Odin is Fife Voluntary Action's database of community services in Fife: a shared, searchable record of the organisations working across Fife and the services they run. It is what our Directory of services searches, and the same data feeds partner websites such as Fife Council's On Your Doorstep, so an entry kept right in one place is right everywhere.
In September 2026 it holds more than 2,000 organisations and over 4,000 services, looked after by a dedicated team at FVA.
What is it?
A comprehensive, accessible and fully searchable database of information on community services and support across Fife. It is about the services and support available, not just the organisations that provide them: if a group runs more than one service, each is listed in its own right, with its own contact details, location and description.
Who is it for?
People living in Fife, and those supporting others across the voluntary and public sectors, including Fife Council and NHS Fife. Citizens find services for themselves through websites like this one. Front-line staff use it to make contact with, refer people to and keep track of the services they work with.
How is it accessed?
The full database is searchable on this website through the Directory of services. The same database feeds other platforms, such as On Your Doorstep, and partners can take all of the data or just the themes and fields they need, to present in their own websites and systems.
Who owns it and keeps it up to date?
Fife Voluntary Action, through a dedicated Directory team who collect and maintain the data. Organisations help by checking their own entries: use Add or update a service to tell us about a new organisation or service, a change, or a closure. The team checks every submission before anything is published.
Why was it developed?
There were many separate databases and lists across Fife's public and voluntary services, holding similar information with differences between them, and organisations were asked to update their details in each one. Odin replaces most of these with one version of the truth that is regularly updated and shared.
The work began in late 2023 with grant funding from Fife Council Education, through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, and from Fife Health and Social Care Partnership. It brought parts of Fife Council, NHS Fife, the Health and Social Care Partnership and others together to agree a common set of data standards for local services. The first release was in November 2024, and it has been developed and extended since.
What information does it hold?
Dozens of pieces of information about each service - who it is for, where and when it runs, how to get in touch, how to be referred, what it costs and more - so that searches can be very specific: all services for pre-school children in the Cowdenbeath area that are free of charge, say, or all services for people with a sensory impairment anywhere in Fife. Different websites can offer different levels of detail and filtering to suit their audience.
Beyond helping people find support, the data helps with mapping services, designing them, and investing public money where it is needed.
How can partners use it?
Partners can take all of the information or just specific themes or fields, and display it in any way required as part of their own website or platforms, with updates delivered automatically on a schedule. If you are a public sector colleague and would like to find out more, please get in touch.
Is it compliant and secure?
Fife Voluntary Action makes sure that all data is obtained, stored and shared in line with partner requirements and data protection law, and has measures in place to protect the database against malicious attack, with backups should anything go wrong.
Why call it Odin?
FVA has several databases, so this one needed a name of its own to avoid confusion. Most people will never see it - they simply use websites that happen to draw their data from Odin. The name is from the Norse god who is said to have sacrificed an eye so that he could know everything and gain wisdom and knowledge of things hidden from him. Known as the All-Father, he could see all things happening in the world, and his quest for wisdom was never-ending.
Get in touch
The directory of services: adding or updating an entry, or reporting something that is wrong.
E-mail [email protected]
Telephone 0800 389 6046
