Cultural Shift - Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunities

The Cultural Shift South East Equal Opportunities Policy

Cultural Shift is committed to equality of opportunity within all the activities carried out through this Development Partnership.

This Equal Opportunities Policy is the core document of the Cultural Shift Partnership and includes measures to tackle discrimination on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, religious or similar belief, sexual orientation, and age.

Each Partner Organisation will comply with the Equal Opportunities Policy for all activities carried out under the work programme of the Partnership and will actively participate in its implementation

This Policy will apply to ALL Cultural Shift Staff, Beneficiaries, and volunteers and will be in place until the end of the Project. Together with Cultural Shifts Equal Opportunities Implementation Plan, it will be monitored throughout this period by the Cultural Shift Management Board, the Equal Opportunities Working Group, the Evaluators and Equal Opportunities training, with specific involvement and feedback from the Beneficiaries and Staff of the Cultural Shift Partnership.

1. OVERALL AIM OF THE CULTURAL SHIFT PARTNERSHIP

Working through a transnational, multi-partner based action research process of participative design and development, the Cultural Shift partnership has two strategic aims:

> To model inclusive employment models delivered through independent social enterprises.

> To create new protocols for entrepreneurial partnerships between mainstream public sector providers and social enterprises in the South East.

These objectives will be achieved by working through a

transnational, multi-partner based action research process

of participative design and development to create 4 enterprises

working effectively with mainstream agencies. This process will

create policy tools and models that will be mainstreamed into

regional policy.

1.2 Cultural Shift is committed to equality of opportunity for all

regardless of race, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation,

gender, marital status, family commitments, age, religious or

similar belief, age or disability.

1.3 The Cultural Shift Development Partnership is committed to

ensuring that the core values outlined in this Policy are

actively encouraged and achieved.

2. The design of the Cultural Shift Equal Opportunities Policy

2.1 All Partners’ Organisations will have equal opportunities policies in

place that include measures to tackle discrimination on grounds of

gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, marital status,

family commitments, caring commitments, hours worked, sexuality,

age, religion (or similar belief), social class or trade union

membership.

2.2 Partners’ individual Equal Opportunities Policies will form a basis for

the Partnership's Equal Opportunities Policy.

2.3 Cultural Shift’s Equal Opportunities Policy is in compliance with

the following key legislation: Equal pay Act 1970; Rehabilitation

of Offenders Act 1974; Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986;

Race relations Act 1976; Disability Discrimination Act 1985;

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and other relevant

equality legislation and regulations.

2.4 All Partners will follow the Codes of Practice published by the Disability Rights Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission for Employers and Service Providers where applicable.

2.5 All Partners will comply with the Equality Standard for Local

Government as adapted for EQUAL Projects minimum Level 2 and all

Partners are required to commit to the Partnership’s aim to progress

to Level 5 of the Standard by the end of Action 2.

2.6 Each independent Social Enterprise created within Cultural Shift will

be required to commit to the Partnership’s Equal Opportunities Policy;

Implementation Plan; all relevant equality legislation as outlined in 2.3

above; all relevant Codes of Practice and Standards as listed in 2.4

and 2.5 above.

3. The promotion of the Cultural Shift policy

3.1 CULTURAL SHIFT will take positive steps in its’ selection of Pilot

Sites to ensure, where possible, that the diversity of its target groups

is represented.

3.2 Partners will actively seek to promote and disseminate information

regarding CULTURAL SHIFT in ethnic communities .

3.3 CULTURAL SHIFT will provide positive images of its’ target groups

and Ethnic Communities in all publicity and promotional materials.

3.4 Partnership activities will be equally open to men and women and

provide additional support (e.g. child and dependent care) to those

who need it.

3.5 Partners will challenge discriminatory assumptions about supposedly

male and female occupations by ensuring open access to both men

and women

3.6 CULTURAL SHIFT will ensure that promotional and other

documents will be made available in alternative formats

and where appropriate, commonly used

minority languages.

3.7 The Partnership will use the experience of Partner Agencies to meet

the needs of beneficiaries experiencing a combination of

disadvantages

3.8 CULTURAL SHIFT will encourage and set targets for the participation

of representatives of disadvantaged groups in the management and evaluation activities of the project.

3.9 CULTURAL SHIFT will strive to create where possible, an over representation of women, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups within the Beneficiary, Staff and Management base of the Partnership, relative to their numbers in the pilot areas.

4. Implementation of Cultural Shift's Equal Opportunities Policy

4.1 The Partnership will develop an Equal Opportunities Implementation

Plan which will be reviewed regularly by an Equal Opportunities

Working Group comprised of Partner and Beneficiary Representatives.

4.2 It will be the responsibility of all Partners to ensure that CULTURAL SHIFT’s Equal Opportunities Policy and Implementation Plan is communicated to all Project Staff and Beneficiaries through job descriptions, induction processes, training, workshops and other Partnership activities.

4.3 CULTURAL SHIFT will ensure that training on the Project’s Equal Opportunities Policy and Implementation Plan will be incorporated

into all Development Partnership events.

In addition, individual Partner Organisations will take responsibility to ensure that all Managers, Staff, and Volunteers receive the necessary training and induction in how to uphold the Equal Opportunities Policy and Implementation Plan.

4.4 Partners will ensure they provide additional support to disadvantaged

Beneficiaries as required so that they can understand the Equal

Opportunity Policy and contribute to its monitoring.

4.5 Partners will support Beneficiaries to participate in CULTURAL SHIFT, by working to boost their self-confidence and motivation, and by helping Employers to understand the case for equality of opportunity and to adapt their recruitment and staff development practices accordingly.

4.6 Partners will ensure that service users are consulted about whether

they would like services delivered to a single gender group.

4.7 The Partnership will employ monitoring systems which will embrace a

variety of formats including:-

- audio tape

- computer disk

- commonly used ethnic minority languages

- large print

- verbally imparted information

and other formats, where identified by the Management Board and EO Group as required.

4.8 Partners will ensure that services are provided in such a way as to

Empower people with disabilities to fully participate in the work and

benefits of the partnership.

5. MONITORING/TARGETS

5.1 The Partnership will set targets for the level of involvement of

members of disadvantaged groups in the Management, Staffing and

Client group of the Partnership’s activities.

5.2 Information on the gender, age, ethnic origin and disability breakdown

of the Staff, Beneficiaries and Management of Partner Organisations

will be provided by all Partners to the DP Management Board on a

regular basis.

5.3 Partners will use common monitoring tools to measure the project

achievement in involving members of disadvantaged groups, and the

relative success of each group within the project.

5.4 An Equal Opportunities Working Group will be established and

maintained by the Partnership and in conjunction with the Advisory

Group and will have responsibility forreviewing monitoring reports

and recommending any necessary action to the CULTURAL SHIFT

Management Board.

5.5 The Partnership will ensure Beneficiaries are involved in the review of

the Project’s equal opportunities aims and procedures.

5.6 The Partnership and individual Partners will ensure the measurement

of the relative achievements of people within different disadvantaged

groups through the partnerships activities, in order to identify and resolve any barriers that prevent specific groups from succeeding.

6. Recruitment

6.1 All CULTURAL SHIFT Partners will actively ensure that all recruitment and selection procedures comply with legislation and current best practice and that under represented groups are targeted.

6.2 All CULTURAL SHIFT Partners will undertake to actively encourage members of disadvantaged groups to apply to deliver the Partnership’s activities.

7. Complaints

7.1 Instances of discrimination, on grounds of gender, race, disability,

sexuality, religious/similar belief or age will not be tolerated from Staff,

Volunteers or Beneficiaries and will be dealt through the Partnership’s

formal complaint or grievance procedure.

7.2 These procedures will specifically address instances of bullying and

harassment

7.3 The Partnership will design an accessible and fair Complaints and

Grievance procedure for Beneficiaries, Staff, and Volunteers which

will involve an independent mediator to settle any disputed complaints.

7.4 CULTURAL SHIFT’s Complaints & Grievance procedures will be

publicised by Partners through job descriptions, referral and

application forms, staff notices and training courses and will also be

available on the Partnership’s website.

7.5 Social Enterprises created within the CULTURAL SHIFT project will be

required to ensure they comply with 7.1 to 7.4 above and where

appropriate, develop their own Complaints and Grievance Procedures.

Equal Opportunities