On 25th September 2018, BSWN organised the 3rd BAME sector review meeting hosted at the Bristol City Hall by BSWN and Deputy Mayor Asher Craig, and chaired by BSWN’s chair, Dr.Marie-Annick Gournet. The aim of the meeting was to share the findings from our research into the BAME sector including recommendations, and to discuss the next steps for moving the sector forward.
The research, commissioned by Power to Change and conducted by the Black South-West Network (BSWN)between May and September 2018, engaged an estimated three-quarters of the city’s BAME-led sector in the survey, interviews, and roundtable discussions. Its overall aims of the project were to establish:
• the size and make up of the BAME voluntary and community sector in Bristol;
• the opportunities and obstacles faced by community anchors and organisations in BAME communities in Bristol in achieving greater sustainability;
• the type of infrastructure support needed to foster a resilient community businesses and organisations.
The aim of hosting a series of roundtable meetings was to engage BAME organisations in discussion around these key issues, invite participation in the survey and qualitative interviews, as well as an opportunity to meet the funder, as Power to Change attended the second meeting. Furthermore, the roundtable meetings also acted as a way of bringing BAME organisations together to network and create opportunities for collaboration - this is as an area of need specifically identified by the interim research report along with need for capacity building and need for advice on how to best utilise available funding in the city. To find out more about our the two previous meetings, please see our website here:
2nd BAME sector meeting and interim report finding review
The final research findings and recommendations were well received by the attendees of the 3rd roundtable meeting, who were also invited to reflect on the recommendations through group discussion. The full report and executive summary have been shared with the research project funders, Power to Change, and will be made available on our website to view shortly. The overall response to the research was positive, and as one of the respondents put it in their survey comments:
“I genuinely hope this research will enable us to identify what the sector needs, and to work with Power to Change and others, [so we can] secure and [allocate] resources in order to build a relevant, vibrant, flexible, agile, and responsive BAME sector capable of adapting to change and delivering the change needed on the ground to address chronic, systemic inequality.”
BSWN looks forward to further working with both our BAME sector partners and the funders who are looking to invest into the BAME sector in Bristol.