Social Justice Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons, has announced the opening of bidding rounds for Welsh Assembly Government equality grants for the remainder of this financial year and 2010/11.
The annual £883,000 Advancing Equality Fund will support revenue projects managed by third, community or public sector organisations for services which address the needs of people facing multiple discrimination in their everyday lives. It also includes funding for International Women’s Day, an annual event which takes place on 8 March. The theme for next year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Promoting Women into Public and Political Life’.
The annual £800,000 Inclusion Grant will fund revenue projects managed by third, community or public sector organisations to deliver services to refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, gypsies and travellers.
Dr Brian Gibbons said:
“The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to ensuring that everybody has the opportunity to participate in and contribute to the economic, social, and cultural, life of Wales. We need strong, resilient and harmonious communities which can respond effectively to the pace and scale of economic, social and cultural change in the 21st Century.
“Last year we published our Refugee Inclusion Strategy which set out our vision of a prosperous future for a Wales free from racism and discrimination, where everyone is enabled to fulfil their potential, have fair and equal access to services and to participate fully in the political and civil life of the country.
“This year we published our Single Equality Scheme which sets out how we will be promoting equality and how we will meet our statutory equality duties on disability, race and gender.
“We will apply the same broad principles to the new areas of equality – age, religion and belief or non-belief, sexual orientation and transgender. It looks at how we assess the impact of our work on different groups and the actions we will be taking to address that impact over the next three years. It will seek to ensure that our organisation has equalities and human right principles embedded into its work and culture,” he said.
“I hope that these grants will enable organisations to help deliver the strategy and the single equality scheme and that together we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in and contribute to the economic, social, cultural, civil and political life of the country.”
