Our role in policy making
Vandna Gohil, Director of Voice4Change England.
1. What type of organisation are you?
Voice4Change England is an initiative that has been led by those involved in supporting black communities. Our journey began two years ago when those organisations working at a local, regional and national level came together and felt collectively that they didn't have a voice at the policy making table regionally or at national government level.
Voice4Change England is designed to be different. We want to have a different impact to make sure that Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities and the issues that affect them are addressed by those that have the power to make decisions. We want to influence those in positions of power to ensure BME community needs are addressed.
2. Have previous such initiatives on behalf of BME communities failed?
The issue is about under-resourced capacity of the BME Third Sector which has not been able to do the things that are required of it because it needs more resources. It is not about BME Third Sector organisations failing in the past, it is more about their need to invest in skills, capacity building and funding to help them to represent the interests of BME communities more effectively and go forward.
3. Will BME policy making be better in the future?
Yes I think it will be. Take, for example, how the Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships, have worked in the past. Voice4Change England has undertaken an audit of where our existing partners sit around policy tables at the region and national level. There is an absence of BME communities at the tables where services are decided and where resources follow the decisions of those services. Research that one of our partners has done, the Black Training and Enterprise Group, has highlighted that there is an absence of BME representation on BME Local Strategic Partnerships. Our new research “Bridge the Gap: What is known about the BME Third Sector”, will lead to better informed policy making.
4. What is your view on so called “single group” funding?
I think what Voice4Change England has achieved as a result of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion's report on “Our Shared Future”, is to really address the issue outlined in that report on “single group” funding. It said that single group funding should now happen through exception rather than as a rule. We think that this is an area that the Commission hasn't really provided sufficient evidence. The inference was that if you are a single identity group by religion, culture or ethnicity you somehow, as a group of people, are actually a burden to building bridges between communities.
DCLG Secretary of State Hazel Blears appears to have taken on board what we are saying because she is no longer referring in her communications to others to “single group” identity but instead she is talking about guidance to funders on cohesion. We look forward to working with government on this agenda in the future after already successfully getting our views across.
We would prefer it if funders looked at what the indicators are that will help to identify projects that are not only helping groups to bond, but also are helping them then move on to engage with other communities and the bridging activities which are good ultimately for cohesion and integration.
5. Do single groups have aims which are at odds with one another?
Each group will have its own aims and objectives and I don't think the role of policy is to dictate how groups should form and around what issues. One of the most important and distinguishing features of the voluntary and community sector is that it is needs led. Its not formed because governments or others say it should form and therefore I think the suggested policy over “single group” funding could in one way if implemented , actually be stopping groups forming and responding to needs because it didn't fit people's agendas. The fact that single group funding isn't an issue in the longer term is down in part to the work that Voice4Change England and others in the third sector are trying to do.
6. Can better policy making improve community relations?
I think it can and will. There is a lack of BME engagement in policy making and how policy affects them. That is something that we have recognised through the work Voice4Change England Partners have been doing in our mapping research and our audit on behalf of the sector. For the first time we can quantify the strength, the breath, and the characteristics of the BME Third Sector.
What we have found is that there is no single data base, no single source of intelligence that captures the vibrancy of the BME Third Sector and therefore the role that the sector plays in policy development and influence is missing. The important thing to register is that there is a lot of data and evidence about the charitable sector and mainstream sector which is captured in the NCVO Almanac. This is able to quantify and characterise not only the size and scale of the charitable sector but also the services they are delivering and potentially the value they are adding to civic society and civic engagement. However, the same cannot be captured and isn't captured for the BME Third Sector.
We think that policy makers are neglecting the valuable contribution that the BME Third Sector is playing in civic engagement and civil renewal and the valuable role that it has in delivering services. In the past service providers have either ignored or not recognised or not provided services to BME communities.
I think the difference the BME Third Sector can make to development is in a large way unrecognised because we have not had the evidence or data to present and we now want to redress that balance hence the need for change. This is where our name comes from because we will be a new voice for change in the sector.
7. Is it a case that the BME Third Sector's contribution to policy making has not been acknowledged?
The BME Third Sector needs greater recognition in policy making. What we want to do and what Voice4Change England is trying to do, is to say that the BME Third Sector is playing a role and for the first time our mapping research, “Bridge the Gap” is about saying that we own this information.
We want to use our new information, and talk with regional bodies and national bodies that have a responsibility to deliver services to communities. We want to say this as an opportunity to engage with us and use our information to begin a process of dialogue. We want to use “Bridge the Gap” as a base by which to form that relationship.
8. How would you like Voice4Change England to be judged in 18 months?
What I hope Voice4Change England will have achieved in the future is that we and our Partners will be sitting at many more policy tables and that we will actually see some of the benefits that influencing government policy will have made. We can already say that the Partnership has influenced the government's response to the Commission's report on “single group” funding.
We also hope that the response we gave on the allocation of the £30 million Community Assets Fund will result in better grant giving and some good examples of BME led projects that are delivering on the ground. We hope the shared ownership of the community asset with all the community will result in some significant differences including more inclusion of the BME community in policy making.
9. Do you think multiculturalism has been a mistake?
I think the issue is that multiculturalism has a place. This is about understanding people and getting to know each other but I don't think you can have that without understanding some of the broader issues around social and economic well being. The fact is there are more people from BME communities on low income, unemployed, and under-achieving in the education system.
You have to address the deep rooted issues and ensure that everybody has equal access to social justice and the benefits that an integrated and fair society can offer. We need to give people an equal opportunity to engage in that process and that is really what the BME Third Sector and the partners involved in Voice4Change England are about. We would not exist if mainstream provision was meeting the needs of all the people in the community it was seeking to serve.
10. What is it about being Director, of Voice4Change England that is important to you personally?
I have worked in the sector, in local government, in national government and now I have come back to my roots. I want to serve and make a difference to the BME community and the BME sector which is where I started as a volunteer. I feel I have experience, contacts, networks, and an energy that is about ensuring that the BME third sector thrives and as a result that the BME Third Sector communities, actually get better outcomes than I currently think they are.
11. Will Voice4Change England be heard at all levels of policy making?
I think if Voice4Change England really achieves what it is aiming to do then very much so. I think the work that we are doing on a whole range of policies and campaigns should be something that ministers should be discussing and debating. The key acid test for when Voice4Change England has made a mark is when the political parties put our views into their manifestos for the Third Sector.
That's when I think we will have achieved the place that we want to be, not necessarily the destination, which is better outcomes for communities and a better understanding of the contribution we can make to drawing up policy.
12. How representative of the BME community is your Partnership?
We have the major players nationally on board and also all but one of the nine regional BME infrastructure bodies. As an umbrella partnership organisation we are a generic voice representing the BME Third Sector in Britain today.