Highlights of our road ahead for equalities infrastructure live discussion

On Wednesday 25
th
June the BIG Assist team hosted a live discussion for equalities infrastructure
organisations to discuss the issues important to them.

There were around 100 comments posted during the discussion with wide representation across
England including:

London
Sheffield
Leeds
Ely
Huntingdon
Manchester
Newcastle
Birmingham
Derby

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


Are there opportunities for equalities infrastructure to work together more
to overcome the challenges they face?

Yes, but many equalities agencies are struggling so the focus tends to be on their own
survival. Lyn Boyd stated I consider that there are opportunities for collaboration but our
current difficulty is that we are literally running to stand still and therefore initial discussion
at least would need to be enabled
Due to funding not being prioritised towards the equalities sector many organisations tend
to get involved in mainstream infrastructure partnerships thereby leaving less room for
collaboration amongst each other
Lester Holloway pointed out that 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

How can equalities infrastructure support their beneficiaries given the
current funding environment are there different models of support that can
be used to support the most vulnerable organisations?

Although there is little money and no capacity for groups to generate income suggestions
were made by Paul Roberts to focus more on things that can facilitated at a low cost but still
achieve high impact. He also suggest being honest with members as it can help to manage
expectations
There is a fear that equality specialisms may disappear quicker than other generic services
because they are more niche and that this needs to be prioritised by the sector
Demonstrating the impact that equalities infrastructure has also raised - some participants
felt that equalities infrastructure do not demonstrate their impact enough even though the
data/research exists. Louise Barry from Merseyside Disability Federation said that as a
disability infrastructure organisation we have plenty of evidence of need and no one ever
really doubts us but we are continually told it is not the focus of people's priorities in a cash
strapped environment
Julie Ward from NCVO mentioned that it will be interesting so see what the results of
impact projects conducted by infrastructure organisations have been. Not as many as I
expected have taken the opportunity to conduct this work and those that have have tended
to be smaller, specialist organisations
There are also concerns that major funders are aligning their priorities with those of the
Government and with funding linked to initiatives that already have agendas (i.e. European
funding)Shantele Janes from Cheshire, Halton & Warrington Race & Equality Centre
mentioned how her organisations is struggling and how it feels very much as if equality
issues have fallen off the government's agenda and therefore funding is not being prioritised
towards the sector. We have survived through getting involved in mainstream partnerships,
Healthwatch and TLI but its a struggle when we have such limited capacity. We need bigger,
stronger organisations to be helping us in this climate and campaigning for us.

Equalities infrastructure struggle somewhat to engage meaningfully with
mainstream infrastructure why is this and how can it be overcome?

There is a general feeling that generic infrastructure organisations are not forthcoming in
engaging with specialist infrastructure. As a national agency, we have conversations with
generic agencies and talk about closer working together and collaborative projects but
nothing is forthcoming. It seems the specialist agencies have to make all the effort to have
their voices heard and identify opportunities rather than the more stable generic agencies
being proactive. Paul Roberts
Concerns exist around infrastructure being diluted and generalist infrastructure believing
they can cover all topics
Participants felt that 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
One issue for mainstream infrastructure is the difficulty of liaising with all the diverse
strands (and there not being funding available to split in numerous directions)


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.


Visit one of the following organisations through BIG Assist

Community Action Southwark: An outcomes focused strategy...that works

Harrogate & Ripon CVS (HARCVS): Partnership working and moving towards mergers

Interlink Foundation: Moving from grant funding to a mixed economy, setting up a
consortium bidding vehicle and winning and managing contracts

Consortium of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgendered VCOs: Moving from office to remote
working

Here is how to apply - we can approve your visit within 24 hours of receiving your application!



Useful resources from the BIG Assist online library

How to present your research findings and ideas for how to communicate your impact
Using social media for market research
A selection of resources on how to monitor and evaluate your work