improving government service delivery to minority ethnic ... - NCCRI

improving
government
service
delivery
to minority
ethnic groups
Executive Summary 24_25
24_ECNI, Health, p. 21.
25_www.paveepoint.ie
26_Central Statistics
Office (2004), Quarterly
National Household Survey,
available at: www.cso.ie
(21.10.2005).
27_Discrimination for the
purposes of the survey was
defined on the basis of
respondents experiences in
a number of situations: ‘In
the workplace’, ‘Looking for
work’, ‘In places like shops,
pubs or restaurants’, ‘Using
services of banks, insurance
companies or financial
institutions’, ‘Education’,
‘Obtaining housing or
accommodation’, ‘Accessing
health services’, ‘Using
transport services’, and
‘Accessing public services’.
Respondents may or may
not have experienced
discrimination as described
in equality legislation,
responses are based on
their perception of the
experience.
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it complements lawful positive action that is designed to address long term historic disadvantage
experienced by specific groups; and
it involves groups and individuals who experience inequality and discrimination in informing policy making
through effective consultation mechanisms.
According to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, mainstreaming racial equality in the core of an
organisation’s work contrasts with the notion of ‘special provision’ whereby services are established specifically
for the use of black and minority ethnic groups but not integrated into core funding, planning and service
development. 24 This special provision equates to targeting, described below. However undertaking targeted
initiatives to overcome discrimination and meet the specific needs of minority ethnic groups, is required as well
as, not instead of mainstreaming. Effective mainstreaming should highlight the need for targeted initiatives,
and targeted initiatives should sometimes be mainstreamed. Therefore, targeting and mainstreaming are
complementary approaches.
Targeting
According to the Irish government’s NPAR targeted initiatives must be employed to overcome the inequalities
experienced by specific groups. This can also be achieved in some cases through better mainstreaming. In
some cases, particular minority ethnic groups will require a specific and separate form of service provision. For
example, for reasons of historical and ongoing disadvantage leading to low literacy levels and due to cultural
concerns around mixed education, Pavee Point Travellers Centre in Dublin has identified a need for a targeted
education strategy for Roma living in Ireland. 25
Effective targeting strategies cannot be put in place without supporting data to identify racial disadvantage,
and consequently to design targeted initiatives to overcome this discrimination. This research has identified
that targeted initiatives are sometimes set up as pilot projects without long-term funding. In reality, achieving
equitable outcomes for disadvantaged groups can take years and short-term pilot projects are unlikely to effect
any real, long-term change.
Benchmarking
In terms of service provision, the collection of data has a two fold significance, the first is to facilitate
effective policy-making and targets which are evidence based, while the second is to evaluate and track to
implementation of such targets. Benchmarking protects against a focus purely on accessing services, rather
than on outcomes.
Specifically data is essential in order to ascertain who is using services and who is not using services; and
what outcomes they experience. This will track inequality and discrimination and facilitate planning, including
targeted measures and the resources required.
Official forms of data collection are unlikely to provide a fully comprehensive picture of experiences of
discrimination. For example, a study by the Central Statistics Office in Ireland concluded that almost 60 per
cent of persons who reported experiencing discrimination took no action (verbal, written or official complaint
or legal action) in relation to the discrimination experienced. 26 The survey also found that the groups reporting
the highest rates of discrimination were also the groups least likely to take action. Much higher rates of
discrimination were reported by ‘non-Irish nationals’ (24.4 per cent) and people from non-white ethnic
backgrounds (31.5 per cent). The majority (271,300) of persons who felt discriminated against in the last two
years stated that they had experienced discrimination more than once. 27 For this reason, complementary data
collection is important; for example, the NCCRI has a racist incidents reporting system as a complementary
data source to indicate trends.