About Us

Equality South West (ESW) is a registered charity and England's first regional equality and diversity body.  We are pleased to be supported by a range of key strategic organisations including: the South West Regional Development Agency, the Government Office for the South West, the South West Regional Assembly, South West Forum and the South West Trade Union Congress.

ESW is grateful for the financial support we receive from the South West Regional Development Agency and the Big Lottery Fund.

We started work in March 2005 supported by the South West Regional Development Agency and Government Office for the South West. Working with partners across the region we aim to tackle discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and transgender. We are supporting dedicated regional networks for each of these seven strands. ESW is also working with other groups for asylum seekers, migrant workers and gypsies and travellers.

 ESW Logo with 7 strands

Our Board is composed of representatives from each of the regional equality networks, together with members from the South West Regional Development Agency, the Government Office for the South West, the South West Regional Assembly, South West Forum, the South West Trade Union Congress and the South West Local Government Association.

Our work covers policy development, capacity building, best practice, awareness raising,  training and research. We aim to work with our regional networks and partners in all of these areas.

Our website aims to provide the region with quality information on legislation, rights and links to other equality organisations.

ESW Newsletter

For the most recent version of our ESW Newsletter as a PDF file please see: ESW Newsletter July 09

For the most recent version of our ESW Newsletter as a word document please see: ESW Newsletter July 09 Word

ESW Board members:

Name Representing E-mail
Audrey Cloet Age - South West Seniors Network audrey.cloet@tiscali.co.uk
Fiona Phur Age - Regional Youth Work Unit  
Angie Carmichael Disability - Wiltshire People 1st & Sparring Partners Production  
Richard Pitman Disability - Compass Disability   
Jackie Longworth (Chair) Gender - Fair Play South West jackielongworth@blueyonder.co.uk
Sharon Sheather Gender - Fair Play South West  
Alexandra MacRae Race - Gloucestershire Race Equality Council alexandra@glosrec.org.uk
Rupert Daniel  Race - Black South West Network  rdaniel@bswn.org.uk
Alistair Beattie Religion or Belief - FaithNet South West alistair@faithnetsouthwest.org.uk  
Liz Payne-Ahmadi  Religion or Belief     
Simon Nelson Sexual Orientation - Terrence Higgins Trust  simon.nelson@tht.org.uk
Vacancy Sexual Orientation  
Krys Vere-Bujnowski  Transgender - Western Boys   
Yvonne Taylor  Transgender   
Cathy Bakewell MBE South West Regional Development Agency  
Richard Sheard Government Office for the South West  
Malcolm Gillespie Learning & Skills Council  
Nigel Costley South West Trade Union Congress ncostley@tuc.org.uk
Nick Macklin South West Councils nick.macklin@swcouncils.gov.uk
Saxon Spence South West Councils
Phil Smith Business Link  
Vacancy South West Forum  

Resource Library

Equality South West have complied a Resource Library full of publications which are available within Each Reach House, a list of the publications are available here: Resource_Library

The Work of Equality South West and the Wider Agenda

The following document provides useful information about the work of Equality South West which is available here: The Work of ESW and the Wider Agenda

Equality South West's Supporting Partners

The South West RDA have invested nearly £1.2bn into the region's economy since they started out in 1999.  They are now thinking about their core strategy and key priorities for the next 3-5 years.  They are seeking stakeholders views and input into this important planning process.  The Regional Economic Strategy for the South West of England sets out a shared long-term economic blueprint for the region.  The RDA see their corporate plan as their contract with key partners and stakeholders across the region for those parts of the RES that they commit to put in place.  To view the discussion document visit www.southwestrda.org.uk or contact Emma Fraser on 01392 229 562 or email corporateplan@southwestrda.org.uk