I spent this morning at a meeting of Hertfordshire Forward’s Community Cohesion Strategy Group. I find these meetings quite difficult as there is such a clash of culture between the voluntary and statutory approach to these things. It is easy to caricature, but my voluntary sector instincts urge me to consult and engage from Day One and build consensus from the ground up. The statutory sector approach (to my jaundiced eye?) is much more hierarchical, focuses on outcomes above processes, creates artificial deadlines, and engages no-one outside the room.
Of course everyone involved has good motives and is doing their best and it is only a first stage in the process, but nevertheless there are some big differences here and I don’t feel comfortable with things.
In the afternoon, I work on a funding bid to the EHRC seeking a development worker to try and make progress building the capacity of Hertfordshire’s BME and Faith organisations.
