Community Cohesion

Azhar Bhatti introduces Camden BME Alliance’s Community Cohesion Conference

In January 2007, CBMEA held its AGM at Camden Law centre. As previously reported in the last edition of our newsletter our AGM was well attended by our members and partners.

The presentations by David Woodger (Goldsmiths College) and Rob Neil (1990 Trust) inspired a debate about community cohesion and multiculturalism among the delegates that attended, with many expressing the view that themes discussed needed to be picked up and more widely discussed.

Thus it is out of this dialogue with our members and partners that CBMEA’s Community Cohesion Conference has been conceived and is due to be held on the 19tth June 2007.

Building and maintaining cohesion has become an important aspect of the work of organisations such as Camden BME Alliance, and indeed public authorities and community leaders. However, understanding how this can be achieved in reality presents a huge challenge for local partners.

The conference aims to shed more light on cohesion and current best practice. The event will be a meeting of Camden practitioners with discussions led by accomplished practitioners in the field. The event will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of this agenda, not just to BME communities but to the wider community at large, show casing good practice and develop improved ways of working.

The event is intended to raise awareness of the agenda and its importance as a priority for Camden’s communities and to showcase good practice in Camden particularly within the voluntary sector.

It is also intended that the conference will provide an insight into cohesion issues when dealing with communities. Provide delegates and partners from across Camden with an opportunity to discuss social cohesion issues and provide a platform for those present to acquire a better understanding of the issues, opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming cohesion.

The event will be part of CBMEA’s cohesion month aimed at all VCS organisations, London Borough of Camden staff but particularly:

Voluntary sector service providers
Councillors
Senior managers and partners
Staff engaged in policy and service planning
Front-line staff

Our goal is to secure a successful cohesion conference, with learning from the day used to generate improved understanding and subsequent practice.

Revised on 20 Jun 2007