It is only recently that ethnic communities and the environmental organisations
have become aware of the opportunities available to them through engaging in
partnerships.
BEN's experience in this area has identified the following as a framework
for developing partnerships:
1. Create awareness of opportunities that a partnership can bring to both ethnic
communities and environmental organisations.
2. Build cultural awareness, equality and trust, between the partners
3. Identify roles and responsibilities in relation to developing projects, resources
and initiatives
4. Develop training for organisational personnel and ethnic community leaders
5. Promote employment and decision-making opportunities for ethnic community
members
1. Create awareness of opportunities that
a partnership can bring to both ethnic communities and environmental organisations
Initial considerations when developing the framework for partnerships should
include the following for the partners.
Ethnic Community groups:
• may be unaware of the opportunities that a partnership with an environmental
organisation can bring
• may have an interest but are not sure how to define it and connect with
the relevant organisation in the environment sector
• may lack confidence and knowledge about the environment sector and its
issues in general and therefore will not approach the sector
Environment sector organisations are usually keen to work with ethnic community
groups but find it difficult to know where to start. Very often they lack confidence
about:
• cultural and religious aspects of communities
• making the right contacts within communities
• the most effective way to connect with communities and groups to inform
them of opportunities: whether to send information on activities/events, or
run consultations to discover what groups may want. Either approach may incur
problems of capacity and jargon.
Equally, due to their obligation through Equal Opportunity policies, organisations
have been prompted to conduct more consultations in recent years and there may
be a danger of driving away ethnic community groups through over consultation
and a cynicism about whether appropriate change to services will follow.
2. Develop cultural awareness, equality and
trust, between the partners
Cultural awareness is an important starting point for any involvement with ethnic
community groups. For organisations that have not previously engaged with ethnic
communities it is important that they seek initial advice on how to proceed.
The following are various ways of raising cultural awareness, which can provide
an environmental organisation with the confidence to work closely with ethnic
community groups.
• Environmental staff approach the partner ethnic community organisation
• Survey of needs of the organisation carried out by a consultant with
the necessary skills.
• Diversity training delivered by a trained person
• Training delivered after it has been tailored to the organisations need
Commitment to cultural equality at all levels of a partnership is the basis
for long-term success.
In order for any partnership to develop it is essential that there is an element
of trust and transparency between the partners and an understanding of what
both parties hope to gain from working together.
Initial trust can be built by:
• Environment organisation staff/ representatives visiting ethnic community
events and activities and by informal meetings with community leaders/representatives.
• Likewise ethnic community leaders and representatives can be invited
to visit environmental organisation offices and sites. Taster activities and
events enable group leaders and groups to gain an insight into the workings
of the partner organisation.
3. Identify roles and responsibilities in
relation to developing rojects, resources and initiatives
In order for a clear understanding of what both the ethnic community group and
the environmental organisation want to achieve in the partnership it is important
that roles and responsibilities are established so that misunderstandings within
the partnership are kept to a minimum. Commonly this is through the formal structure
of a Memorandum of Understanding should the partners be developing a project
where joint funding is sought. However, a simple list of roles and responsibilities
can be drawn up between the partners prior to any event that the partners are
involved with. For example the environmental organisation’s role may be
to set up and run environmental activities with the ethnic groups role to advertise
the event within the local community.
4. Development of training for organisational
staff and ethnic community leaders
Well-resourced training support is important, especially for people who have
not worked with a broad range of ethnic groups.
Training in environmental awareness is also important for members of the engaged
ethnic groups, particularly the link workers as it substantially increases their
confidence when engaging with environmental organisations.
As the partnership develops it is important that additional training needs are
addressed when they arise as new initiatives and projects are developed.
5. Promote employment and decision-making
opportunities for ethnic community members
In order for partnerships to become truly effective and sustainable between
environmental organisations and ethnic community groups opportunities for employment
and decision-making must be considered.
By encouraging employment and decision-making opportunities for members of the
ethnic community groups in environmental partnerships the capacity of the groups
to become further engaged is greatly increased. Both through the community having
role models and through them being able to have a better understanding of the
environment sector.
An example of this is the development of an Environmental Development Worker
post within Minority Ethnic Women’s Network Cymru (MEWN Cymru) that was
set up in partnership with the Countryside Council for Wales.