, in all its messy, beautiful, complex reality?
Prevention Is a Long Game – But That’s the Only Game That Matters
Here’s the thing about Planet Youth—it’s not just a methodology. It’s a mindset shift. And if we’re serious about prevention in Scotland, we need more than projects. We need a movement.
Through this journey, we’ve learned some big lessons:
1. Capacity building matters more than short-term funding.
Money is essential - but it’s not enough. Without dedicated leadership and capacity in local areas, prevention becomes an "add-on". Something squeezed in between other responsibilities. We’ve been clear: the funding we give should strengthen infrastructure, not fund individual projects. We want to unlock the money already in the system—and use data to make it work better.
2. Scaling takes time - and it must be deliberate.
Rushing risks burnout, diluted implementation, and loss of credibility. We need to go slow to go far. We’re not interested in ticking boxes - we’re trying to build something that lasts.
3. National strategy must be rooted in local learning.
There’s a big disconnect in Scotland between national policy and local reality. We’re trying to bridge that gap - bringing frontline stories into government spaces and using real experiences to shape strategy. That means being willing to listen, adapt, and let go of the need for perfection.
Sometimes the most powerful insights come in throwaway comments - a new relationship formed, an unexpected ripple effect, a bit of hope. We try to capture those too. Because culture change doesn’t always come with a report or a headline.
4. Prevention requires long-term political commitment.
This is one of our biggest challenges. Scotland’s budget is handed down annually from Westminster, which makes long-term planning difficult. But prevention can’t be a one-year project. It needs to be embedded in how we do things, not just what we fund.
We’ve started to turn that tide. We’ve brought ministers to visit local areas. We’ve engaged senior voices in health, education and children’s rights. We’ve shown that prevention isn’t soft or fluffy - it’s essential.
And when new areas join us, we make sure they’re not starting from scratch. Like Angus, who came in later but quickly caught up - thanks to strong local relationships and generous sharing from early adopters. That’s how movements grow.
What's Next?
So, as we look ahead, I leave you with this thought:
If we want the world in 2030 to look different, we must act now. Because in five years, the young people we’re trying to support today will already be grown. We cannot wait.
This work is not easy. It is slow. It is challenging. But it is necessary.
And if we get it right, we won’t just change statistics - we’ll change lives.
Our conversations for the last six months have been about 2030. In order to ensure that the kids who will be 15 then are answering their survey questions differently, we need to start working with them now, when they are ten. And really, our ten year olds want the same future for themselves as we want for them. I’m going to leave you with their words.