Engaging BME communities (Outreach and engagement)
PeaceMaker’s bespoke equality and cultural diversity training
PeaceMaker has partnered with First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO), a local housing association, to deliver training on equality and diversity for their staff members. PeaceMaker worked with a group of caretakers to develop their knowledge of equality and diversity and support them as champions of these issues within their organisation. These caretakers then co-delivered equality and diversity training with PeaceMaker staff to FCHO employees from frontline to senior manager levels as well as FCHO’s board members.
The training covered all six equality themes (age, race, gender, religion, sexuality, and disability) and focussed on interactive group work. Through these interactive and discussion based activities, PeaceMaker engaged with participants from all levels of understanding of equality and got to the heart of the difficult conversations that FCHO’s employees encountered in their interactions with FCHO customers. PeaceMaker cultivated an open and honest forum where participants could discuss their opinions and equipped them with accurate information so that they could engage with confidence in these difficult conversations.
Even the most sceptical participants have since described their appreciation for PeaceMaker’s interactive and non-judgmental style of approaching equality and diversity.
Why has this been successful?
Equality training too often focuses on what words are politically correct at the moment—in other words, in teaches people to keep their prejudices hidden and unchallenged. Training conducted in this way does nothing to help people gain a deeper understanding of equality. PeaceMaker uses equality and diversity training as an opportunity for people to speak honestly and openly about their questions and to explore difficult conversations that relate to contemporary and local issues. Hopefully, along the way, we can help people gain empathy for people who face prejudice and discrimination.
