Highlights of our road ahead for equalities infrastructure live discussion

On Wednesday 25
th
June we hosted a live discussion on the road ahead for equalities infrastructure

There were around 100 comments posted during the discussion. You can view the discussion and
continue to post your comments or read the highlights below taken directly from the discussion.

Panellists:
Lester Holloway, Policy Officer - Voice4Change England
Paul Roberts, CEO - Consortium of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgendered VCOs
Louise Barry, CEO Merseyside Disability Federation
Lyn Boyd, CEO - Mental Health North East

Collaboration and Strengthening relations with generic infrastructure

Many equalities agencies are struggling so the focus tends to be on their own survival
Infrastructure as a whole is quite diluted and equalities seem to be missing from the agenda
Funding is not being prioritised towards the equalities sector so many survive by getting
involved in mainstream partnerships however capacity is a problem
Concerns exist around generalist infrastructure believing they can cover all topics
Within the BME VCS sector funders are wishing to see more collaboration and mergers
between BME organisations however BME groups were set up with specific briefs, so there
is a misconception that BME groups are all doing the same work which is not true
One issue for mainstream infrastructure is the difficulty of liaising with all the diversity
strands (and there not being funding available to split in numerous directions)
Generic infrastructure should:
o subcontract specialist organisations into their commissioning bids to increase
diverse voices being heard within a range of policy discussions and decisions
o provide more of a brokerage role to introduce equalities groups to those
organisations that it would be helpful for them to know
Funding

No money and no capacity for groups to generate income many are at the bare bones
Being honest with members is a help as it can manage expectations
Focussing on things that be facilitated at a low cost but achieve highest impact has worked
well for LGBT Consortium
Concerns around major funders aligning their priorities with those of the Government and
with funding linked to initiatives that already have agendas (i.e. European funding)
Equality specialisms are likely to disappear quicker than other generic services because they
are more niche this is not being prioritised

Impact

Equalities infrastructure dont show their impact as infrastructure bodies enough even
though the data/research exists
Merseyside Disability Federation pointed out that they have plenty of evidence of need but
they are continually told it is not a priority in a cash strapped environment
Proving the need as well as the demand is vital
A range of comparative data across equality strands would be useful is there scope to
discuss how equality organisations collect data and turn it into impact data?

Outcome from the live discussion

It was decided that organisations taking part in the live discussion should create a coordinated
response to the current consultation from the Office of Civil Society on the new Sustainability Fund -
to ensure there is recognition that diverse communities need more support in order to create more
social action. BIG Assist will be helping to arrange this collaborative response to the OCS.

Thank you to everyone that took part in the discussion.