CVSL research to explore how to increase the pool of leaders from BME communities that collaborate with local service providers

Following on from a previous research project which explored how the leadership of Black and Ethnic Minority Groups engage and collaborate with service providers in Milton Keynes, CVSL has secured a seedcorn grant from the Faculty of Business and Law to further develop this work.

A new action research project will now explore how to now increase the pool of leaders from Black and Minority Ethnic communities that engage and collaborate with service providers, including Thames Valley Police. Preliminary results from the initial project suggest that Faith Leaders and BME individuals with high social and political capital are more likely to engage and collaborate with service providers. This new project will explore what can be done to level the playing field for leaders of the seldom-asked, seldom-heard, and not-yet-engaged BME groups and support their engagement and collaboration with service providers. The project will additionally undertake a literature review on the concept of hard-to-reach communities in the context of inclusion of members of the BME communities.   

This research will be led by Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo, working with Professor Siv Vangen and Dr Carol Jacklin-Jarvis. The research will begin in early 2022 with preliminary findings expected in summer 2022.

If we play our inclusion part, no one is hard-to-reach. The reality, though, is that collaboration and engagement with service providers could be difficult for some communities in society. This project seeks to work with leaders of BME groups and service providers to work towards a more inclusive dispensation to promote social cohesion

Dr Fidèle Mutwarasibo
Lecturer in Work Based Learning in the Faculty of Business and Law