LGBT groups in
Wales will be revitalised by being brought together into a
partnership (the Council) where they will benefit from shared
resources and facilities, from the stimulation of regular contact
and interaction, and from increased opportunities for funding. The
Council will also involve input from UK-wide organisations in order
to gather relevant expertise that is lacking in Wales. This will
also allow the sharing of experience and best practice between
existing groups as well as the development of cordial relationships
through a shared sense of ownership of the project.
As well as
individual partners being given necessary resources and support to
pursue their own interests and address the needs of their own
target groups at local and regional level, the Council will promote
joint working and the integration of services and support that each
organisation currently delivers as well as investigation into
future joint activities to address the current gaps in service
provision. This will enable all partners to maximise opportunities
for joint learning and to minimise costs through shared/pooled
resources. The project will also support individuals and groups
through a centralised website and 0800 number to increase access to
advocacy, information, advice, mentoring, coaching, and peer
support.
The Wales
Council for LGBT People will have two main focuses: capacity
building and sustainability.
All voluntary
organisations in Wales that either focus or deliver activities on
LGBT issues and those UK-wide LGBT organisations that deliver work
in Wales will be contacted and information will be gathered about
the work that they currently carry out and also of their
aspirations, ideas, and initiatives (the 30 organisations listed
above have already signed an expression of interest in being
involved in this project). Once this information has been gathered
and analysed, a partnership agreement and terms of reference will
be formulated for common goals and to match up those groups whose
work programmes are closely related to each other.
Based on the
findings of the information gathered, the Council will seek to
undertake projects that involve the whole Council as well as
smaller activities between two or more organisations within the
Council or activities that aim at responding to the unmet needs of
the LGBT community in Wales.
The Council will
include organisations whose remit allows for work within the LGBT
arena as well as across the various strands of equality and with
different communities throughout Wales. These co-creation and joint
working activities will allow all organisations to be able to
benefit to and from easy and unrestricted access to the full range
of groups covering those strands or communities, therefore adding
value to each other’s work.
It is envisaged
that within the first year of the project, there will be more
projects of a bilateral nature due to the fact that this is a new
way of working for many of the groups, but as trust develops within
the second and third year there will be greater likelihood of and
opportunities for increased Council-wide projects. However, the
Council will also deliver a conference every year as a
collaborative effort.
The Council will
also focus one of its primary aims on exploring and developing an
appropriate strategy for ensuring the long-term sustainability of
the partnership as well as of every partner involved. This will be
achieved through joint bids for available public funding for
specific projects or for the Council, as well as through ventures
that might secure revenue in more entrepreneurial ways. These might
be opportunities that the partnership might want to undertake as a
whole, or as a selection of interested partners, or as individual
partners. Nevertheless, the Council will provide the practical
support and expertise that some of the organisations might need in
securing the funding (i.e. filling in bids, costing a project,
putting in place performance management and quality assurance
controls, etc).