Equal opportunities consultancy services

Tender description

This tender is for four distinct but related elements of project activity under 5.6a ‘Beyond Tokenism BME/LGBT and minority communities inclusion programme’ This project is part of the ‘Building Positive Relations’ workplan for the council's Peace IV programme. The programme has a strong focus on BME and other minority groups including LGBT, disability, political ex-prisoners and victims/survivors as well as aspects of engagement with wider society. Lot 1: Anti-prejudice public campaign and community/educational resources (to cover sectarianism, racism and homophobia and transphobia specifically as well as all hate crime categories more generally. To include social media campaign as well as more conventional approaches. (Maximum 46 000 GBP) Lot 2: Governance, Capacity, Strategic and Sustainability Developmental Support. To build capacity and sustainability of BME groups and also open to LGBT, Political ex-prisoner, victims survivors, disability. 10 groups assisted through individual group support and cross-community training sessions. (Maximum 30 000 GBP) Lot 3: Intercultural Community Pairing. Open call approach recruiting and pairing minimum 10 groups (5 Minority and 5 wider) to learn about each other's culture, identity, issues with a view to tackling sectarianism and racism and promoting awareness of diversity. Sustained programme minimum 6 months. Culminating in shared final celebration event. (Maximum 35 000 GBP) Cohesion across the 4 lots. Whilst the lots are separate, it is vital that tenderers see each lot as part of the full intervention under the whole ‘Beyond Tokenism BME/LGBT and minority communities inclusion programme.’ The first lot includes an overall co-ordination role including the establishment of the co-ordinating ‘Project steering group’ which will become the key point of contact for all lots. An un-co-ordinated approach could have an adverse impact on the target audiences as many of the groups in these sectors are either entirely volunteer based or rely heavily on a volunteer base for much of their work. A co-ordinated approach will provide the most effective use of their time and manage the potential risk of ‘burnout’ or disengagement from the programme. It is also essential as there will be probable overlap of participants across the 4 lots and a joined up managed approach is required to co-ordinate this and minimise duplication as participants cannot be ‘counted’ formally on more than one lot. It is recommended that tenderers read the information on all lots to understand how they co-ordinate together even if they ultimately choose to apply for only one of the lots. Tenderers should be aware that the needs and requirements of BME participants as well as wider participants should be paramount times and locations of programme delivery. It is noted that evening or weekend working may need to be considered in this. Cultural, linguistic, access and sensitive reconciliation issues may also require consideration.