On the frontline of equality

After years spent championing Manchester’s marginalised groups, Atiha Chaudry tells Nicole Froio current cutbacks have left her and fellow campaigners ‘drained and exhausted’

The prospect of funding cuts, threats to equalities work, and a third sector shaped around an unclear Big Society has disrupted the clear path Manchester’s BME Network was walking down, under the leadership of chair Atiha Chaudry.

With cuts to grant funding threatening many of the network’s 200 members and the network itself facing possible closure, she fears for the future of the city’s equalities agenda.

The majority of the network’s members are small organisations reliant on grants and providing services to marginalised communities; such groups will be left exposed by government funding cuts and a move towards commissioning structures.

‘I expect to see quite a lot disappear,’ Ms Chaudry says. She cites just one example: the decision to scrap funding for the link worker advice service for communities with language and cultural barriers. In a recent survey of 50 of its members involved in provision of the service the Manchester BME network found that 10% were in the process of closure, others reported up to 40% cuts and some 37 individuals faced redundancy.

At a time when communities are likely to need extra support, decisions such as these are ‘bizarre’, she says.

Even those larger organisations within the network that are well-positioned for the changes are anxious about the insecurity of the new funding structures. The Wai Yin Chinese Women Society is hopeful of a contract under the Work Programme, but the payment by results mechanism it will work under means greater insecurity.

Atiha Chaudry, left, with BME Network treasurer Mark Nesbitt and vice chair Alicia Henry.

The BME Network’s own funding runs out in June and there is little clarity about further funding in the future. At a time when its support for members will no doubt increase, the network itself will be struggling to find a way forward.

‘We will need to reconfigure how we can keep our service running. We’re hoping to be supported in the future, but it’s a similar situation to that of all of our members.’

Ms Chaudry is forging a path ahead by creating greater unity among equalities organisations within the city region. The BME Network will host the Manchester Equalities Hub, an initiative she hopes will be supported by the council and aimed at bringing together all those working in equalities across the city to look at a better and more effective way of working. This should feed into the Greater Manchester Equality Forum and she is keen that other districts in the sub-region consider a similar approach.

’Groups should look to work together and collaborate in ways that are best suited, whether that be partnership work, consortia or simply networking, taking more creative and efficient approaches for the future. This should strengthen our relationship and sharing of knowledge and information, making progress much faster.’

Ms Chaudry has lived in Manchester for 20 years, when she moved to the city to take up a job for the National Association of Local Government Women’s Committee. She quickly established herself in the community through volunteering with local organisations and became involved with the BME Network because ‘it needed some leadership’.

Juggling this role with a family and a professional career, she has worked hard to build a functioning governance structure inside the network which provides all its members – which range from Inspired Sisters (focused on the employment and training of women) to ethnic minorities support groups like the Asian Parent Carer Group – with a long-term vision. She believes she’s provided them with a clear view of the road ahead.

Ms Chaudry hopes Big Society initiatives will encourage younger people in particular to volunteer in their community but fears the support promised will not compensate for funding cuts, and threatens the valuable work already being done.

‘When I think about Big Society, it makes me quite angry because I feel like I have been doing “Big Society” for the last 20 years. I think people feel that running a third sector organisation is something that just happens and it’s a great thing – and it’s easy. It isn’t easy. It’s highly stressful; it’s like doing another job. Literally, I spend half of my week in paid work and half of my week doing voluntary work. We’re all drained and exhausted.’

Funding cuts to equalities organisations and a shift in priorities at central government threaten to derail the progress she has witnessed in the equalities agenda both locally and nationally.

‘Nationally there had been less of a priority placed on equalities and at a local level we’re quite worried about the gaps emerging.’

Despite the challenges and turmoil she expects in the next year, she remains an optimist and says the last three months have increased the levels of collaboration and networking and efficiency in the city. But, she says, it’s too early to assess the full impact of funding cuts and the Big Society agenda on equalities.

‘There may be some backwards and forwards movements over the next few years. I’m not sure we’ll all still be going forwards by the end.’