Released: 2nd August 2007.
Single Group Funding helps build cohesive communities and limiting it will have a discriminatory impact on the BME Third Sector
The Commission on Integration and Cohesion is wrong to call for a presumption against the awarding of Single Group Funding and the Government should reject the proposal, says Black and Minority Ethnic Third Sector partnership organisation Voice4Change England (V4CE).
The proposal, contained in Annex D of the Commission’s recent report Our Shared Future, is for funding bodies to adopt a policy of ‘Single Group Funding as the exception and not the rule’ and is supported by several recommendations on how it should be implemented.
V4CE is concerned at the likely adverse impact of such a development on the BME Third Sector and has written to the Secretary of State at the Department of Communities & Local Government to urge that it should not be implemented because it is discriminatory to BME groups, doesn’t recognise the specific needs of diverse communities, and would have a negative effect on community cohesion.
In the letter, V4CE has stated its fundamental opposition to the Report’s recommendation of the development of guidance to assist grant making bodies in deciding about the appropriateness of Single Group Funding. It believes such guidance isn’t justified and instead suggests guidance promoting cohesive communities be produced.
Vandna Gohil said: “We consider there is insufficient evidence both in the ‘Our Shared Future’ report and in the experience of Voice4Change England Partners to warrant this as an intervention or solution. We therefore, oppose such guidance being developed and believe that DCLG should not proceed with this recommendation. We believe there is a need for guidance but one that focuses on cohesion and community integration. V4CE is ready to work with the DCLG and relevant agencies to explore the possibilities of developing such guidance along with improving the lives of people living in the most disadvantaged communities.”
The letter sets out V4CE’s rejection of the Single Group Funding recommendations.
V4CE Director Vandna Gohil commented; “Given the Commission’s definition of Single Group Funding is ‘as that awarded on the basis of a particular identity, such as ethnic, religious or cultural’ we believe that implementation will have an adverse impact on BME Third Sector organisations as it threatens their survival. This is worrying because research studies and Government reviews have shown that BME organisations have for a long time addressed cohesion issues and contributed in promoting civic engagement in Britain.”
She added: “We believe that calling for the reasons behind any awarding of Single Group Funding to be clearly published to all communities in the local area is certainly discriminatory because the requirement is only being applied to BME organisations and not mainstream voluntary sector organisations. We believe this may be racist and would urge DCLG consider this more fully to assess whether it is in breach of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.”
V4CE also consider the Single Group Funding recommendations to be contradictory to existing government policies that support ‘target funding’ to meet the needs of diverse communities.
Vandna Gohil commented further: “We also believe that requiring groups receiving renewed or additional resources to demonstrate their progress in becoming more outward-facing, especially by evidence of twinning, is also discriminatory treatment towards the BME Third Sector. If this obligation is integral to the receipt of funding then all groups should be asked to demonstrate and prove how successful they are in mainstreaming their services for diverse communities.”
V4CE also believes that the Commission of Integration and Cohesion have failed to recognise the specific needs of diverse communities and the experience of BME Third Sector organisations to date. According to Vandna Gohil: “BME Third Sector organisations already fail to attract their fair share of public funding and strive to deliver services to communities where statutory and mainstream services have failed. A requirement to be outward-facing places unfair additional burdens on smaller and BME led organisations who struggle with well documented capacity issues.”V4CE has been in contact with other Third Sector organisations such as the National Association for Voluntary & Community Action and bassac, to discuss common concerns with the Single Group Funding recommendation and understands they have also written to the Government on the matter.