Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations

Consultation Document for a Single Equality Scheme

Have your say on our consultation document for a Single Equality Scheme.

The document brings together, for the first time, the six key equality strands: age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief/non-belief and sexual orientation.

It aims to put equality, diversity and human rights issues at the heart of the work of the Assembly Government and raise awareness about the key issues.

The 12 week consultation process runs from 19 March 2008 to 11 June 2008 and a programme of events is being planned to ensure that those people who need to be involved are involved and interested parties are able to inform Welsh Assembly Government policy.

CEMVO is currently assisting the Welsh Assembly in collating the views of grassroots communities in Wales. If you would like your views to be included please contact Shereen Williams on 01792463036 or email shereen.williams@cemvo.org.uk

Useful links:
EHRD Home page (opens in a new window)
Consultation Document (opens in a new window)

Wales Community Development Project

CEMVO Wales is currently capacity building voluntary sector organisations in Wales through the Wales Community Development Project. Over the past year we have successfully worked with a diverse set of groups across Wales. Through this project CEMVO Wales also focuses on developing local leadership through training and mentoring while providing continual support as effective leadership promotes community cohesion. A key aspect of CEMVO Wales’ work is the promotion of cross-cultural working and collaboration, and the sharing of good practice by building on issues of common interest to all communities.

If you would like to participate in the Project please contact shereen.williams@cemvo.org.uk

Digital Media Training Project

CEMVO Wales and Swansea Faiths Forum are working in partnership to carry out an IT training project for BME Faith communities in Swansea. The year long project is funded by Communities @ One and involves learning how to use digital cameras, camcorders, audio equipment & how to edit and upload images to a website. It also involves putting together a digital story with a team of other members from faith and spiritual communities for inclusion on the Interfaith Swansea website. At the end of the project volunteers will present their digital stories and projects to their own faith or spiritual group.

BME groups within the CEMVO Wales Swansea network have been receptive to the project and there are limited training spaces left. For more information contact info@interfaithswansea.org

Swansea Community Hub Project

In mid 2006 CEMVO Wales moved from its one room office to its own 4 storey building on the ‘voluntary sector’ road of Swansea. As part of its support programme for voluntary groups, CEMVO Wales was able to offer space at a reasonable rate to groups in Swansea. Due to this we now have 4 voluntary sector groups based within the building and a funder, in addition to the CEMVO Wales staff. African Community Centre, Ethnic Youth Support Team, WAASILA, Swansea Faiths Forum and Communities @ One have been able to benefit from the shared space to carry out both their administrative work and various activities.

Tax Credits Surgeries and Workshops

From November 2007 till March 2008 CEMVO Wales will be running Tax Credits information surgeries and workshops in Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. These events will be held in local community centres (Newport and Cardiff) and the CEMVO Wales office in Swansea.

If you would like to participate or obtain more information please contact shereen.williams@cemvo.org.uk

Almanac

CEMVO Wales has identified 180 ethnic minority voluntary organisations in a country with approximately 70,000 ethnic minority people, that provide a wide range of social services, including education, health, employment and housing. However, these organisations are under-resourced, under-skilled and unfortunately, due to their small organisational size, are unable to compete for scarce resources in comparison to their large non-ethnic minority counterparts.

If you would like to include your organisation’s details in our almanac please email shereen.williams@cemvo.org.uk

Wales based research and consultation

CEMVO WALES has conducted and contributed to various pieces of research including research into substance misuse issues within the ethnic minority communities in Swansea which is a unique piece of research in Wales, ‘A Scoping Study on BME Health’ by the University of Glamorgan and ‘Added Value and Added Challenges: Funding the Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector’ with the Wales Funders Forum. CEMVO Wales has also worked in partnership with various organisations and statutory bodies to provide a ‘voice’ to the BME communities in Wales. These include Swansea City Council, St John’s Ambulance, Institute of Fundraising Cymru, NMGW, Welsh Assembly Government with EYST (Ethnic Youth Support Team), the Holland House Initiative, and the Swansea Substance Misuse Action Team.

If you would like to consult with CEMVO Wales and require assistance in your research please contact shereen.williams@cemvo.org.uk