Mainstreaming E & D
Why is a ‘mainstreaming’ project needed?
Over a period of years a number of activities and processes identified the need for a project that would help build equality and diversity into Third Sector organisations in the South West.
These included:
• Equality proofing research of Voluntary and Community Sector Consortia groups, funded through Change Up funding, was conducted by Equality South West.
• The Infrastructure Strategy South West 2006 (ISSW 2006) for the Voluntary and Community Sector identifies key areas for Third Sector development.
• Regional consultation events conducted by Equality South West since 2003 indicated the need for a regional and sub-regional approach to equality and diversity.
• Feedback from a number of partner organisations also confirmed these findings .
More recently it has become increasingly evident that the Third Sector has a strong and growing role to play in delivering public services.
Mainstreaming equality and diversity makes very good business sense for the Third Sector, where talents and experience are recognised and utilised, and services are delivered effectively according to need. Public bodies are legally obliged to adhere to good equality and diversity practice, and Third Sector organisations need to mainstream equality and diversity in order to deliver these services in a way which is consistent with this good practice.
Third Sector organisations that demonstrate equality and diversity practice to legislative standards and above will become increasingly important and trusted as providers of public services. Improving Third Sector practices, skills and knowledge of equality and diversity will improve the quality of public service delivery.
Mainstreaming equality and diversity requires a ‘whole organisation approach’ to Third Sector activity. That means in:
1. Service delivery: Organisations need to know whether they are, and how they can be, accessible and responsive to the needs of their communities.
2. Workforce development: They need to ensure that they treat workers - paid, unpaid and at all levels - according to best practice equality and diversity employment standards.
3. Governance: They need to ensure that they have representation from all equality communities at Board/Trustee level and that the whole organisation has a real understanding and commitment to equality and diversity.
What are we going to do?
In summary we will ...
... map Third Sector organisations (equality and non-equality) in the South West to find out where they are and what they do. This will inform and guide the work of the project team.
... conduct detailed research and provide advice and support to the Third Sector on national, regional and local policies that influence the equality and diversity agenda.
... provide help to all Third Sector organisations to:
• Improve their skills and knowledge about equality and diversity issues.
• Raise awareness and increase their influence at local, regional and national policy.
• Equality proof their key areas of activity in terms of, governance, workforce management and development, service delivery in order to identify gaps and needs that can be addressed through targeted work, including training.
… develop Regional Equality Networks (RENs) which bring together Third Sector Equality organisations and others from around the region on the 7 strands of equality (age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation and transgender) to develop policy, improve networking, develop a regional voice and influence, improve communication, and provide information and advice.
… work with
• Third Sector organisations of all sizes and types, in order to attain maximum reach into rural as well as urban areas. These include bodies that deliver public services across the six equality strands recognised in law, and those that have other primary roles, such as front line organisations with a care remit
• Regional Equality Networks (RENs) representing the 7 equality ‘strands’, in order to make contact with, and involve local organisations.
Why does this work matter?
Developing the capacity of the Regional Equality Networks will increase financial and other resources available to them, such as staff time, and lead to collaborative forms of working between organisations.
Increasing sustainability and capacity within RENs will promote the sharing of good practice, both within Third Sector equality and with non-equality organisations, and with other sectors. This will increase efficiency, avoid duplication, and create opportunities for new income streams.
Many funders require organisations to demonstrate best practice, based on sound equality and diversity principles and policy standards. The ability to demonstrate these will improve fundraising opportunities.
Third Sector organisations also need to ensure equality communities are represented at their Board/Trustee level. Increasing their knowledge, and enhancing their practice will help achieve this. In turn this will further enhance the level of understanding and commitment to equality and diversity across the organisation.
Increasing the influence of Third Sector equality organisations in the development of local, regional and national policies is an important outcome for the project. Undertaking research and disseminating findings, and providing advice and networking opportunities will all contribute to this.
Helping Third Sector organisations meet high standards in equality and diversity policies and practices will improve the reputation, confidence and influence of South West regional equality organisations.
What are our goals?
• Increased capacity and sustainability of Equality South West.
• Third Sector organisations equipped to deliver high standard public services through an understanding of the diversity of needs.
• An increase in contractual arrangements between Third Sector and Public Sector organisations to deliver public services. Public Sector confidence that Third Sector meets Public Sector statutory duties on Equality and Diversity.
• An increase in the influence by Third Sector equality organisations on local, regional and national policies.
• Improvement in Third Sector practices, skills and knowledge of equality and diversity, for both staff and the organisation.
• Increased sustainability and capacity of Regional Equality Networks.
How will we go about it?
ESW will continue to work with our existing partners and contacts, such as the South West Forum, to reach a wide range of Third Sector organisations and complement and build on their exisiting services to the Third Sector.
The Infrastructure Strategy provides a framework for ESW and partners to work within to help deliver services to the Third Sector across the SW region.
Equality proofing: Building on and making use of existing work in this field (for example the Equality Toolkit developed by the Cornwall Infrastructure Consortium and the Equality Standard for Local Government developed by Dialogue), we will develop and use a regional equality toolkit as a comprehensive set of resources that Third Sector organisations can use to develop their equality and diversity policy and practice. This will contain specific information and guidance relevant to the regional context, for example, taking account of rapid demographic changes specific to the South West. The toolkit will also be used as an assessment model.
Developing a regional accreditation for equality and diversity practitioners: Equality South West will facilitate provision of equality and diversity training to the Third Sector but accredited trainers will deliver this. We will liaise with the LSC their proposed national accreditation for equality and diversity practitioners.
Developing and providing training courses: We will create and provide cross-strand E&D training materials, case studies, and good practice guides to all Third Sector organisations (equality and non-equality) on Equality Impact Assessments and Statutory Duties.
Supporting and developing Regional Equality Networks: To help Third Sector Equality organisations to share best practice, and to facilitate opportunities for joint working we will run consultation and awareness raising events on new legislation and policy proposals.
Researching national, regional and local policies that influence the E&D agenda and advising on how these impact on the policy and practice of Third Sector organisations: We will
• Map Third Sector organisations (equality and non-equality) in the South West .
• Consult Third Sector equality organisations on key policy agendas, and feed back to national, regional and local strategic organisations.
• Help the Third Sector to develop and implement coherent communication policies and resources.
How will we track our progress and identify achievements?
We will use an external evaluation consultant from the outset, to help us develop a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan. This will ensure evaluation is embedded throughout the entire project as part of the work. The evaluator will help us to identify who our project ‘stakeholders’ are, and we will use a range of methods to gather feedback and check on the project’s impact.
Our evaluation methods and tools will include
• using equal opportunity monitoring forms and evaluation forms at all our events to help us monitor and improve on how we organise these.
• tracking progress against a series of ‘milestones’ and ‘outputs’ in monthly reports to the Director and quarterly reports to ESW Board meetings.
• carrying out interviews
• survey questionnaires for stakeholders
We will use other methods appropriate to equality communities we are working with, such as video diaries, web logs (blogs) and other non-paper based evaluation methods.
Part 2: Mainstreaming Equality and Diversity in the South West (Third Sector)
Project Management
There will be monthly reports to the Director on:
- Finance e.g. income and expenditure and cashflow
- Activities e.g. events and outcomes
- Customer satisfaction surveys
- Staff CPD
- Staff supervision
- Staff training
Quarterly reports to the Board on:
- Finance
- Activities
- Customer satisfaction
There is a wide range of skills at Board level including expertise in finance, equality and diversity, monitoring and evaluation, Third Sector, HR and industrial relations and communication.
Equal Opportunities practice within the project
We will use a variety of media, including our website and our newsletter which is available in a number of formats to publicise the project and assist different communication needs.
All activities and processes will be equality proofed, according to best practice.
We will work with Statutory and Voluntary and Community partners, such as Government Office South West and the South West Forum, to attain maximum contact with Voluntary and Community bodies throughout the South West region.
Building on and making use of existing work in this field (for example the Equality Toolkit developed by the Cornwall Infrastructure Consortium and the Equality Standard for Local Government developed by Dialogue), develop and use a regional equality toolkit as a comprehensive set of resources that Third Sector organisations can use to develop their equality and diversity policy and practice. It will contain specific information and guidance relevant to the regional context e.g. taking account of rapid demographic changes specific to the South West. The toolkit will also be used as an assessment model.
Develop the first regional accreditation for equality and diversity practitioners
Provide equality and diversity training to the Third Sector. This will be facilitated by the Equality Officer, but delivered by accredited trainers. (We are in touch with the national LSC about their proposal to develop national accreditation for equality and diversity practitioners).
Develop and provide training courses on Equality Impact Assessments, Statutory Duties, cross-strand E&D work to all Third Sector organisations (equality and non-equality Third Sector).
Create and provide training materials, case studies, good practice guides to all Third Sector organisations (equality and non-equality Third Sector).
Support and develop Regional Equality Networks of Third Sector Equality organisations to share best practice, facilitating opportunities for joint working. This will include running other successful consultation and awareness raising events on new legislation and policy proposals such as the forthcoming Equality Bill. (ESW has already held events on the Gender Duty, Disability Duty and the proposed extension for Sexual Orientation legislation to cover Goods, Facilities and Services for example).
Outcomes for Equality South West
1. The financial stability of the organisation relies on developing sustainability. This will be achieved by providing: equality proofing, accreditation services, developing ESW as a hub of good practice and information on equality and diversity to all sectors (including Public and Private sectors) and generating income through membership fees.
2. Developing the Regional Equality Networks, working with Third Sector organisations, equality proofing their work and developing training materials, will add to the expertise of ESW staff on equality and diversity within the regional Third Sector. This will include maintaining up to date information on latest good practice and legislative changes, an increased understanding by ESW staff of the Third Sector through equality proofing work (extending that already undertaken by ESW) and training materials and toolkits developed through equality proofing work with the Third Sector. A core part of developing expertise and understanding is on cross-strand equalities issues and multiple forms of discrimination.
3. Through the process of networking, equality proofing and training Third Sector organisations on equality and diversity in the region, ESW will help develop the skills and knowledge of Third Sector equality and non-equality organisations. For example, by providing services to historically hard to reach groups and through this work, developing a better understanding within ESW of the barriers to achieving this. ESW’s core focus is cross-strand equality work and thus will ensure the development of expertise and knowledge in reaching those people and communities that suffer multiple forms of discrimination.
4. Developing the capacity of the Regional Equality Networks will increase financial and other capacity issues such as staff time, leading to collaborative forms of working between organisations. This will have a number of benefits including efficiency, avoidance of duplication and create opportunities for new income streams.
5. Working to best practice equality and diversity principles and policy standards will improve fundraising opportunities as many funders now require organisations to demonstrate an understanding and practical application of equality and diversity principles and practices.
6. An identified need is for Third Sector organisations to ensure representation from equality communities at Board/Trustee level (need 3). Improving the knowledge and practice of Third Sector organisations will improve representation at Board level of individuals from equality communities. This will enhance the level of understanding and commitment to equality and diversity within all aspects of the organisation.
7. The increased capacity and sustainability of Equality South West will maintain its function as a representative voice and channel of communication and support for Third Sector organisations to influence local, regional and national policies; namely through consultation and networking activities.
8. An outcome of ESW (4) is to increase the influence of Third Sector Equality organisations on local, regional and national policies and corresponds directly to Basis Outcome 3. This will be done through activities including research, providing advice and networking.
9. Bringing Third Sector in line with best practice through improving Third Sector practices, skills and knowledge of equality and diversity policies will improve the reputation, confidence and thus influence of South West regional equality organisations.
10. The increased capacity and sustainability of Equality South West will ensure ESW is a source of best practice and up to date information. ESW has developed effective channels of communication to provide information via website, newsletters and awareness-raising events.
11. The increased sustainability and capacity of Regional Equality Networks will allow for the sharing of good practice between Third Sector Equality organisations.
12. This information will be distributed more widely through ESW channels of communication to non-equality Third Sector contacts as well as other sectors.
13. Regional networks and the improvement of Third Sector practices, skills and knowledge of equality and diversity will impact in particular on the Public Sector through contractual relationships, acting as best practice examples.
14. The financial stability of the organisation relies on developing sustainability. This will be achieved by providing: equality proofing, accreditation services, developing ESW as a hub of good practice and information on equality and diversity to all sectors (including Public and Private sectors) and generating income through membership fees.
15. Developing the Regional Equality Networks, working with Third Sector organisations, equality proofing their work and developing training materials, will add to the expertise of ESW staff on equality and diversity within the regional Third Sector. This will include maintaining up to date information on latest good practice and legislative changes, an increased understanding by ESW staff of the Third Sector through equality proofing work (extending that already undertaken by ESW) and training materials and toolkits developed through equality proofing work with the Third Sector. A core part of developing expertise and understanding is on cross-strand equalities issues and multiple forms of discrimination.
16. Through the process of networking, equality proofing and training Third Sector organisations on equality and diversity in the region, ESW will help develop the skills and knowledge of Third Sector equality and non-equality organisations. For example, by providing services to historically hard to reach groups and through this work, developing a better understanding within ESW of the barriers to achieving this. ESW’s core focus is cross-strand equality work and thus will ensure the development of expertise and knowledge in reaching those people and communities that suffer multiple forms of discrimination.
