We need your help to keep Govanhill’s voices heard
Govanhill has a voice like nowhere else – bold, diverse, and unapologetically authentic. For six years, we’ve worked to make sure that voice is heard on its own terms, but keeping an independent magazine afloat is a team effort. Here is why we do what we do, and how a small hand from our readers can help us stay sustainable for the long haul.
By Rhiannon J Davies, founder of Greater Govanhill
This recent magazine has been a celebration of the Scots language – but more than that, it’s a celebration of voice. Voice is about more than words on a page. It’s an expression of who we are – the beautiful, messy diversity of lives and experiences that make up this place.
It’s the language that echoes through the closes and cafés of Govanhill. It’s who people are when they feel at home.
This magazine is about honouring those voices, and everything that comes with them – valuing them as they are, without feeling the need to smooth them out or reshape them. Just as Scots has endured over time, carried by the people who speak it, the voices of this community deserve to be heard in all their richness and authenticity.
That belief sits at the heart of what we do at Greater Govanhill. Prioritising diverse voices isn’t an add-on – it’s one of our organisation’s core values.
The magazine was launched by local residents in the middle of the pandemic to create a platform for voices you don’t typically hear in media. Too often, Govanhill’s story was being told by people who don’t live here. Sensationalist, click-driven headlines amplified fear and misunderstanding.
We wanted to do something different.
We’re more than the magazine you hold in your hands. We’re a grassroots, community-centred movement supporting people to reclaim their own narrative. We want to create spaces where people feel connected – to their neighbours and their neighbourhood.
Alongside this free quarterly magazine, we publish digital reporting on our website, a newsletter and social media. We run The Community Newsroom as a local information hub and gathering space. We’ve hosted podcasts and refugee-led radio programmes. We organise exhibitions, public events and conversations that bring stories off the page. We run participatory training programmes that equip people with the tools and confidence to use their voice to make change.
These are not separate projects. Each strand is rooted in the same purpose: to help people be informed, feel heard, and take part in community action.
We challenge narrow and negative perceptions of Govanhill. We deepen cross-cultural understanding. We ensure a wider range of voices are represented publicly. And for those who get involved directly, the impact is personal too – building skills, confidence and a stronger sense of belonging.
The impact of that approach is clear.
Around 70 percent of readers say Greater Govanhill makes them feel their community has more of a voice. Nearly 80 percent say it helps them feel better informed about issues affecting them directly. Over 60 percent feel more connected to their neighbourhood.
It’s not just about sharing information. It’s about building a sense of pride.
Over the six years we have been running as a non-profit organisation modelling a different way of doing journalism, we’ve delivered a wide range of projects. We’ve trained community reporters with lived experience of gambling harms to tell their own stories. We’ve supported refugees and people seeking asylum to broadcast in their own languages. We’ve worked with young people to see their writing and photography published and taken seriously.
We’ve partnered with the many brilliant organisations across the Southside to deliver training, events, workshops, litter picks and gatherings. And we’ve heard, time and again, about the difference this work makes:
“At first I was nervous to speak. Being encouraged to ‘be yourself’ helped me find my voice – on air.”
“Having space to speak openly – and to see our experiences treated seriously and respectfully – made a huge difference to how I hold myself.”
“Doing the young persons’ training was a completely life changing experience for me.”
We’ve also seen participants step into leadership. Our new editor, Samar Jamal, first came through our young people’s training programme. Seeing someone grow from community reporter to editorial leadership is a powerful reminder of what this work makes possible.
At a time when misinformation spreads rapidly and divisive narratives – including far-right rhetoric targeting migrant and diverse communities – are gaining ground, trusted community rooted media matters more than ever. Spaces that build understanding are essential.
But we also need to be honest.
We recently lost our core funding from the Glasgow Communities Fund, and this puts the future of the magazine at risk. There is no long-term, dedicated funding stream for community media in the UK. Most funding is short-term and project based, leaving us in a constant state of uncertainty.
If everyone who reads this magazine gave just five pounds a month – the cost of a cup of fancy coffee or a pint – Greater Govanhill would be financially sustainable. We would no longer be dependent on unpredictable funding cycles and could plan, publish, train and connect with confidence.
Five pounds a month sustains more than a magazine. It sustains independent community media rooted in Govanhill. It sustains opportunities for local people to develop new skills. It sustains a trusted platform that connects neighbours and challenges misinformation.
We need your help. Support Greater Govanhill by becoming a member today.
Become a member by visiting community.greatergovanhill.com/join
Make a one off donation here: greatergovanhill.com/support
