Women's Upland Network Founder
Donna Smith
Chief Executive, Scottish Crofting Federation
Background and Career to date
Donna has been Chief Executive at the Scottish Crofting Federation since September 2023. Her previous roles have included Deputy CEO at the Crofting Commission and Senior Business Analyst in the Scottish Government Rural Payments & Inspections Division. Donna has also held voluntary roles including Chair at Mikeysline, a grass roots mental health charity based in Inverness, and President at Highland Business Women. With the SCF, her role is wide reaching and varied but essentially focussed on two key areas, membership engagement and policy advocacy. SCF is the only organisation focused solely on crofting, so advocating for its future, supporting crofters through training and advice, and championing policies that sustain rural communities, mean that Donna can be regularly found travelling across the Highlands and Islands meeting crofters in their communities or meeting with public sector officials, MSPs and government Ministers, ensuring that crofters’ voices are heard.
Please describe why the uplands are important to you?
The uplands are such a huge part of the landscape I live and work in. Beautiful, rugged and challenging, yet so many people have crafted their way of life within them, shaping and stewarding the land over centuries and for many, they are central to how they make their living. This helps to maintain populations in these rural areas which may have been deserted otherwise but they are also hugely important in environmental terms also. An asset that we must continue to steward for the future.
What inspired you to become a founder of the Women’s Upland Network (WUN)?
I am a big supporter of the power of networking, sharing stories, experience, concerns and successes with those who understand where you are coming from or the environment you are working in but recognise that this can be very challenging for women in rural areas. For me, the WUN can help facilitate this process for women living in upland areas who will face challenges and experiences very different to those living in more urban settings and this will be a powerful way for them to feel supported and understood, along with being able to learn from their peers.
What does the success of the WUN looks like for you?
Success of the WUN for me will be the creation of an accessible network of woman from upland areas who have the means to meet, in person or virtually, share their experiences, learn from each other and provide support and reassurance when it is needed to and from those who understand the challenging environment they are living and working in, giving them confidence in what they are achieving and the skills to address future challenges.
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