Relationship to Social Action

Note on terminology:

Social action: projects, programmes or aspects of work that intend to achieve positive benefits for the welfare of the faith community or wider social groupings.

Regeneration: projects, programmes or aspects of work that are connected to the building up of community life which may, or may not, include the built environment.

Community development: empowering communities; it focuses particularly on disadvantaged and excluded groups, enables people to develop skills and confidence and participate actively in bringing about positive change in their community.

These terms overlap in many aspects and for the purposes of this report 'social action' is used to cover them all. The relationship between these terms will be explored in the final report.

The different RFFs have evolved different means of relating to faith based social action, this is because they have different histories, capacities and views of their purposes. The regions also have different needs, and the structures and support systems already in existence are different. Nevertheless there are interesting and useful points of overlap and comparison.

RFFs, in the main, do not see themselves as direct deliverers of social action, but rather as supporting and facilitating the faith communities and faith based organisations to take part in social action. All existing RFFs support faith based social action in their region by disseminating relevant information to faith based organisations and through networking activities.

In addition, four of the better resourced Forums (EEFC, faithnetsouthwest, WMFF, YHFF) also organise seminars or training. WMFF and EEFC offer mentoring to individual organisations.

All but one of the RFFs sees supporting faith based social action as being an important area for further development. The exception is the NWFF which does not aspire to be a delivery body but ensures that faith communities respond effectively to opportunities to influence policy issues determined by public agencies at regional level. While recognising the value of faith based social action, it believes that delivery is best left to local and neighbourhood groups.

RFFs see the potential for benefit to the faith communities, and to wider society, from faith based social action as being very great. The main barriers that prevent this are, lack of resources and capacity (primarily funding), and the short term of funding which makes planning for reliable support difficult. The longer established and better funded RFFs have developed this stream of work more fully than the newer RFFs.

The support for social action by EEFC is through FaithNetEast. FaithNetEast has been funded by the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund and its remit is as a regional infrastructure to mediate information and learning about policy, skills, funding and community development between the regional and the local. This body is not representative but rather acts as an agency to support the region's faith communities in social and community activity, including engagement with the public sector. At the same time FaithNetEast fosters a strategic focus, linking up initiatives across the regions where it is thought that networking and co-working might be of benefit, and tying locally based activities into regional thinking and practices.

It is also careful to respect the power and autonomy of faith structures for social action at the neighbourhood level and sees itself as a facilitator of the local as and where it is sought out and welcomed. FaithNetEast also works with the Regional Development Agency to reflect the regional priorities as they relate to faiths. Thus it has set up 'specialist support networks' (mostly facilitated by ICT but also in face to face meetings) for faith groups doing work with migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers, skills improvers and lifelong learners, social enterprise and people wishing to return to employment. It also runs seminars and events to support faiths in their social action.

Faithnetsouthwest is a similar body and is a partnership between four organisations, the South West Council of Faiths, the South West Churches Regional Forum, the Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility (ISR) based in Bristol and Swindon, and Exeter Diocesan Council for Churches and Society. Its aims are to, support all churches and faith groups engaging in social or community activity in the South West region, help faith groups and regional bodies involved in these activities to share information on good practice and share this information with funders and policy makers, help faith groups and local and regional bodies to reach a better understanding of one another and to support existing forums and develop networks where the distinctive voices of the faith groups in the region can be heard.

It supports regional and sub-regional faith-based infrastructure e.g. the faith forums such as those at County and District level and a number of thematic networks such as an emerging faith and equalities network, a network of faith groups interested in tendering for public contracts, a network of faith representatives on regional and subregional public bodies. This entails a degree of community development, forming structures of governance and communication and giving funding advice.

Faithnetsouthwest produces research reports, such as 'Faith in Action in the South West', demonstrating the contribution that faith groups are making in the South West of England in providing a wide range of social welfare and community services, both formally through projects, and informally through their work in the community. It provides the first comprehensive regional summary of these activities and includes some key examples of the kind of contribution that faith groups can make.

Faithnetsouthwest also organises conferences, such as 'People on the Move' to assist faith based groups wanting to work with asylum seekers and refugees. It advises faith groups on funding, capacity building, support and training on partnership working and community involvement, on setting up social enterprises and tendering for contracts.

WMFF aims include, to facilitate discussion between and research among faith communities on matters of social and religious concern, to help build the capacity of faith communities to engage with policy-makers and service providers at local, sub-regional and regional levels and to act as their advocate, to encourage community cohesion both through inter faith dialogue and discussion with the wider public.

WMFF has produced a number of reports aimed at raising the profile of faith based social action and improving its effectiveness including: 'Believing in the Region' on the contribution of faith communities to life in the region; a policy paper: 'Key Issues for Faith Based Regeneration: maximising the contribution of faith communities in the West Midlands' with a CD ROM providing valuable links to sources of technical support available to faith based organisations. It also organises conferences and training events such as the 'Light and Shade' conference which explored faith and race in the West Midlands and 'Cohesion through Faith: good practice and positive action in the West Midlands'.

WMFF, funded through CapacityBuilders, has a sign-posting and help desk to assist faith based organisations to identify and access a range of generic support services through the Hubs. Research has also been commissioned to provide a faiths engagement strategy for implementation by Change Up consortia as part of their mainstreaming equalities and diversity agendas. The resulting 'A Faith Group Engagement Strategy' is a tool to help generic infrastructure support organisations to develop more responsive services.This project has been effective and well received and opened up many contacts and future possibilities.

WMFF uses its website and database to advertise and promote many services and events, sends speakers to a variety of seminars and other meetings of social significance and provides an independent chair for seminars and conferences – eg on migrant workers.

Most RFFs are well connected to the wider regional agendas. Working with a wide array of regional, sub regional and local organisations across sectors, they bring a faith voice to policies and initiatives and also act to link the faith communities to wider society in the region.

All RFFs report a good working relationship with other Voluntary and Community Sector bodies and in some cases this is very close, for example the Director of EEFC is the Vice-Chair of the VCS regional umbrella body and Chair of Rural Action East, and EEFC works on joint projects with the Black and Ethnic Minority Network Eastern Region. WMFF works with the WM Race Equality Partnership, and the WM Regional Observatory.

RFFs are keen to point faith based organisations to resources in the wider VCS where these are appropriate, for example WMFF is a part of the ChangeUp Consortium and has produced guidance for VCS generic support organisations to develop more responsive services for faith groups. They have no wish to duplicate or compete with VCS infrastructure bodies. However, a number report that faith based organisations experience barriers in accessing these resources, a point picked up in the accompanying report on faith based social action, and that there is a need for effective signposting and also the development and dissemination of specialist resources.

A number of RFFs said that they would like to develop more systematic strategies for ensuring that faith based organisations access VCS generic support. The emerging English Regional Faiths Forums Network is well placed to assist this sharing of good practice between RFFs.

There are a number of other organisations, local, regional and national which provide specific support to faith based organisations engaging in social action (see the section on faith based social action). In all cases the RFF seeks to work cooperatively with these organisations. However the regions are very different in terms of the existence and coverage of these organisations.