Last year the T&D team developed a toolkit for the Equality Diversity and Inclusion in the Scottish Heritage Sector (EDISH) project.
The toolkit is a series of documents to help structure partnerships and collaborations between community groups and heritage organisations. We hope it gives community groups and participants the power and tools to advocate for themselves.
Aims of the toolkit:
Facilitate a dialogue and create information-sharing resources between community organisations and heritage organisations.
Explore needs, expectations, barriers and inclusion in community organisations.
Facilitate understanding and knowledge of heritage organisations and what community organisations require to participate in heritage activities.
Support heritage organisations to improve their practice in order to facilitate inclusive and safe spaces.
Empower participants and community organisations by prioritising their voices and experiences.
The toolkit is made of three tools or documents that are based on processes we created for our own use at T&D as well as reflecting on those we wish we had had. It's made up of 4 working documents:
1. Communication Document – Community Group
The aim of this document is to create a better and more equal working relationship between community groups and heritage organisations. It is filled out by the Community Group and shared with the heritage organisation at the beginning of the partnership. It collects information on participants, barriers and needs, and areas of interest.
2. Communication Document – Heritage Organisation
This is an information sharing tool to help provide the relevant information to your partner organisation so they can better share their needs and wants for the project. The document should be filled out by the heritage organisation and shared with the community group at the beginning of the partnership. It includes information on aims and purposes of the heritage organisation, areas of interest, and inclusion and accessibility.
3. Activity Planner
This is an interactive exercise which can be used to plan a project or activity with community groups and heritage organisations. Each question will ask you to rate your event and its activities along a scale and will help measure your planned project in relation to certain criteria. It includes information on participant contribution and interaction, activity content and purpose, and creating accessible and inclusive spaces.
4. Personal Development Chart (PDC)
This PDC offers an opportunity for participants of community groups and heritage organisations to place, measure and reflect on individual personal journeys. It includes 4 strands on wellbeing and community, professional skills, transferable skills, and heritage.
Activity Planner Doc
Personal Development Chart
Making the toolkit was a great opportunity to be able to reflect on the first round of the T&D project and take all of the learning from the project and put it into practical processes and advice that others can use.
Often with short term funded projects this learning gets lost as teams move on to other contracts, or different projects start, it was great to get to extend the reach of the impact of the T&D project and contribute to sharing to all of the work community groups and the heritage sector have been doing.
We worked with some of our group members to gather their feedback and input into tools as well, thank you to Cat Dunn, Iram Zobairi, Nasreen Iqbal, and Kirsty Reid.
We are currently looking for groups to trial the documents and give feedback. If you are interested in how the toolkit might work for your group, please get in touch romy@ewfc.org.uk.
You can have a look through the documents on Museum Galleries Scotland's website below, or get in touch for a copy of the toolkit including plain text and editable versions.
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