EQUALITY NETWORK - Business Plan: April 2008-March 2011

Business Plan: April 2008-March 2011
The Equality Network was founded in 1997 as a national organisation working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and equality in Scotland. We are a registered charity governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees.

The Equality Network: Working for LGBT Rights in Scotland

Strategic and Successful
Partnerships and Networks
A Fairer Scotland for LGBT People
Our Strategic Approach
A Sustainable Organisation

Our objectives are:

To ensure the best possible approach to LGBT equality from the Scottish Government and other national bodies. We try to achieve this by being an authoritative provider of advice, consultancy and information on policy, strategy and legislation. This is informed by our consultation with LGBT communities and other stakeholders.
To encourage and enable LGBT community groups and other organisations to promote LGBT equality and rights at a national, local and community level. We try to achieve this by developing skills and awareness within LGBT groups and organisations and through promoting networking and shared learning across the LGBT community sector.
To ensure that LGBT people are informed about and are empowered to access their rights. We try to achieve this by developing and promoting a comprehensive and accessible range of information sources on LGBT rights and equality,
To promote social values and attitudes which are supportive of LGBT rights, equality and inclusion, both within LGBT communities and across Scottish society as a whole.
To reflect and celebrate the diversity of our communities, and represent the experiences and aspirations of minority groups within the Scottish LGBT communities. We try to achieve this by developing partnerships with other equality strands and promoting cross-strand approaches, and also by developing targeted activities that promote the rights and equality of transgender people across Scotland.

You can download the full business plan here: Business Plan 2008-2011 (PDF).

Strategic and Successful

In 2007 the Your Scotland Project from 2004-7 was externally evaluated. This evaluation confirmed the Equality Network as an organisation working to the highest professional standards and punching well above its weight in terms of its impact on social policy and political developments. The external evaluation reported three areas of our work as being particularly successful; our policy work, our information work and our commitment to cross-strand working. The Scottish Transgender Alliance Development Work was not included within the evaluation as it began after the period under review.

The evaluation reported that the ”Equality Network has developed a significant, positive profile for its work in relation to the development of legislative policy in Scotland, and providing a platform for LGBT people within the policy arena. This work has gained respect from policy makers, planners and relevant professionals.” It also found that the “Equality Network has made a consistent, and on-going, effort to ensure that the information it produces is accessible” and “participants in the evaluation made very positive comments on the usefulness of the information disseminated.” In terms of diversity the report found “a fresh approach to cross-stand work” that has “become well ingrained into the work of Equality Network”, concluding that the organisation “offers a welcome – and all too uncommon - reflection of Scotland’s diversity.”

The report did however find that the Equality Network needs to do more work around LGBT community engagement. It concluded that the organisation “has struggled to engage effectively with sections of the LGBT community. Community engagement cannot happen without capacity building within the sector.” This Business Plan reflects our desire and need to do far more work on building capacity and engaging with the LGBT community sector.

Partnerships and Networks

The Equality Network works closely with the two other national LGBT equality organisations, Stonewall Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland, in order to ensure that our work is complementary and co-ordinated. Our commitment to partnership working was particular praised in the external evaluation, which such comments from our partners as; “Equality Network is not competitive – they champion the work of other organisations and are inspirational in that way.”

We are committed to reflecting the diversity of our communities and therefore partnership with other equality strands has been central to our work. We have undertaken partnership projects to identify the needs of older LGBT people and disabled LGBT people, to promote Islam awareness within the LGBT sector and LGBT awareness amongst Black and Minority Ethnic community groups. We have promoted cross-strand work and co-operation through the Equalities Coordinating Group (ECG) alongside the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Disability Rights Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality, Age Concern Scotland and the Interfaith Council. We were part of the Steering Group for the development of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and we believe our close working relationship with the previous commissions will continue with the new commissions of the ECHR and the Scottish Commission for Human Rights (SCHR). This wide range of activities means we are seen a leading organisation in promoting cross-strand approaches to equality in Scotland. Our national conference Crossing the Strands: Equality for All 2007, with the programme featuring workshops on all seven officially recognised equality strands, highlighted the importance of cross strand work in the context of the new EHRC.

It is essential to our success as a national organisation that we are part of, and rooted in, the Scottish LGBT community sector. Our work is informed by our large network of around 1000 individuals and over 300 groups and organisations across Scotland.

A Fairer Scotland For LGBT People

Embracing diversity is a central part of what it means to be a modern, innovative and democratic nation that is at ease with itself. We therefore strongly believe that LGBT equality and rights are good not just for LGBT people but for the whole of Scotland. We share the present Government’s vision of a Scotland that is healthier, wealthier, safer, fairer, easier, greener and smarter. However Scotland can be none of these things if a significant proportion of its population continue to face discrimination and exclusion within their professional, personal, cultural and social lives.

We do not believe that LGBT rights are in any way special rights; rather we campaign for the rights guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights to be truly accessible to LGBT people. We believe that the discrimination and inequalities that LGBT people can experience, and are at risk from, are contrary to universal principles of social justice and fairness and that such discrimination also has harmful and serious consequences for individuals, communities and society as a whole.

Our work is also directly and continually informed by consultation and engagement with Scottish LGBT communities themselves. We do this on an issue by issue basis. We also regularly carry out large scale consultations to identify LGBT people’s major priorities which form the manifesto for our overall work. Our current Manifesto priorities are for legislative reform, for the end of discrimination faced by LGBT young people and families within education, strong leadership against prejudice, equality in employment and services and equality for LGBT families.

Our Strategic Approach

In order to bring about our vision of an inclusive Scotland which celebrates diversity and where all LGBT are treated fairly we take a balanced approach, working at national, community, individual and cultural levels.

At a national level we seek to ensure the best possible approach to LGBT equality from the Scottish Government and other national bodies by being an authoritative provider of information, advice and consultancy on LGBT equality and rights in legislation, policy and strategy. This is explored in more depth in the following sections on Leadership and Policy and Legislation

At a community level we seek to engage and empower LGBT communities to promote our equality and rights through community engagement and developing the capacity and skills of LGBT groups and organisations. This is dealt with on the sections on Community Engagement and Capacity Building

At an individual level we seek to ensure that LGBT people are informed about and are empowered to access their rights. This is dealt with in the sections on Information and Rights

At a cultural level we promote social values and attitudes which are supportive of LGBT rights, equality and inclusion. This is dealt with in the section on Hearts and Minds

All our work reflects the diversity of LGBT communities and identities. We do however recognise that more work is needed to reflect the experience and aspirations of transgender communities in Scotland. This is dealt with in the section Transgender Rights.

1. Leadership: A Strong Voice for LGBT Rights

At the Equality Network we are committed to the promotion of equality for everyone and universal human rights. We strongly support the move towards a unified, diversity approach to rights and equality practice, as evidenced, amongst things, by the creation of the unitary Commission for Equality and Human Rights. We do however feel that universal rights and values are best achieved through attention to the particular forms that discrimination takes and the specific realities of people lives; while a generic approach to diversity and discrimination can mask the persistence of hidden bias and inequalities. One of our defining roles is therefore to provide a strong voice for LGBT rights within a changing equalities environment and to ensure that developing theoretical and strategic approaches are inclusive of diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. We will continue to promote innovative work at the intersections of equality strands, with a particular focus on Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) LGBT people, as their needs and experiences are currently under-represented within Scottish equality discourse.

While we work through dialogue and consultation, we do have a leadership role within and on behalf of the LGBT sector. We aim to promote ongoing innovation and critical self-evaluation within the sector, through national conferences, international exchanges, and facilitating input from academic and other specialists.

It is not only the equalities environment that is undergoing a profound change; through the National Conversation the constitutional settlement for Scotland is being re-examined. As well as questioning political arrangements for Scotland this debate will also, inevitably, touch on the nature of Scottish identity itself. It is a vital part of our leadership role that there we represent a multiplicity of LGBT voices within these debates and ensure that the vision of Scotland’s future that emerges has diversity and fairness at its heart.

1.1 National Conference

OUTCOME: LGBT equality issues are included and recognised in wider discussions about what equality and human rights should mean in Scotland.
OUTPUT: Promote and facilitate cross-strand and LGBT-specific discussion of the meaning of equality and human rights.

ACTIVITIES	DIVERSITY	ASSESSMENT	RESOURCES
We will hold a national conference on the meanings of equality, diversity and human rights for LGBT communities in Scotland.	Conference attendance will be monitored by the seven strands.	The conference will be evaluated according to participant satisfaction, and a conference report will be produced and disseminated to a broad range of policy actors.	Conference funded through Scottish Government (SG) Information Project, with the involvement of all Equality Network staff, and input from Stonewall Scotland (SS) and LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS)
We will explore with equality and rights organisations and relevant academics the most inclusive models and approaches to equality and human rights and report on our conclusions.	Within discussions on appropriate equality and rights models we will prioritise those that best address multiple discrimination and intersectionality.	Discussion papers on theoretical approaches to equality and rights will be produced and disseminated and an overview report will be produced in year two.	Additional funding could be sought. Support from EHRC and SHRC, so that this complements and enhances their work.

1.2 Partnership work with other equalities organisations

OUTCOME: The promotion of equality, diversity and human rights at a national level is informed by a sound understanding of the specific needs of Scottish LGBT communities.
OUTPUT: Partnership and supportive work with and for the EHRC, SCHR, national policy bodies and Forum’s and organisations from other equality strands.

ACTIVITIES	DIVERSITY	ASSESSMENT	RESOURCES
We will develop a formal relationship with the EHRC and SCHR and there will be ongoing liaison and partnership with these. We will participate with the replacement for the Equalities Coordinating Group; the Voluntary Sector Equality and Human Rights Coalition, the Association of Chief Police Officers of Scotland LGBT Reference Group and other national groups and Forums.	By its nature this work is cross-strand and supportive of diversity.	Summary included in six monthly reports. Towards the end of year two we will evaluate the effectiveness of the partnerships and partner satisfaction.	Support and recognition from ECHR and SCHR. Led by Director, Policy Worker and STA worker and supported by other workers as appropriate. Funded through Policy Project and STA.

1.3 Cross-strand work

OUTCOME: That the Scottish discourse on equality and rights is one that recognises intersectionality and addresses diversity and inequalities within communities.
OUTPUT: There will be a more explicit and more informed understanding of amongst equality and rights organisations, including those representing LGBT communities, of the needs and aspirations of minority LGBT people.

ACTIVITIES	DIVERSITY	ASSESSMENT	RESOURCES
We will develop a partnership project to address the needs and aspirations of Black and Minority Ethnic LGBT people and communities and to promote inclusive approaches amongst LGBT and BME organisations and groups.	The BME LGBT project will ensure that it reflects the needs of BME who are lesbian, gay male, bisexual and transgender.	There will be a project report produced; it will be distributed to all BME and LGBT organisations in Scotland and there will be a seminar to promote best practice.	Funding from ECHR for one year BME project with BEMIS. We will seek funding to continue the work beyond 2010.
We will seek partners for at least one other national cross–strand partnership project.			We will seek funding for one other development project.

1.4 National Seminar on the National Conversation

OUTCOME: LGBT equality issues are included and recognised in wider discussions about what equality and human rights should mean in Scotland.
OUTPUT: Promote and facilitate cross-strand and LGBT-specific discussion of the meaning of equality and human rights.

ACTIVITIES	DIVERSITY	ASSESSMENT	RESOURCES
We will hold a national seminar on what the National Conversation can mean for LGBT communities. We will hold no less than three other participatory events promoting consultation and dialogue. This will inform our policy and other advice to the Scottish Government on constitutional reform, a Bill of Rights and any other legislative or structural change.	Seminar attendance will be monitored by the seven strands. At least two of the participatory events will be outwith the central belt.	The conference will be evaluated according to participant satisfaction, and a conference report will be produced and disseminated to a broad range of policy actors. Briefing papers will be produced and disseminated widely.	Funded through SG Community Sector, Information and Policy Projects. Additional funding from Scottish Government for National Conversation seminar.

1.5 National LGBT Conference

OUTCOME: The Scottish discourse on human rights and equality for LGBT people and communities is innovative, forward-looking and intellectually rigorous.
OUTPUT: We will facilitate opportunities for shared learning and theoretical and strategic debate and development amongst LGBT organisations and with other rights and equality promoting organisations in Scotland.

ACTIVITIES	DIVERSITY	ASSESSMENT	RESOURCES
We will hold one other national LGBT rights/equality Conference other than those in 1.1 and 1.4.	Conference attendance will be monitored according to the seven strands.	Conference and seminar reports will be produced and widely disseminated.	National conference funded by SG Information project.
We will seek funding for at least one international LGBT rights conference to be held in Scotland. We will develop partnerships with no less than two academic institutions to promote innovation and theoretical approaches, through no less than 4 joint seminars.	Seminar attendance will be monitored according to the seven strands.	We will aim to publish the findings from the international conference.	Additional funding sources will be needed for the international event. Identification of, and buy-in from, academic partners.

2. Policy and Legislation: A Framework for LGBT Rights

In order to deliver a Scotland where LGBT people can flourish, free from inequality, discrimination and prejudice, there must be a legislative and policy framework supportive of LGBT rights. As part of the Your Scotland project our Policy and Legislation work aims to maximise the contribution made to LGBT equality and rights from governments, parliaments and other policy actors, at Scottish, UK and international levels.

Therefore one of our central roles is to advise the Scottish Government and Parliament on the LGBT impact of their policies and proposals and to enable LGBT people to have their say on these. More generally we will advise the Government on LGBT people’s priorities and how these can be met through legislation, policy and delivery. We seek to deliver greater LGBT equality by providing strategic and specific advice to, and facilitating community engagement with, the work of the UK Government, European institutions, and other policy actors where these impact upon the lives and opportunities of LGBT people in Scotland. We also seek to ensure that cross-strand national equality policy delivers greater LGBT equality, by working in partnership with other national equality bodies. Finally to maximise impact and effectiveness we will ensure that national LGBT policy work continues to be conducted in partnership between the three national LGBT organisations, and that other LGBT organisations have a say in the work.

Our experience and expertise uniquely suit us to this work. For more than ten years, we have worked with Westminster and Holyrood Governments and Parliaments to help deliver a wide range of legislative and policy measures which have contributed to progress towards LGBT equality. In all cases, our work was based on consultation and engagement with LGBT communities across Scotland.

3. Capacity Building: Building Stronger Communities

We believe in a Scotland where LGBT people are; able to utilise and develop their strengths and skills; valued as a positive force within the wider community; and are encouraged and enabled to develop their own priorities, sense of self-worth and identities. In order to achieve this we believe that a strong LGBT community sector is vital.

LGBT community groups can foster a sense of real value amongst LGBT people and can provide a strong, collective voice for LGBT people’s needs and concerns. LGBT groups also provide essential services, promoting the physical, emotional, mental and sexual health of LGBT people, reducing economic and social exclusion, and providing opportunities for life long learning. The development of the LGBT community sector would also support the broader goal of building and maintaining vibrant rural and urban communities as well as developing a climate of innovation and creativity necessary to meet Scotland’s economic, technological, environmental and social goals.

We believe that LGBT groups will be more successful and sustainable in the long term if there is co-operation, dialogue and shared learning between groups, if there is a broad consensus on values and ethics, and if there are partnerships and alliances instead of competition. We will therefore be seeking funding for a national capacity building project which will provide the opportunities for networking across regions and specialisms, develop skills within the sector, and facilitate the development of a shared agenda and collective action to meet common goals. The Equality Network is well placed to lead on this work, building on our skills and experience in engaging and informing communities and the trust in which we are held by LGBT community groups.

4. Community Engagement: A Dialogue between Communities and Government

A central aim of the Your Scotland Project is to ensure that there is a direct relationship between the needs, experiences and aspirations of LGBT communities and people on the one hand and the policies, decisions and actions taken by the Scottish Government and other national policy actors on the other. This relationship is beneficial in both directions; it can enhance and inform decision-making at a national level, and it promotes a genuine sense of inclusion, self-worth and active citizenship at a community and individual level.

The Equality Network has been very successful in engaging a range of LGBT people and groups in what has been the most significant programme of legislative reform around sexual orientation and gender identity the UK has ever witnessed. The high quality of our policy input on civil partnership, gender recognition, sexual orientation regulations in employment and good, facilities and services and the Gender Duty, is directly attributable to the wide-scale consultations we have organised. It is vital that community engagement with legislative and national policy development continues, particularly around such important areas as the National Conversation and the Single Equality Act.

However, we wish to develop a far more proactive community engagement approach that is not just concerned with ongoing legislative reform. We wish to explore the long-term aspirations of LGBT communities, and how these can inform the development of an inclusive and dynamic Scottish culture. We also want to engage communities in ensuring that the achievements of the last few years deliver real benefits to LGBT people in their lives. Engaging communities in assessing the impact of reform is vital if we are to understand how national policies translate into local practice and how and whether a legislative framework is delivering the safer, fairer Scotland we all believe in.

5. Information: Informed and Empowered Communities

The Equality Network’s information work informs and enhances our other activities. For example, communities are better able to engage with policy and other debates if they are generally informed about current equality and rights provisions and the credibility of individual policy submissions is enhanced by being seen as part of a coherent and comprehensive package of advice and guidance. Most importantly, informing communities about how their input to consultations and debates has influenced national policy has strengthened and sustained the relationship between community and Government.

Our information work also provides a valuable service in its own right. We know from our user surveys that, in and of themselves, our information services can promote inclusion and empowerment for LGBT people at an individual level. Simply having access to clear guidance on relevant law and national policy can enable LGBT people to assert their rights in a variety of settings while having access to regular newsletters and e-bulletins can promote a sense of belonging to a community and a movement.

The impact of our information services is felt beyond LGBT communities; press releases take information to the wider communities of Scotland; two-thirds of the organisations who subscribe to our newsletter are not LGBT-specific, while our external evaluation pointed to the number of mainstream services who regularly refer to our website. In this way information contributes to both the Hearts and Minds and Mainstreaming Equality Agendas.

This plan is therefore largely for the continuing development of work that we already know to be effective. There is however, also scope for the Equality Network to expand its research role, building on the high quality of our policy consultations and submissions.

6. Rights and Advocacy: Making Rights a Reality

Over the last decade lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Scotland have seen major developments in the legal recognition of their human rights, protection from discrimination and equality provisions. With the creation of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) there is now a statutory body with the responsibility to promote sexual orientation and gender identity equality. There is, however, a difference between having rights in theory and accessing those rights in practice. Many LGBT people, in common with many other people who have experienced significant levels of discrimination in their lives, may lack the confidence and self-esteem to assert their rights or to name and recognise discrimination when it occurs. Equality law can be complex and is not always easy to understand; therefore guidance, advice and signposting may be needed, either on a one-to-one basis or through accessible resources.

The Equality Network is a trusted provider of information on rights and equality to the LGBT communities As a result we receive frequent requests for advice and support from LGBT individuals experiencing discrimination that we do not currently have the capacity to meet satisfactorily. We therefore propose to seek funding for a rights development project to promote rights awareness through resource provision, training and advice surgeries, and provide one-to-one guidance and advice, sign-posting to specialist services and advocacy where needed.

The project will be designed to complement rather that replicate the work of the ECHR and other advice providers. We do not conceive this project as the start of a permanent service, but rather as a provision for the needs of LGBT people during a period of transition in the equality environment. During the latter part of the project, as part of the exit strategy, there will be a focus on training and resourcing a wide range of advice providing organisations.

7. Hearts and Minds: A Scotland that Celebrates Diversity

All of the work of the Equality Network has a direct or indirect impact on social attitudes towards LGBT inclusion. Our policy and leadership work promotes a public discourse supportive of LGBT equality while our information work raises awareness of rights and responsibilities within and outwith LGBT communities. Our community work and, crucially, our cross-strand work challenges a homogenized and stereotypical view of LGBT identity and through all our work we promote self-esteem amongst LGBT people themselves.

We do however have to recognise that considerably more work is needed to challenge negative attitudes towards LGBT inclusion within Scotland. We particularly welcome the Scottish Government’s creation of the Hearts and Minds Agenda Group as showing real leadership on this issue, and we have been happy to play a key role in supporting this work alongside the LGBT Youth and Stonewall Scotland. We look forward to the publication of the group’s report and this business plan will be amended and extended to further the group’s recommendations as appropriate.

Irrespective of the Hearts and Minds Agenda Group recommendations, we believe there is a clear potential for the Equality Network to extend its communications and campaigning role to promote positive attitudes towards LGBT equality, increase rights awareness and self-esteem amongst LGBT communities and challenge inequalities and discriminatory attitudes within our communities.

8. Transgender Rights: A European Leader on Transgender Equality

Transgender people in Scotland continue to face significant levels of discrimination and exclusion within their social, economic, cultural and personal lives. A large-scale study carried out in 2007 highlighted particular areas of concern in terms of public safety and lack of equality and significant levels of harassment at work. This exclusion represents a significant waste of human potential; over half the trans-people we surveyed who were educated to a Higher, degree or postgraduate level were unemployed at the time of survey.

Despite this, there is real potential for the situation in Scotland to improve dramatically. The meaningful commitment to transgender inclusion by the national LGBT organisations and the unusual level of co-operation and collaboration between trans community groups, as evidenced by the Scottish Transgender Alliance, has lead to an approach which is particularly inclusive and strategic. This when combined with the high quality of Scottish gender clinics, the willingness of public services to take transgender equality seriously, and the unprecedented level of Government support, means that the idea of Scotland becoming a European leader on transgender equality is an entirely realistic goal.

The Scottish Transgender Alliance Development Project has had a significant impact in a very short period of time and we wish to build on this success. Ongoing funding can enable us to continue to mainstream transgender equality, promote transgender inclusive national policy and build the capacity of transgender groups.

A Sustainable Organisation

The above sections detail the activities the Equality Network wishes in order to promote the rights and equality of LGBT people in Scotland. There are however other actions which are necessary or desirable in order for us to remain an effective and sustainable organisation, irrespective of our mission.

Given Scottish Government and EHRC funding projects, and if we were to be successful in securing funding for all the new posts we envisage in this plan, this would mean an increase in staffing from six to ten full-time or part-time workers. In order for this to be sustainable we would need to build into new funding bids increases in support staff time so that we are able to employ a full-time Support/Finance worker. We should also build in rent, rate and other office costs so that we are able to open a second base, most logically in Glasgow. Management costs within new project could also be used to increase the Director’s salary in line with the extra responsibilities and complexity of the role. As an organisation that doesn’t provide, for the most part, direct services we do not need to build very large reserves, but we should ensure that we are, at a minimum, able to meet staffing and core operational costs for three months in order to meet our redundancy obligations.

Much of this expanded role will depend on the Equality Network raising its profile amongst our communities, and with a broader range of service providers, planners and policy actors. It is recognised however that our marketing and branding is not truly effective in meeting our current needs, and will be insufficient to support an expanded remit. Grants will be sought to commission an organisational rebranding and improve our marketing and information materials.

We will also wish to develop the Board so that we have the most effective governance for a developing organisation; particular to recruit Trustees with experience in leading community development, human rights and other legal issues, and cross-strand working.

Equality Network
30 Bernard Street
Edinburgh
EH6 6PR

Tel: 07020 933 952
Fax: 07020 933 954

Email: patrick@equality-network.org
Web: www.equality-network.org

Registered Charity SC037852
Company Limited by Guarantee SC220213