Basic Introduction to Community Work - Central

Community/voluntary organisations can be large employers and
service providers in their own right, and need to be supported in
maintaining best practice in their operations. The implementation of
the European Convention on Human Rights(ECHR) into Scottish law
represents a series of new challenges to organisations, which in
European legal terms are ‘public bodies’ and therefore covered by the
law. There is a need for information and education for public bodies
of all kinds, in particular voluntary organisations, in respect of ECHR
developments. This represents an area of expertise not previously
provided for the sector.
The Scottish Executive adopted best practice in its approach to
Equality Strategy by adopting a ‘mainstreaming’ approach and
appointing an Executive Unit to help implementation across the
various policy departments of Scottish government. The advantages
of such an approach – maximising efforts to challenge aspects of
discrimination regardless of form – are also being recognised in the
voluntary sector. However, the benefits of maintaining distinct
structures and courses of work for each area of discrimination are
also valued. This calls for a coordinated but not unduly prescriptive
approach to promoting equalities and implies a key role for voluntary
sector infrastructure bodies.
What is diversity?
Diversity means difference, and people's differences can be many
and varied:
Race, Culture, National origin, Region, Gender, Sexual Orientation,
Age, Marital Status, Politics, Religion, Ethnicity, Disability, Socioeconomic
differences, Family structure, Health, Values, and more
Diversity not only assumes that all individuals are unique, i.e.
different, but that difference is value-added. While all societies,
groups or organisations have a need to establish common rules and
modes of operation, the assumption in diversity is that if a group or
organisation learns how to harness individual differences, it will be
more effective and competitive than those groups or organisations
47