brap is a think fair tank, inspiring and leading change to make public, private and voluntary sector organisations fit for the needs of a more diverse society. brap offers tailored, progressive and common sense approaches to equalities training, consultancy and community engagement issues.

Vision
Making equality work for everyone.

Mission
To help people, communities, and the organisations that serve them turn equality into reality.

Aims

1. to promote a learning culture – one where equalities can be openly discussed, questioned and acquired
2. to help people develop a more informed and confident approach to equality implementation
3. to make sure that equality practices are fair
4. to enable more people to connect with equality and help to make a fairer society

Because restrictive equality ‘categories’ frequently separate people and deny the shared humanity, they use human rights principles to help understand how decisions about ‘entitlement’ can be just and proportionate, while also recognising the complexity of the human condition.

 

They come up with ideas to make society fairer and more equitable.

Since brap was formed 14 years ago, they have been at the forefront of formulating challenging but influential messages:

• Brap were among the first to argue that many aspects of people’s identity like ‘race’ and ‘gender’ are social constructs and, as such, equalities thinking needs to move away from traditional, siloed approaches that reinforce artificial divisions
• Brap highlighted the inefficacy of equality initiatives that only deal with the symptoms – and not the causes – of disadvantage and discrimination. brap has long argued for the need to look at ‘issues’ rather than characteristics supposedly belonging to particular groups. Brap sees this as a means of capturing expertise on particular issues (health, education, policing, for instance) rather than simply ensuring that this or that minority is represented at the table.
• Brap were one of the first organisations in the country to show the potential for human rights to improve services and ensure people of all backgrounds receive their entitlements
• Brap were among the first to argue that merely consulting with community leaders – rather than communities – ignores the diversity within diversity. brap is at the forefront of developing approaches to consultation that emphasise knowledge, experience and expertise over membership of a particular group.

But Brap knows that ‘talking the talk’ is not enough, so they have developed a portfolio of services and activities that aim to create a fairer society. They fall into four broad areas:

Learning
For society to be fairer, people have to be enthused and motivated to make the right equality choices in their day-to-day roles. Brap works with professionals to help them identify what equality means for them practically and – hopefully – make the right choices for everyone.

Research
In a fair society, decisions, policies, and strategies will be based on sound evidence and an understanding of the issues that perpetuate disadvantage. Brap undertakes research that helps people develop new thinking and new approaches to addressing unfairness and inequality.

Communities and enterprise
For society to be fairer, people have to be empowered to create change for themselves. Brap gives individuals, charities, and social businesses the tools to deliver fairer services, get involved in decision making, and change their communities for the better.

Service design
In a fairer society, organisations would understand how to build the entitlements they all have as individuals into the way they design and deliver services. Brap helps organisations improve performance and deliver better outcomes for everyone in light of these considerations.