Alison Dickie

Alison is an independent consultant primarily committed to ensuring all children and young people thrive and have their rights realised. She established Comms for Kids in 2024, pulling together her career experience from across the Scottish political system and public sector.

Alison provides public affairs, communications and educational support to charities and the voluntary sector, helping to strategically shape their stories in ways that best influence the relevant decision makers and the policy and wider change that their communities need.

As well as helping clients to communicate and navigate local and national policy and legislative environments, Alison produces educational materials to build a shared understanding of the issues involved. To ensure all voices are empowered to lead on change, she also provides learning sessions for small groups of young people and communities of all ages. These marry building literacy and communication confidence with exploring how to make a difference at community, local and national levels.

As a consultant, Alison has designed public affairs and communications strategies, helping charities to strengthen their public profiles, amplify their voice on policy issues, evaluate and promote their impact, and roll out their best practice to reach more children and families.

She has produced strategic campaign plans to successfully launch new projects, supported the re-development of evaluation systems to capture stronger impact data, delivered crisis communications support and strategic planning advice in the refreshing of organisational objectives.

Implementation support has ranged from newsletters, case stories and communications for elected members and wider stakeholders to educational materials, messaging for funding bids and social media content.

Clients

Alison has a strong focus on working with charities and voluntary organisations who support and deliver change for children, young people and their families.

This has included a number of public affairs, communications and wider projects for the Scottish Child Law Centre and public affairs work for The Yard Scotland. She has also provided pro bono communications and wider support to individual child safeguarding voices who need help to be better heard.

Already as a consultant, Alison has contributed to an increase in service use, stronger service feedback, successful funding bids, a rise in membership fees, greater collaboration on policy issues and services, and the successful launch of new projects.

“Alison has been a wonderful addition to our team and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her. Alison joined us at an important and exciting time of transition for both the organisation and the wider landscape of children’s rights. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise both in communications and demonstrating impact and strategic development.” Scottish Child Law Centre

Qualifications

Post Graduate Diploma in Education, GTCS registered, BSc (Hons) International Relations, HND Administration and Information Management, wider professional learning

Experience

Alison’s background as a parliamentary official, secondee to government, senior city councillor, political branch convener and parliamentary candidate, charity trustee, community council chair, teacher, tutor and child safeguarding campaigner gives her a unique perspective of the Scottish decision making world – particularly as relates to children, young people and their families.

As Vice Convener of Education, Children and Families in Edinburgh, Alison was the strategic policy lead, with schools, early years, children’s services and youthwork all within her remit, whilst as a teacher, she witnessed first-hand the impact of policies on the lives of children and their families.

She has been immersed in communications across high level public offices, from speechwriting, presentations and briefings on national and international legislation to advice and media liaison. As a teacher and tutor, she skillfully and creatively communicated learning as fits with all needs and styles.

Alison worked closely with the voluntary sector in different ways, from trustee roles to regular liaison with charities and umbrella bodies to discuss policy, related issues and funding support.

Alison is a bold advocate and campaigner on child safeguarding issues, first in council and then as a Scottish Parliament petitioner calling for specific action to strengthen the scrutiny of child safeguarding in Scotland.