East Midlands Development Agency: Equalities Guide

Equality Works were commissioned to develop a series of resource guides for project developers to mainstream equality into emda - funded projects. The guides cover five different themes: skills, business support / enterprise, employment, tourism and regeneration. These guides are relevant to a range of professionals in local authorities and other public sector bodies.

emda is determined to promote equality through the projects it supports with funding. The guides are designed to set out what emda expects from projects; as a guide for project developers and to help ensure emda is meeting its public duties in its work with partners across the region.

The aim is for the guides to:

• Act as a reference guide, summarising key statistics, research and patterns of inequality in each sector;
• Provide practical flexible guidance for project developers about how to mainstream equality into projects. and
• Help emda and partners to meet their public duties to promote equality.

The guides will be used in conjunction with a checklist for project appraisers which we have also developed.

Equality Works undertook desk research to understand emda’s drivers and key project funding processes. We carried out interviews to better understand project developers’ requirements, and build ownership for the guides. This will help ensure they are accessible and relevant to project developers’ work.

Equality Works then carried out drafting work to determine an effective format for the guides - taking account of length, depth, and different parts and purposes of the guide. To ensure the format of the guides is accessible, they are structured in several sections and use a variety of content e.g. quotes as well as statistics. The tone of the written work is also important, setting out clearly what emda expects and also explaining what this practically means for project development using examples.

This has involved working closely with emda to review and shape the guides, receiving and incorporating feedback. The next step is an internal light touch review of these drafts/guides’ contents before piloting the guides and checklist in August with a view to implementation across emda in the autumn.

As part of this work, Equality Works have developed and written:

• Summaries of patterns of inequality in each of the key themes, key papers and statistics to identify national and regional patterns of inequality in relation to race, gender, disability, as well as sexual orientation, religion / belief and age.
• A series of equality criteria for emda funded projects to meet. These are divided into mandatory criteria, based on the requirements of equalities legislation, and preferred criteria, based on good practice and effective implementation following the spirit of the public duties.
• A comprehensive checklist to accompany the equality guides. This is to be used by project appraisers to help make decisions about which projects should receive funding, which might need further support or development to meet the criteria and improve project effectiveness.
• Guidance on what to take into account in project development i.e. issues of access, involvement and consultation, monitoring, procurement, employment, communications and marketing. This includes tailored practical advice and pointers for project development.
• A set of key references - both to research and practical guidance. These explain where to find more information to develop projects as well as signposting readers to further practical sources of advice and guidance i.e. toolkits, standards, guidance.
• A brief summary of the public duties in relation to Race, Gender and Disability.

When the project is completed, there will be a series of equality resource guides for project developers on themes of skills, business support / enterprise, employment, tourism and regeneration and an associated checklist for project appraisers. Projects in all these areas will be able to take better account of equalities and deliver a more targeted service.