ESW publications
In June 2006, ESW released its report ‘Opportunities and Challenges for Equality and Diversity Work within the Voluntary and Community Sector: A Review of Change Up in the South West’.
Although pockets of good practice were identified (such as the Cornwall Diversity Toolkit), the findings uncovered challenges to equality and diversity work for Consortia members in the Change Up Programme. There were structural barriers in how the funding was devised, implemented, monitored and evaluated that inhibited good practice approaches to equality and diversity.
As well as capacity problems from the start, other problems were apparent namely:
• lack of knowledge of what constitutes equality work
Some consortia members reported confusion as to whom and what counted as equality work and where this would fit within the various work strands in their Investment Plans.
• lack of engagement with Equality VCS organisations and communities.
Consortia with more of an urban remit experienced less difficulty attracting Equality VCS organisations representing Black and Minority Ethnic, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender interests for example, than their rural counterparts. Those with a more rural remit reported that they did not exist in their area. It is important to note that there did not appear to be any engagement with nascent organisations working with migrant workers – an emerging equalities issue within the region.
• Lack of equalities monitoring
The report concluded that there were insufficient mechanisms within the evaluation and monitoring processes of the Change Up Programme to ensure that infrastructure organisations further develop their work to encourage greater representation of organisations from equality communities.
