The Scottish Government

10. Quick guide to working with equalities groups

This section gives you a quick overview of the main issues raised in this guidance. But -there are no shortcuts! This is a summary of just some of the main issues to consider. It is intended to remind you about some of the steps you can take to ensure that you work effectively with equalities groups. It is not an exhaustive list of what to do. As you will know, work with any communities needs to be adapted to local needs and views. Your work with equalities groups has to be developed based on what people from equalities groups are telling you about their experiences.

We hope that you can build on some of the key points raised in this section, and use your own experiences - and the guidance in the rest of this resource - to help develop your own approach to working with equalities groups in your area.

Equality and Community Learning Development

• As someone within the CLD field, working with equalities groups should be an extremely important part of your job.
• In society, many people do face disadvantages because of personal characteristics like age, ethnic origin and disability.
• The CLD sector can play a key role in working to reduce these disadvantages - through providing opportunities for learning, development and influencing service delivery.
• The law does place certain responsibilities on many CLD providers - meaning that it is against the law to discriminate for any reason relating to race, disability or gender.
• Some CLD providers also have a legal duty to promote equality - for example this applies to all local authorities and everyone who is involved in community planning.
• Working with equalities groups is not just about meeting your legal obligations. It is about making a difference to people's everyday lives through promoting equality and meeting the needs of all communities in your area.

The ' How Good Is Your Community Learning and Development?' standards clearly emphasise the importance of equalities work in the field of CLD.

Approaches to equality

• When we talk about equalities groups, we mean people or communities who face discrimination or social exclusion because of personal characteristics, including:

- age,

- disability,

- gender,

- ethnic origin,

- language,

- faith, religion or belief,

- sexual orientation, or

- gender identity.

• Equality is not about treating everyone in exactly the same way - in fact this can lead to indirect discrimination and have a negative impact on equality.
• The 'equality perspective' involves recognising that everyone has different needs, and that services should be planned and delivered based on these needs.
• The Scottish Executive emphasises that CLD resources should be targeted to those who are the most vulnerable or excluded.
• This means that in the CLD field, equality is about taking 'positive action' to ensure that certain groups who experience disadvantage or exclusion are able to take part in CLD activity.

Understanding local needs

• Your CLD activity with equalities groups should always be based on a clear understanding of the needs you are trying to meet.
• As with all groups, assessing needs must involve speaking to communities about their views and experiences, and working jointly to develop appropriate CLD activity.
• Thinking about the terminology you use when working with equalities groups is important - nobody likes being slotted into a category which doesn't describe their community properly.
• It is best to speak to individuals and communities about how they would like to be defined or described.
• It is important to remember that assessing needs can be time intensive.
• A long term approach to building community capacity and networks may be required.

Planning your services

• The central framework for CLD planning at a strategic level is the 'Community Learning and Development Strategy' produced by each Community Planning Partnership.
• When planning your services, you should be able to:

- demonstrate involvement of equalities groups in planning services,

- state your commitment to general principles of equality,

- show that your commitment to equality will result in real changes,

- set priorities for working with equalities groups, and

- link your activity to wider CLD strategies and policy context.

Working with Equalities Groups

• Section 8 of this guidance documents sets out some detailed, practical considerations which should be taken into account when working with equalities groups.
• Some of the main points to bear in mind include:

- availability of targeted activities for certain equalities groups can be

important for many communities - such as women-only events.

- But, not everyone wants separate services so make sure you listen to

what people in your area say they want.

- Targeted services can be a way of getting people involved initially,

and then building links with mainstream services in the longer-term.

- Activities will always work best if they are developed through working

with communities to meet their needs.

- You will often have to dedicate a lot of time to developing

relationships with communities, before you can begin talking about

CLD activities.

- Creating an informal atmosphere can be a very good way of making

people from equalities groups feel confident about accessing your

activities or services.

- If you can, it often helps to create a 'hub' of activities - so that people

may begin to come to a venue for one activity, and then gradually

become involved in other activities.

- Try to make sure that staff and volunteers are able to relate to

equalities groups in an informal and welcoming way.

- Think about the practicalities of becoming involved in your CLD

activities - are there any barriers in terms of language, physical

access, childcare, finances, support needs and so on?

- Make sure your services are promoted widely to people from

equalities groups - this might mean using different ways of promoting

your activities than you have used in the past.

Your organisation

• The way that your organisation is run can have a big impact on your ability to work flexibly and responsively with equalities groups in CLD activity.
• Everyone in your organisation needs to recognise the importance of equality, and the particular importance of work with equalities groups in the CLD field.
• It is important that your organisation has in place policies and procedures which aim to ensure equality is central to your activities.
• Developing a skilled team of staff and volunteers is a critical step in working effectively with equalities groups.
• Part of embedding equality in your organisation's activities may involve challenging the attitudes and perceptions which people hold.

Section 9.5 << >> Sources of support