BUILD (Building Understanding through International Links for Development) and its partners including The Cordoba Foundation (TCF) cordially invite you to a crucial meeting:
Setting the Agenda: A New Vision and Voice for Diaspora in the UK
Date & Place: Saturday 7 September 2013, Birmingham
The purpose of the meeting is to provide an opportunity to highlight the role and contribution of diaspora organisations and communities to British life and enable our diverse voices to be amplified and heard.
This is a unique and much needed space for communities to come together and articulate a new and positive vision of diversity in the present challenging climate.
Background to the meeting
Over the past two years BUILD has organized a series of consultations with representatives of diaspora groups particularly from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean in Edinburgh, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Bristol, London and Cardiff under the title “Building on UK Diaspora International Partnerships” (BUKDIP).
The purpose of these consultations was to explore how we could build on the links that representatives of the diaspora have with their home communities and broaden those links out to involve schools, hospitals and the wider community.
During the course of the consultations it became clear that participants were concerned with a much broader agenda.
Key questions emerging were:
1. “How can we get better access to UK policy makers (politicians)?”
2. “How can we help UK policy makers to understand the particular contribution that the diaspora make to British society and some of the particular problems facing people from ethnic minorities?”
3. “How can we collaborate with policy makers in UK particularly in the area of development in our countries of origin?”
These questions will be addressed at the September meeting which will help us to shape a new and positive and forward-looking agenda.
Propagation of findings
BUILD will propagate its findings through two crucial forums in which to promote and influence debate and decision makers.
Firstly, BUILD is the convenor /facilitator of an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) “Connecting Communities” which gives us access to parliamentarians, both in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords and we have held many meetings to discuss issues around linking communities here and in the South.
Secondly , we are a Commonwealth accredited organisation and have attended the Commonwealth People’s Forums at the Heads of Government meetings in Brisbane, Malta, Kampala and Trinidad and Tobago as well as Education Ministers’ meetings in Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur. We will be present at the next Commonwealth People’s Forum in Sri Lanka in December of this year and have an opportunity for our voice to be heard by Commonwealth leaders.
In addition we hope that the outcomes of the meeting will be taken up by the media and inform policy and actions of politicians and decision makers, and influence the discourse on immigration and migration.
We hope you will be able to join us and add your voice to the shaping of a shared agenda and ways forward.
Your thoughts and advice will be compiled into a report which we anticipate will attract considerable interest in the media and will be presented face to face to national and Commonwealth leaders and politicians and will bring about change.
Attendance is by application only.
Please let us know if you can attend by completing and returning the attached form. When you apply we will give you details of the programme for the day and other administrative matters.
Please send the form to the following address: nick@build-online.org.uk
There will be no fee for attending.
For more information, please contact BUIL:
nick@build-online.org.uk
Tel: 01672 861001
www.build-online-org.uk
